[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3273 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







110th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 3273

 To promote the international deployment of clean technology, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             July 16, 2008

    Mr. Biden (for himself, Mr. Lugar, Mr. Menendez, and Mr. Hagel) 
introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the 
                     Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
 To promote the international deployment of clean technology, 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. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``International Clean Development 
Technology Fund Act of 2008''.

SEC. 2. PURPOSE.

    The purpose of this Act is to promote and to leverage private 
financing for the development and international deployment of 
technologies that will contribute to sustainable economic growth and 
the stabilization of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere at 
a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with 
the climate system.

SEC. 3. INTERNATIONAL CLEAN DEVELOPMENT TECHNOLOGY FUND.

    (a) Establishment.--There is established in the Treasury of the 
United States a fund to be known as the International Clean Development 
Technology Fund (in this Act referred to as the ``Fund'').
    (b) Deposits to Fund.--The Fund shall consist of--
            (1) amounts appropriated pursuant to the authorization of 
        appropriations under section 8; and
            (2) any amounts as are or may be appropriated, transferred, 
        or credited to such Fund under any other provisions of law.
    (c) Expenditures From Fund.--Amounts in the Fund shall be available 
to the International Clean Development Technology Deployment Board 
established under section 4 for the purposes described under section 5, 
and shall remain available until expended.

SEC. 4. INTERNATIONAL CLEAN DEVELOPMENT TECHNOLOGY BOARD.

    (a) Establishment.--Not later than 90 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the President shall establish an International 
Clean Development Technology Board (in this Act referred to as the 
``Board'').
    (b) Composition.--The Board shall be composed of--
            (1) the Secretary of State, who shall act as the chair of 
        the Board;
            (2) the Secretary of the Treasury;
            (3) the Secretary of Energy;
            (4) the Secretary of Commerce;
            (5) the Administrator of the Environmental Protection 
        Agency;
            (6) the Administrator of the United States Agency for 
        International Development;
            (7) the United States Trade Representative; and
            (8) other officials as determined appropriate by the 
        President.
    (c) Administration of International Clean Development Technology 
Fund.--The Board shall administer the International Clean Development 
Technology Fund ensuring that--
            (1) funds are deployed in a manner that best promotes the 
        participation of, and investments by, the private sector;
            (2) funds are allocated in a manner consistent with 
        commitments by the United States under international climate 
        change agreements;
            (3) funds achieve the greatest greenhouse gas emissions 
        mitigations with the lowest possible cost, consistent with 
        paragraphs (1) and (2); and
            (4) assistance is targeted at reducing or eliminating the 
        increased costs associated with deploying clean technologies in 
        place of traditional technologies.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF ASSISTANCE.

    (a) Assistance.--The Board, acting through the Secretary of State, 
may use the Fund to provide assistance under this section to qualified 
entities to support the purposes of this Act.
    (b) Form of Assistance.--
            (1) In general.--Assistance under this section shall be 
        provided--
                    (A) as direct assistance in the form of grants, 
                concessional loans, cooperative agreements, contracts, 
                insurance, or loan guarantees to or with qualified 
                entities;
                    (B) as indirect assistance to such entities 
                through--
                            (i) funding for international clean 
                        technology funds supported by multilateral 
                        institutions;
                            (ii) support from development and export 
                        promotion assistance programs of the United 
                        States Government; or
                            (iii) support from international technology 
                        programs of the Department of Energy; or
                    (C) in such other forms as the Board may determine 
                appropriate.
            (2) Oversight by secretary of the treasury of assistance 
        for multilateral trust funds.--In the case of assistance 
        provided under paragraph (1)(B)(i) for a clean technology fund 
        or similar fund that is a multilateral trust fund based at the 
        World Bank, the Secretary of the Treasury shall use the voice, 
        vote, and influence of the United States to promote--
                    (A) the use of the assistance in accordance with 
                the purposes of this Act; and
                    (B) a requirement that no single country be 
                eligible to receive more than 15 percent of the funds 
                awarded by such a fund in any three year period.
    (c) Use of Funds.--Assistance provided under this Act may be used 
for one or more of the following purposes:
            (1) Funding for capacity building programs, including--
                    (A) developing and implementing methodologies and 
                programs for measuring and quantifying greenhouse gas 
                emissions and verifying emissions mitigations;
                    (B) assessing technology and policy options for 
                greenhouse gas emissions mitigations; and
                    (C) providing other forms of technical assistance 
                to facilitate the qualification for, and receipt of, 
                program funding under this Act.
            (2) Funding for technology programs to mitigate greenhouse 
        gas emissions in eligible countries.
    (d) Qualified Entities.--A qualified entity referred to in this 
section is--
            (1) the national government of an eligible country;
            (2) a regional or local governmental unit of an eligible 
        country; or
            (3) a nongovernmental organization or a private entity 
        located or operating in an eligible country.
    (e) Selection of Projects.--
            (1) In general.--The Board shall be responsible for 
        selecting qualified entities to receive assistance under this 
        section.
            (2) Notice and wait requirement.--Assistance may not be 
        provided under this section until 30 days after the Board 
        notifies the appropriate congressional committees of the 
        proposed assistance, including--
                    (A) in the case of a capacity building program--
                            (i) a description of the capacity building 
                        program to be funded through such assistance;
                            (ii) the terms and conditions of such 
                        assistance; and
                            (iii) a description of how the capacity 
                        building program will contribute to the 
                        purposes of this Act; or
                    (B) in the case of a technology program--
                            (i) a description of the technology program 
                        to be funded through such assistance;
                            (ii) the terms and conditions of such 
                        assistance;
                            (iii) an estimate of the additional amount 
                        of greenhouse gas emissions mitigations 
                        expected due to the use of such assistance; and
                            (iv) a description of how the technology 
                        program will contribute to the purposes of this 
                        Act.
    (f) Participation by Governmental Entities.--In providing 
assistance under this Act to a national government or to a regional or 
local governmental unit, the Board should require as a condition of the 
assistance that such governmental entity make appropriate financial 
contributions to the budget of the project being funded, and that the 
project be part of an overall national, regional, or local strategy for 
the deployment of clean technology.

SEC. 6. ELIGIBLE COUNTRIES.

    (a) Determination by the President.--The Board shall determine 
whether a country is eligible for technology program assistance under 
this Act based on the criteria in subsection (b).
    (b) Criteria.--A country shall be considered to be eligible for 
purposes of this Act if--
            (1) the country is eligible to receive official development 
        assistance according to the guidelines of the Development 
        Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Co-
        operation and Development; and
            (2)(A) the country has made a binding commitment, pursuant 
        to an international agreement to which the United States is a 
        party, to undertake actions to produce measurable, reportable, 
        and verifiable greenhouse gas emissions mitigations; or
            (B) the Board determines and certifies to the appropriate 
        congressional committees that the country has in force binding 
        national policies and measures capable of producing measurable, 
        reportable, and verifiable greenhouse gas emissions 
        mitigations.
    (c) Report.--Not later than 270 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Board shall submit to the appropriate 
congressional committees a report outlining the criteria to be used to 
determine whether a country is eligible for assistance under this Act 
pursuant to subsection (b)(2)(B).

SEC. 7. ANNUAL REPORT.

    (a) In General.--Not later than one year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the Board shall submit 
to the appropriate congressional committees a report on assistance 
provided under this Act.
    (b) Content.--Each report submitted under subsection (a) shall 
include a description of assistance provided during the reporting 
period, including--
            (1) the aggregate amount of assistance provided for 
        capacity building initiatives and technology deployment 
        initiatives; and
            (2) a description of each initiative funded through such 
        assistance, including the amount of assistance provided, the 
        terms and conditions of such assistance, and the anticipated 
        reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to be achieved as a 
        result of technology deployment initiatives.
    (c) Performance Evaluations of Supported Multilateral Trust 
Funds.--The reports submitted under subsection (a) shall provide for 
the independent evaluation, not less frequently than once every three 
years, of the performance of each international clean technology fund 
provided assistance pursuant to section 5(b)(1)(B)(i).

SEC. 8. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated a total of $2,000,000,000 
for fiscal years 2009 through 2011 to carry out this Act.

SEC. 9. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.

    In this Act, the term ``appropriate congressional committees'' 
means--
            (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on 
        Finance, the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, the 
        Committee on Environment and Public Works, and the Committee on 
        Appropriations of the Senate; and
            (2) the Committee on Foreign Affairs, the Committee on Ways 
        and Means, the Committee on Energy and Commerce, the Committee 
        on Natural Resources, the Committee on Financial Services, and 
        the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
        Representatives.

SEC. 10. CONSTRUCTION; AUTHORITIES OF THE SECRETARY OF STATE.

    Nothing in this Act shall be construed to alter or affect 
authorities of the Secretary of State under--
            (1) title V of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, 
        Fiscal Year 1979 (Public Law 95-426; 22 U.S.C. 2656a et seq.); 
        or
            (2) section 622(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 
        (22 U.S.C. 2382(c)).
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