Cities may take in supporting forest-positive sourcing in enacting forest-positive internal procurement policies. Here, when the city purchases supplies for its own use – infrastructure, food, etc. – procurement policies can ensure that products from forest-risk commodities are sourced sustainably. Many cities are familiar with the concepts of Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP) and Green Public Procurement (GPP), which work towards balancing fair competition, pricing, and the ecological impacts of the item(s) being procured.  

1. Implement forest-positive public procurement policy based on certification schemes that combat deforestation. Cities may opt to test this policy with a pilot. Cities may require products, such as food, furniture, tires, and buildings to be certified as sustainable or responsible by a third-party verifier such as FSC, PEFC, RSPO, or establish their own criteria. For example: 
   

   1. See Chester’s commitment to sourcing products with RSPO-certified palm oil and our Sustainable Wood for Cities guide for more wood-related strategies.
      

   2. The city of Mississauga, Canada implemented a Sustainable Procurement Policy, including supplying all City facilities with Fairtrade coffee.  
      

2. Implement procurement policy that recognizes the social value of forest-risk commodities. Source products from forest-positive producers land uses such as silvopastoral agriculture within city or metropolitan jurisdiction. This would target products that support sustainable community livelihoods and community forest management and conservation and are based on a business model that returns maximum value to the community and encourages local ownership, empowerment and agroforestry. For example:
   

   1. The Dominican Republic implemented a national policy to support the growth of micro, small, medium-sized, and women-owned enterprises via a preferential purchasing scheme. From 2012 to 2018 the government awarded 43,691 contracts worth roughly $591 million to these businesses.
      

3. Establish zero-deforestation commitments. Deforestation-free procurement of products of forest-risk commodities that have low embodied carbon. This may benefit tropical forests directly and indirectly (by alleviating pressure for restrictive carbon sequestration schemes in tropical forests). For example: 
   

   1. New York City and Los Angeles have recently adopted resolutions to create plans to stop purchasing products that have contributed to Amazonian deforestation. A bill has been introduced in California and New York state legislatures which if passed would require contractors to maintain a No Deforestation, No Peat, No Exploitation (NDPE) policy.
      

4. Lower city organizational consumption-based emissions by prioritizing vegetarian meals and low-carbon forest-risk foods in city canteens and events. Cities may help reduce tropical deforestation via the procurement of products of forest-risk commodities that have low embodied carbon. By incorporating embodied emissions from land use change, low-carbon forest-risk foods may benefit tropical forests directly and indirectly by alleviating pressure for restrictive carbon sequestration schemes in tropical forests. For example:
   

   1. In line with the Cool Food Pledge cities such as Copenhagen, Ghent, Milan, and Toronto are working with NGOs and food companies to promote and develop low-carbon food solutions.