The World Bank got G8 support to start a $250 million investment fund to reward countries such as Indonesia, Brazil and Congo for “avoided deforestation,” The Wall Street Journal reports.

But companies and governments aren’t likely to put much money into the fund unless they sense that saving trees will qualify as a means of generating emission “credits” on the international carbon market.

Amid intensifying global-warming regulations, the project could give developed countries – and companies based there – a cheap way to offset their obligation to curb their own energy-related emissions at home.

But whether the World Bank’s fund will draw much investment is unclear. Under the Kyoto Protocol, saving existing trees doesn’t qualify as a means of generating emission “credits” on the international carbon market.