[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6315 Introduced in House (IH)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 6315

To authorize United States participation in, and appropriations for the 
United States contribution to, an international clean technology fund, 
                        and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             June 19, 2008

     Ms. Moore of Wisconsin (for herself, Mr. Israel, Mr. Frank of 
Massachusetts, and Mr. Shays) introduced the following bill; which was 
            referred to the Committee on Financial Services

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To authorize United States participation in, and appropriations for the 
United States contribution to, an international clean technology fund, 
                        and for other purposes.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. INTERNATIONAL CLEAN TECHNOLOGY FUND.

    (a) In General.--The Bretton Woods Agreements Act (22 U.S.C. 286-
286oo) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 64. CLEAN TECHNOLOGY FUND.

    ``(a) Contribution Authority.--The Secretary of the Treasury may 
contribute on behalf of the United States $400,000,000 to a fund which 
meets the requirements of subsection (b) (in this section referred to 
as the `Fund').
    ``(b) Requirements.--The requirements of this subsection are as 
follows:
            ``(1) Administration.--The Fund is established and 
        administered by the Bank.
            ``(2) Purpose.--The purpose of the Fund is to promote 
        accelerated deployment in developing countries of technologies 
        designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by providing funds, 
        primarily through multilateral development banks to promising 
        projects in developing countries.
            ``(3) Coordination with the united nations framework on 
        climate change.--
                    ``(A) In general.--The Bank is required to operate 
                the Fund in a manner that is fully consistent and 
                supportive of the United Nations Framework on Climate 
                Change (in this paragraph referred to as the `UNFCCC').
                    ``(B) Termination of operations.--The Bank is 
                required to take necessary steps to conclude the 
                operations of the Fund (including by not entering into 
                new agreements for contributions to the Fund) on the 
                commencement of operations of an international clean 
                technology fund provided for the UNFCCC, unless the 
                UNFCCC provides for continuation of the operations.
            ``(4) Authority to hold undisbursed funds in interest-
        bearing accounts.--Pending disbursement from the Fund of 
        amounts provided under this section, the Bank has the authority 
        to hold the amounts in interest-bearing accounts of the Fund.
    ``(c) Limitations on Authorization of Appropriations.--For the 
contribution authorized by subsection (a), there are appropriated not 
more than $400,000,000 for fiscal year 2009.
    ``(d) Support of Zero Carbon and Cleaner Technologies.--The 
Secretary of the Treasury shall seek to ensure that--
            ``(1) the priorities of the Fund include supporting `zero 
        carbon' technologies, and improvements in energy efficiency in 
        existing infrastructure that demonstrate an ability to be 
        transformational in support of a country's path toward low 
        carbon development;
            ``(2) the disbursement of amounts in the Fund demonstrate a 
        preference for `zero carbon' technologies; and
            ``(3) funding from the Fund is provided to close the gap 
        between higher cost, cleaner technologies and lower cost 
        technologies.
    ``(e) Coordination With the International Clean Energy 
Foundation.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall seek to ensure that 
the duties and activities of the Fund are complementary to the duties 
and activities of the International Clean Energy Foundation as 
established by the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Public 
Law 110-140).''.
    (b) Report to the Congress.--Within 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of the Treasury shall submit to 
the Congress a report on the operations of any fund to which amounts 
made available under section 64 of the Bretton Woods Agreements Act are 
provided, including a description of--
            (1) any projects for which amounts have been disbursed from 
        the fund;
            (2) the effects expected by the Secretary of each such 
        project on the overall greenhouse gas emissions from the 
        country in which the project is being carried out;
            (3) the criteria and methodology used to determine the 
        eligibility of proposed projects for funding from the fund;
            (4) the progress made in commencing operations of the fund, 
        including any remaining obstacles to the operations; and
            (5) any project for which amounts have been disbursed from 
        the fund which support coal or coal-related technologies, and a 
        justification for support for the project from the fund, 
        including a description of--
                    (A) the transformational nature of the project;
                    (B) how the project is consistent with the national 
                low carbon strategy of the country involved;
                    (C) the degree to which the project reduced GHG 
                emissions; and
                    (D) the degree to which the technology was a higher 
                cost technology relative to other available 
                technologies.
    (c) Sense of the Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress that 
small and medium-sized enterprises--
            (1) are an important source of technological innovation and 
        economic development globally;
            (2) can and should play an important role in the 
        dissemination and implementation of innovative clean 
        technologies in developing countries; and
            (3) should be supported through any fund referred to in 
        subsection (b).

SEC. 2. USE OF GREENHOUSE GAS ACCOUNTING BY THE MULTILATERAL 
              DEVELOPMENT BANKS.

    Title XIII of the International Financial Institutions Act (22 
U.S.C. 26m-262m-7) is amended by adding at the end the following:

``SEC. 1308. USE OF GREENHOUSE GAS ACCOUNTING BY THE MULTILATERAL 
              DEVELOPMENT BANKS.

    ``(a) In General.--The Secretary of the Treasury shall seek to 
ensure that each multilateral development bank (as defined in section 
1701(c)(4)) adopts and implements Greenhouse Gas (GHG) accounting in 
analyzing the benefits and costs of all projects for which funding is 
sought from the bank.
    ``(b) Sense of the Congress.--It is the sense of the Congress that 
adopting and implementing GHG accounting includes--
            ``(1) calculating net carbon flows;
            ``(2) establishing uniform calculation techniques, with 
        provision for modification as professional standards evolve;
            ``(3) making public the calculation techniques and the 
        calculations;
            ``(4) adopting and making public a uniform carbon charge 
        rate which appropriately reflects the global social cost of a 
        unit of carbon emissions; and
            ``(5) performing carbon GHG accounting, including a full 
        carbon charge for each project, defined as the net carbon flow 
        multiplied by the carbon charge rate.''.
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