Sign your name: Save forests from corporate greed!

A world without rainforests? That could be our reality in less than 100 years if corporations don’t stop fueling forest destruction.

Who’s fueling the destruction? Greedy corporations like Aramark and Procter & Gamble. But they aren’t the only culprit. Our very own state is enabling forest destruction by purchasing goods from companies like Procter & Gamble instead of putting an end to these harmful practices. But right now, you have the power to demand the state use its buying power to push forest-wrecking corporations down a more sustainable path.

Dear Senator,

As your constituent, I am writing to ask you to support AB 416, the California Deforestation-Free Procurement Act.

This bill will contribute to global efforts to end the crisis of deforestation in tropical regions by ensuring that entities contracting with the State of California do not contribute to deforestation through their supply chains.

Without clear guidance in its procurement contracts, the state is inadvertently enabling tropical deforestation and forest degradation and associated impacts on the global climate, biodiversity, and human rights. A recent study by Friends of the Earth shows that an estimated 25 percent of California’s purchasing contracts may be at risk of being linked to deforestation.

As the fifth largest economy in the world, our state’s purchasing power has significant market force. Furthermore, this is not the first time that the state has issued procurement policies to contribute to solving a particular global problem – one forerunner of this bill, the California Transparency in Supply Chains Act, has been a model for efforts to halt child labor and forced labor.

Tropical forests cover roughly seven percent of the Earth’s surface, but harbor close to 50 percent of all species on Earth; an estimated 18 million acres of forest, an area 1/5 the size of California, is lost every year due to human activities. Tropical deforestation is the third leading driver of global CO2 emissions.

As a large public purchaser, California can use its purchasing power to reduce threats to tropical forests while helping to drive more sustainable practices, as part of the state’s broad commitment to leadership in the fight against climate change. A similar bill is under consideration in New York State – and both state bills are part of a trend towards greater regulation of deforestation in public procurement, as reflected in similar initiatives in France, Norway, the EU and other jurisdictions.

The Act will extend California’s environmental leadership to the protection of global forests and send a crucial signal to the marketplace that destructive, commodity-driven deforestation needs to stop. I respectfully urge you to cast your vote for AB 416.

Sincerely,
{user_data~First name} {user_data~Last name}
{user_data~City}, {user_data~State} {user_data~Postcode}

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