Source: How New York Could Help Save Forests Around the World | The New Republic
“There is no way through the climate crisis unless we reduce tropical deforestation,” said Jeff Conant, a director at the environmental organization Friends of the Earth, who has been advocating for the bill for the last several years. “There have been a decade of efforts to get companies to agree to voluntary commitments, but none of that works. This bill is really about using state power to drive the change we need.”
Deforestation is the second-largest source of climate emissions after the burning of fossil fuels, and it’s driven primarily by just a handful of globally traded commodities: cattle, soy, palm oil, coffee, cocoa, timber, and wood products. Tropical countries have been put in the line of fire for the continued deforestation of one of the world’s most important carbon sinks, but most of the commodities driving that deforestation end up in international markets like the United States, the European Union, and China.
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