diff --git a/meta/lib/oe/spdx30_tasks.py b/meta/lib/oe/spdx30_tasks.py
index cd9672c18e8c..6609784907db 100644
--- a/meta/lib/oe/spdx30_tasks.py
+++ b/meta/lib/oe/spdx30_tasks.py
@@ -39,7 +39,6 @@ def add_license_expression(
 ):
     simple_license_text = {}
     license_text_map = {}
-    license_ref_idx = 0
 
     def add_license_text(name):
         nonlocal objset
@@ -96,7 +95,6 @@ def add_license_expression(
 
     def convert(l):
         nonlocal license_text_map
-        nonlocal license_ref_idx
 
         if l == "(" or l == ")":
             return l