California Senate Committee Chairs at COP31 Warn Against New Amazon Oil Investment Ahead of Ecuador Oil…

Today, a joint statement was released from the following California State Senate leaders of environment-related committees, at the 31st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), regarding the new Amazon oil investment auction in Ecuador.

California State Senators:

• Josh Becker (D-13), Chair, Committee on Natural Resources and Water
• Henry Stern (D-27), Chair, Committee on Emergency Management; Vice Chair of the Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies
• Ben Allen (D-24), Chair, Committee on Energy, Utilities and Communications

“As California Senate committee chairs representing communities facing devastating wildfires, floods, sea level rise, and other climate threats, we are deeply concerned about Ecuador’s plans to launch a new Amazon oil bidding round in December. We call on the government to halt this expansion, and on companies and investors to decline participation or financing. Our districts have experienced the profound hardship of the Woolsey, Palisades, and CZU Lightning Complex fires. We know the financial and emotional toll these disasters take on families and communities. Decisions that accelerate climate change and destroy forests essential to climate stability put our constituents at further risk.

We also congratulate Xavier Becerra on his historic election as Governor of California, one week ago.  As an Angelino, Governor-elect Becerra knows, down to his core, how wrenching these climate emergencies have been, and their financial and emotional toll on Californians.  We are fortunate to have a champion who will meet the moment and take decisive action to eliminate these risks.California’s future is connected to the Amazon. The rainforest stores enormous amounts of carbon and helps regulate the global climate. Research indicates that extensive Amazon deforestation could also disrupt atmospheric circulation and "flying rivers" that bring moisture and rainfall from the Amazon to the Sierra Nevada snowpack on which California depends.

Yet California is a major market for the oil, propelling extraction that threatens these forests. The 2021 report Linked Fates: How California’s Oil Imports Affect the Future of the Amazon “Rainforest, published by Amazon Watch and Stand.earth, found that California received some 50% of onshore Amazon crude exports. Our importance as an importer gives us a responsibility to address the consequences of that consumption and an opportunity to influence future investment.

The oil extraction process in the Amazon has been contaminating rivers, soils, and air, while fragmenting forests, and opening remote areas to further deforestation through roads and related infrastructure. Indigenous peoples bear the consequences with their health, livelihoods, and territories. Oil extraction in the Amazon poses a triple climate threat: it drives deforestation, weakens the forest’s capacity to absorb carbon, and adds emissions when the oil is burned.

On October 1, Ecuador’s government announced plans to launch an oil bidding round in December, threatening remote, roadless Amazon forests. As governments gather at COP31 to advance climate action, this expansion unfortunately moves in the opposite direction. California should be careful not to be the engine behind it.

The seven indigenous nationalities of the Pastaza and Morona Santiago provinces of Ecuador rejected the oil bidding round in a declaration the day it was announced.  They stated, "The blocks being offered are our legally recognized ancestral territories.  For more than four decades, we have rejected every attempt to put them up for bid.  We have not given our consent."  They point out that the oil bidding round is a violation of their rights to free, prior, and informed consent as enshrined in Ecuador’s Constitution, and international rights standards.

The seven nationalities wrote in their statement that “Any contract resulting from these bidding rounds would be devoid of legal certainty and would be exposed to both domestic and international legal challenges.  No responsible company can ignore decades of resistance by seven Indigenous nationalities against this bidding process, nor the toll that more than half a century of oil extraction has taken on the Amazon: polluted rivers, destroyed forests, poverty, and debt.

Companies and financial institutions should heed that warning. Sustained Indigenous opposition, legal challenges, high infrastructure costs, potential delays, and uncertain returns make these projects a risky investment.

Scientists have raised the alarm that protecting the Amazon rainforest cannot wait a moment longer.  The Amazon is at a tipping point.  If the Amazon passes 20-25% deforestation, it will lead to ecological collapse and savannization. It is currently around 18%. The Amazon rainforest is the most crucial region to protect, because of its role as a carbon sink and the massive carbon emissions it would release if Amazon ecosystems collapsed.  The Amazon rainforest’s state of emergency is a global emergency, and we all must act now.

In 2025, by unanimous vote, the California State Senate passed Senate Resolution 51, introduced by Senator Becker. It commits the state Senate to “investigating the impact of California’s role in the consumption of crude sourced from the Amazon region and to exploring ways that changes to state policies and practices can assist with efforts to preserve and protect the Amazon rainforest.”

California is already in the midst of a transition away from fossil fuels, reducing petroleum demand and accelerating electrification. As that transition proceeds, we must ensure that our remaining oil imports do not encourage new extraction in the Amazon or lock in decades of production. Companies and investors should understand that California’s transition means declining demand for oil, not a growing market for crude from new onshore Amazon projects.

California’s fuel supply security requires careful planning to meet that declining demand while protecting consumers from price spikes and supply disruptions. Reducing our dependence on oil, while maintaining reliable supplies during the transition, that do not threaten frontline communities or our environment, must guide that work.

As countries work to turn commitments to transition away from fossil fuels into action, keeping oil in the ground in the Amazon is a concrete step, and California’s market should not drive further expansion.

We call on Ecuador to cancel the proposed bidding round and respect Indigenous peoples’ decisions about their territories. We urge companies and financial institutions to decline participation or financing. And we recognize California’s own responsibility: to follow through on SR 51, reduce petroleum demand, and ensure that our remaining imports do not finance further Amazon destruction.”

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