In November 2021, during COP26, President Joe Biden promised that the United States would invest US$9 billion to fight deforestation worldwide. At the Glasgow event, more than one hundred countries, including Brazil, committed to zero deforestation by 2030, eight years from now.
The day after Biden's speech, Democratic Representative Steny Hoyer introduced a bill with a long name: the Act to Mitigate and Achieve Zero Emissions from Nature for the 21st Century. The nickname is the Amazon21 Act.
The package provides that the US$ 9 billion fund will be used to combat deforestation – thus reducing carbon emissions, as the felling of trees releases gasses into the atmosphere. The deputy calculates that cutting pollutants would be equivalent to removing all cars from US roads for two years.
Eight months later, there is little sign of urgency: the plan was sent in November to the House Foreign Affairs Committee and has not been moved since.
"I continue to work with my colleagues on both sides of the House to ensure we can advance robust Amazon21 legislation. I hope to get a consensus law to be voted on in the Plenary as soon as possible," Hoyer told Folha.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon