February 11, 2022 – SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Ash Kalra (D-San Jose) and bill co-sponsors, Friends of the Earth, and Social Compassion in Legislation, announced the reintroduction of the Deforestation Free Procurement Act to answer last year’s veto of AB 416. The coalition thanks Governor Newsom for committing to working with them to address his concerns on implementation. The new bill, AB 1979, will primarily mimic AB 416 along with modifications to the rollout for the operational procedures of the state’s procurement process.

“AB 1979 will expand California’s leadership on addressing climate change, protecting biodiversity, respecting Indigenous rights, and responding to the environmental emergency that is tropical deforestation,” said Assemblymember Kalra. “I remain committed to enacting a policy that ensures our state purchases and contracts are not inadvertently contributing to this global crisis and in doing so we can encourage more transparency and sustainable practices throughout global markets.”

The world’s forests are in crisis. Tropical forests cover roughly seven percent of the Earth’s surface but harbor close to half of all species on Earth. An estimated 18 million acres of forest—an area one-fifth the size of California—is lost every year, largely due to the expansion of agribusiness plantations. Tropical deforestation and related land-use changes are responsible for nearly a quarter of global carbon dioxide emissions, and are a major contributor to the global biodiversity crisis.

If passed, all California state contracts involving commodities that put tropical forests at risk, such as palm oil, soy, cattle, rubber, paper/pulp and timber, would require contractors to maintain a “forest policy” and provide evidence that their operations in sensitive tropical regions are not linked to forest destruction and degradation or abuses of indigenous peoples’ rights.

Environmental advocates and industry leaders alike agree that such policies are the best way to prevent ongoing forest destruction. Hundreds of consumer brands, commodity traders, and national and subnational governments have shown support for ending deforestation and primary forest degradation. Many have also chosen to back their support with policies that commit them to zero deforestation in their supply chains. A number of nation-states, notably Norway and France, have also adopted “deforestation-free” procurement approaches.

“The climate emergency is being driven by our addiction to animal agriculture and fossil fuels. While it is imperative that we replace our combustible engines with electric and put solar on our houses, those actions alone will not solve this crisis,” said Judie Mancuso, CEO and Founder of Social Compassion in Legislation. “We must stop cutting down the lungs of our earth, tropical forests, in the drive for cheaper and cheaper commodities if we have a chance to stop not only climate change, but also the planet’s 6th mass extinction.”

“At the recent UN climate summit, the world’s governments pledged to finance forest protection, in just the latest demonstration of the scale and urgency of the problem. But, very few governments have proven willing to curb the destructive consumption patterns that are the primary cause of the global deforestation crisis. California’s Deforestation-Free Procurement Act is a visionary but pragmatic approach to stemming the crisis at the root, and it needs all of our support,” said Jeff Conant, Senior International Forests Program Manager at Friends of the Earth.

The principal coauthors of AB 1979 are Assemblymember Alex Lee (D-San Jose) and Senator Henry Stern (D-Los Angeles). The bill is also coauthored by Assemblymembers Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica), Laura Friedman (D-Glendale), Luz Rivas (D-Arleta), Robert Rivas (D-Salinas), and Senator Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica).