SEC. 2. INTERNATIONAL TERRESTRIAL CARBON SEQUES-
TRATION PROGRAM. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of State shall es-
tablish a program, to be known as the ‘‘International Ter-
restrial Carbon Sequestration Program’’, to provide re-
sults-based payments for eligible projects in developing 
countries that reduce emissions and enhance carbon se-
questration from forests and other terrestrial and coastal 
ecosystems. 
(b) GOALS.—In carrying out the program established 
pursuant to subsection (a), the Secretary shall work with 
developing countries and appropriate local partners in de-
veloping countries to identify, develop, and implement 
projects that— 
(1) will help the developing country meet the 
emission reductions goals corresponding to that 
country’s nationally determined contribution to the 
Paris Agreement; and 
(2) have the potential to avoid dangerous global 
climate change by limiting global warming to well 
below 2 degrees Celsius and pursuing efforts to limit 
it to 1.5 degrees Celsius (compared to pre-industrial 
levels). 
(c) ELIGIBLE PROJECTS.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—A project shall be eligible for 
results-based payments under the program estab-
lished pursuant to subsection (a) if— 
(A) the project is identified by the Sec-
retary as a project whose primary purpose is 
to— 
(i) reduce deforestation and forest 
degradation and restore forests to support 
enhanced carbon sequestration within the 
host country, at the national or sub-
national level; or 
(ii) preserve, including through inte-
grated land-use programs, other terrestrial 
ecosystems within the host developing 
country, such as wetlands, mangroves, or 
grasslands; 
(B) in the determination of the Secretary, 
the host developing country or local partner will 
be able to fulfill its obligations under any agree-
ment with respect to the funding of such 
project through the program established pursu-
ant to subsection (a), including (as applicable) 
with respect to— 
(i) host country standards of govern-
ance and respect for rule of law; 
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(ii) environmental and social safe-
guards; and 
(iii) potential for corruption or misuse 
of payments made by the Secretary; 
(C) the project is appropriately designed to 
use results-based payments; and 
(D) the host developing country or local 
partner, as applicable, agrees to— 
(i) transparency requirements with re-
spect to the use of amounts received under 
the program established pursuant to sub-
section (a); 
(ii) measuring, reporting, and verifica-
tion requirements, including third-party 
verification, necessary to provide results- 
based payments; 
(iii) share any emissions reductions 
achieved under this program, linking such 
reductions to reporting requirements under 
the Paris Climate Agreement; and 
(iv) ensure that women, Indigenous 
Communities, and other local stakeholders 
are empowered and enabled to meaning-
fully participate in these processes. 
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(2) ADDITIONAL
FORMS
OF
ELIGIBILITY.—A 
project may also be determined to be eligible under 
this subsection if— 
(A) the project includes a combination or 
aggregation of existing terrestrial carbon miti-
gation projects in the host country; or 
(B) the project is recognized under a na-
tional or sub-national terrestrial carbon mitiga-
tion program in the host country, without re-
gard to whether the project is below the sub-na-
tional level or scale. 
(d) GRANTS.— 
(1) IN
GENERAL.—Upon determining that a 
project is an eligible project, the Secretary is author-
ized to enter into multi-year agreements to provide 
results-based payments to a host developing country 
or appropriate local partners in the host developing 
country, including in the form of grants from the 
International Forestry Carbon Mitigation Fund es-
tablished in subsection (f), to carry out such eligible 
project. Such agreements may also include terms 
that leverage funding from non-profits, businesses, 
other developed countries, and multilateral financing 
and development agencies. 
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(2) RECIPROCAL COMMITMENT.—The Secretary 
shall take such steps as may be necessary to ensure 
that the host developing country or appropriate local 
partners in the host developing country, as applica-
ble, reciprocates the commitments to achieving the 
goals of the section. 
(3) TERMINATION.—An agreement under this 
subsection may be unilaterally terminated by the 
Secretary if the Secretary determines that the host 
developing country or a local partner is failing or 
has failed to uphold the terms and conditions estab-
lished for the project. 
(4) DOUBLE
COUNTING
OF
PAYMENTS.—The 
Secretary shall take such steps as may be necessary 
to prevent the double counting of, or double payment 
for, emissions reduction or carbon sequestration re-
sults. 
(e) TRANSPARENCY.—The Secretary shall make pub-
licly available a list of each grant made available to devel-
oping countries and local partners under the program es-
tablished by subsection (a) and shall update on an annual 
basis the progress or any lack of progress in the implemen-
tation of the corresponding eligible projects and the 
achievement of their goals. 
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(f) AGENCY COORDINATION.—In carrying out the 
program under this section, the Secretary shall consult as 
appropriate with the heads of other relevant Federal de-
partments and agencies, including— 
(1) with respect to terrestrial carbon sequestra-
tion, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of 
the Interior, the Administrator of the National Oce-
anic and Atmospheric Administration, the Chief 
Forester of the Forest Service, and the Adminis-
trator of the Environmental Protection Agency; and 
(2) with respect to project monitoring, report-
ing and verification, the Administrator of the Na-
tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the 
Administrator of the National Aeronautics and 
Space Administration, the Administrator of the 
United States Agency for International Develop-
ment, the Administrator of the Environmental Pro-
tection Agency, the Secretary of Agriculture, and the 
Chief Forester of the Forest Service. 
(g) TRUST FUND.—There is established in the Treas-
ury the ‘‘International Terrestrial Carbon Sequestration 
Fund’’, which shall consist of— 
(1) amounts appropriated pursuant to the au-
thorization in subsection (h)(1) to carry out this sec-
tion; and 
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(2) such gifts, bequests, or devises of property 
for the benefit of, or in connection with carrying out 
this section as the Secretary may accept in the form 
of donations by individuals or entities, including pri-
vate entities, non-profit entities, and multinational 
entities. 
(h) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.— 
(1) AUTHORIZATION.—There is authorized to 
be appropriated $9,000,000,000 to carry out this 
section. 
(2) AVAILABILITY.—Amounts appropriated to 
carry out this section are authorized to remain avail-
able until expended and shall be used solely for the 
purposes of this section. 
(3) SALARIES AND EXPENSES.—Of the amounts 
made available for any fiscal year pursuant to the 
authorization under paragraph (1), not more than 
$10,000,000 is authorized to be made available for 
the salaries and expenses of employees of the De-
partment of State to carry out this section. 
(i) RESULTS-BASED
PAYMENTS
DEFINED.—The 
term ‘‘results-based payments’’ means a mechanism for 
the provision of United States assistance in which— 
(1) a developing country, or appropriate local 
partners in a developing country, assumes responsi-
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bility for achieving measurable results in the reduc-
tion of emissions through a project; 
(2) such measurable results are defined in ad-
vance of the obligation of assistance by the United 
States for the project; and 
(3) such assistance is expended in the form of 
payments to such developing countries or partners 
only upon independent verification of such pre-de-
fined results. 
SEC. 3. INTERNATIONAL TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE FOR CAR-
BON MARKET DEVELOPMENT AND PARTICI-
PATION. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Administrator of the United 
States Agency for International Development, in consulta-
tion with the Secretary of State, shall conduct a program 
to provide resources and technical assistance to developing 
countries to conserve, manage, and restore forests and 
other terrestrial and coastal carbon sinks, to support na-
ture-based carbon sequestration as a means to addressing 
global climate change, including by providing such re-
sources and assistance with respect to projects for the 
goals described in section 2(b). Projects under such pro-
gram shall be directed in countries meeting each of the 
following criteria: 
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(1) The country contains globally important 
forests or other terrestrial or coastal terrestrial car-
bon sinks that are threatened with destruction or 
fragmentation or where the degradation of wetlands, 
peatlands, or agricultural land impairs development 
and significantly drives greenhouse gas emissions. 
(2) Legitimate land owners or use rights’ hold-
ers in the country are permitted to sell carbon cred-
its to voluntary and carbon compliance markets. 
(3) The country has developed, or is in the 
process of developing, comprehensive policies to 
monitor, report, and verify the environmental, social, 
and financial integrity of any such projects, includ-
ing, if applicable, policies to ensure that the host 
country avoids double-counting the resulting reduc-
tions greenhouse gas emissions. 
(4) The country presently contains large re-
serves of terrestrial carbon that cannot be recuper-
ated once lost. 
(b) TECHNICAL SUPPORT PRIORITIZATION.—In con-
ducting the program described in subsection (a), the Ad-
ministrator shall prioritize technical support for and in-
vestment in the following activities: 
(1) Reducing greenhouse gas emissions from 
deforestation, fragmentation, and forest degradation. 
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(2) Enhancing sequestration through carbon 
sinks by restoring natural forests and other terres-
trial and coastal carbon sinks as well as building re-
silience. 
(3) Monitoring, reporting, and verification of 
the environmental, social, and financial integrity of 
the project as an important component of the work. 
(4) Assisting governments, willing, legitimate 
land owners, and willing use rights’ holders in devel-
oping projects to engage in emissions trading 
through— 
(A) carbon credits sold in existing carbon 
compliance markets or to voluntary buyers; or 
(B) projects providing results-based pay-
ments. 
(5) Developing the administrative and legal ca-
pacity and technical infrastructure necessary to im-
plement carbon-pricing initiatives in recipient coun-
tries that drive investment in nature-based solutions 
to climate change. 
(6) Developing domestic infrastructure for cre-
ating and tracking carbon credits, such as registries, 
and preparing countries to implement nature-based 
solution initiatives. 
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(7) Ensuring that women, Indigenous Commu-
nities, and other local stakeholders are empowered 
and enabled to meaningful participation in all such 
activities. 
(c) AUTHORIZATION.—There is authorized to be ap-
propriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out 
this section. 
Æ 
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