Green fund goes dark after record tax haul

Green tax receipts along with revenue from protected areas flows and contributions from the private sector and international partners are pooled into the Green Fund, a national trust established in January 2019 to set money aside for "environmental management, climate action, awareness, and protection of the natural environment."

The finance ministry previously published monthly reports on what came in and went out of the fund. The last report was published in April this year, covering inflows and expenditure in December 2025. No report has been released for any month in 2026.

The fund's balance stood at MVR3.6 billion at the end of 2025. There is no public record of how much it now holds or what it has paid for this year. The ministry did not respond to a right to information request filed in August seeking details of spending this year. 

"It's concerning that the environment minister has not said anything out of concern over that. The minister himself wouldn't know the amount of money in the fund now," Ahmed Saruvash Adam, a former budget executive at the finance ministry and chair of the opposition Maldivian Democratic Party's environment and climate change committee, said at an investment forum held during the MDP congress last Friday.

The discontinuation of the monthly reports showed "the extent to which the government's transparency on environmental matters is being lost," he said, calling on the finance ministry to disclose monthly expenditures. 

The main source of revenue for the fund is green tax collected from every tourist visiting the country. It is a flat fee charged per person per night. As of August this year, the Maldives Inland Revenue Authority collected US$101 million as green tax.

Annual revenue doubled last year after the rate was doubled from US$6 to US$12 per tourist per day at resorts, vessels and larger hotels, and from US$3 to US$6 at guesthouses and hotels with 50 or fewer rooms on inhabited islands.

Despite the record green tax revenue of MVR2.25 billion last year, only MVR275.2 million was spent out of the Green Fund, about 12 per cent of green tax collected during the year and less than half of the MVR645.6 million spent the year before. It was the lowest total since the fund was created. 

More than MVR7.3 billion went into the fund by the end of 2025, out of which MVR3.7 billion has been spent. Most of the money went towards water and sewerage services, followed by coastal protection and waste management.

Most of the coastal protection projects involve protection of reclaimed land such as those in Shaviyani Komandoo and Kaafu Thilafushi. Coastal protection accounted for the majority of allocations last year. 

The largest sums were disbursed for a regional waste facility in Addu (MVR294 million), a coastal project in Komandoo (MVR183 million) and a mixed project through the OPEC Fund for International Development to build water supply, sanitation and waste management services in 49 islands (MVR125 million).

An online dashboard tracking the money raised from green tax questions whether these projects are "green".

"Some atolls and islands generate millions in Green Tax through tourism, but public Green Fund reports show spending is not clearly returned in proportion to where the revenue came from," it observed. "This raises a fairness issue. Communities bearing tourism pressure and environmental costs should have a direct voice in how a share of the funds is spent."

A steering committee chaired by the environment ministry – with members from the fisheries ministry, the Environmental Regulatory Authority and the Maldives National University – oversees disbursements from the Green Fund and reports periodically to the cabinet.

At a press conference in late September, Environment Minister Ali Shareef said it was "not completely wrong" to divert money from the fund for other projects.

“Green Fund is one of the revenue streams for Maldives. It’s not completely wrong to allow it to be used broadly for other areas rather than it being earmarked for a single thing," he said.

Addressing complaints over spending from the fund, he claimed the information is regularly published by the finance ministry. A lot of money had been spent over the years on environmental infrastructure projects such as waste management and coastal protection, even if the money was not directly allocated for conservation and protection initiatives, he argued.

“We always get complaints that Maldives Green Fund exists and green tax is taken from tourists but what is being done for environmental protection. If you look at the Green Fund statement – the finance ministry publishes this information – If you look at it, a lot of money is spent on the environment,” he said. "It’s not just conservation and protection. Even if you check now, you’ll see that a lot of it is spent on waste management. A large component of the fund is also used for coastal protection."

Shareef referred to the president’s pledge to earmark MVR 7 million annually –  less than one per cent of current green tax revenue – for conservation, calling it a “start” that could grow over the years. 

On this year's Environment Day in June, President Dr Mohamed Muizzu announced the allocation of MVR7 million "to support environmental protection and conservation initiatives." 

According to the President's Office, the money would support the “management of protected areas and their wildlife, conservation initiatives, environmental research, public awareness programmes, technical capacity-building efforts, and environmental projects undertaken by civil society organisations and schools."