supply chain

When confronting the climate emergency, rampant consumption of fossil fuels is top of mind—and rightly so—as tens of thousands of activists recently reminded us in the streets of New York City. But the second leading driver of the climate crisis is the rapid destruction of our planet’s forests. Global deforestation is also a major cause of the extinction crisis and is linked to a wave of violence against Indigenous and local land defenders across the tropics. That’s why a powerful group of Indigenous leaders and climate justice organizers recently used the stage of New York’s Climate Week to build momentum for the New York Tropical Deforestation-Free Procurement Act.

With this groundbreaking piece of legislation, New York Governor Kathy Hochul has the chance to lead the state, and the entire country, down a historic path towards climate justice. The bill already passed both houses in the state legislature and now simply awaits the governor’s signature. If signed into law, any company that supplies New York state agencies with products that contain “forest-risk commodities”—palm oil, soy, paper, beef, coffee, and others—will be required to know and show that its entire supply chain is not linked to tropical deforestation, forest degradation, or human rights abuses in the tropical countries where most of these commodities are produced.