Clean Cooking Support Act
Bill: S.3233 | Sponsor: Sen. Collins, Susan M. (R-ME)
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Clean Cooking Support Act
This bill provides for a way of increasing the number of clean cookstoves and fuels for household, institutional, or commercial use throughout the world.
The Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) shall jointly establish the Clean Cooking Interagency Working Group to assist with overseeing the planning, management, and coordination of initiatives to increase the number of clean cookstoves and fuels worldwide.
The State Department, USAID, the Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Environmental Protection Agency shall work with the Clean Cooking Alliance to carry out clean cooking activities that relate to the missions of such departments or agencies.

To help increase the development, distribution, and use of clean 
    cookstoves and fuels to improve health, protect the climate and 
 environment, empower women, create jobs, and help consumers save time 
                               and money.

    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 ``Clean Cooking Support Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress makes the following findings:
            (1) Almost 3,000,000,000 people, representing more than 
        one-third of the global population, rely on open fires or 
        inefficient, polluting, and unsafe cookstoves using wood, 
        charcoal, kerosene, agricultural waste, animal dung, coal, or 
        other fuels. The majority of people using these types of 
        cookstoves and fuels are in developing countries in Asia, 
        Africa, and Latin America.
            (2) Smoke from the use of traditional cookstoves and open 
        fires contribute to household air pollution that causes 
        illnesses that disproportionately affect women and young 
        children. Such illnesses include low birth weight, pneumonia, 
        cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 
        lung cancer, and other respiratory illnesses.
            (3) The household air pollution caused by traditional 
        cookstoves and open fires claims 4,000,000 premature deaths 
        annually, including 400,000 children younger than 5 years of 
        age, most of whom live in sub-Saharan Africa. Household air 
        pollution does not remain in the home and contributes to more 
        than 10 percent of global ambient air pollution. In some 
        countries, such as Nepal, household air pollution contributes 
        to more than 30 percent of ambient air pollution. In 2019, more 
        than 600,000 deaths were attributed to ambient air pollution 
        stemming from the household combustion of solid fuels.
            (4) According to the World Health Organization, the large-
        scale use of wood, charcoal, and kerosene for traditional 
        cooking fuel accounts for 1.5-3.0 percent of global 
        CO<INF>2</INF> emissions, which is a significant contributor to 
        air pollution.

SEC. 3. STATEMENT OF POLICY.

    It is the policy of the United States to reduce the adverse effects 
of household energy use in its foreign assistance programs and 
activities, as appropriate, including through--
            (1) applied research and development to improve design, 
        lower costs, promote technology adoption, conduct health 
        research and evaluation, and develop global industry standards 
        and testing protocols for cookstoves and fuels to help ensure 
        minimum standards for efficiency and emissions to lower health 
        and environmental impacts;
            (2) diplomatic engagement to encourage a commercial market 
        for clean cookstoves and fuels, reduce trade barriers, promote 
        consumer awareness, improve access to large-scale carbon 
        financing and other investment, and foster women-owned 
        businesses along the entire business value chain;
            (3) international development projects to help build 
        commercial businesses to manufacture, market, distribute, sell, 
        and service clean cookstoves and fuels;
            (4) development efforts related to refugee camps, disaster 
        relief, and long-term humanitarian and empowerment programs 
        aimed at assisting women, girls, and other vulnerable 
        populations;
            (5) financing or insurance to support projects that provide 
        access to clean, affordable energy and energy savings through 
        the manufacture, sale, and purchase of clean cookstoves and 
        fuels;
            (6) dissemination of cookstove standards to lower 
        environmental and health impacts associated with cook stoves 
        through the International Organization for Standardization 
        process for household, institutional, or commercial use; and
            (7) political engagement with low-to-middle-income 
        countries to include cookstove and household energy emission 
        reduction goals in their Nationally Determined Contributions 
        (NDCs), guidance on implementation of the NDCs, and monitoring 
        and verification frameworks.

SEC. 4. CLEAN COOKING INTERAGENCY WORKING GROUP.

    (a) Establishment.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of State and the Administrator of 
the United States Agency for International Development shall jointly 
establish the Clean Cooking Interagency Working Group (referred to in 
this section as the ``Working Group''), consisting of representatives 
from the Department of Energy, the National Institutes of Health, the 
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Environmental 
Protection Agency, and any other Federal agency that the Secretary and 
the Administrator may designate to assist with overseeing the planning, 
management, and coordination of initiatives to increase the number of 
clean cookstoves and fuels worldwide.
    (b) Responsibilities.--The Working Group shall--
            (1) establish goals and priorities for increasing the 
        number of clean cookstoves and fuels worldwide; and
            (2) provide for interagency coordination, including budget 
        coordination, of activities under this Act.
    (c) Governance.--The Secretary of State and the Administrator of 
United States Agency for International Development, or their designees, 
shall serve as co-chairs of the Working Group.
    (d) Meetings.--Members of the Working Group shall meet not later 
than 90 days after the Working Group is established pursuant to 
subsection (a), and quarterly thereafter, to carry out the 
responsibilities described in subsection (b).

SEC. 5. CLEAN COOKING PROGRAM.

    (a) Department of State; United States Agency for International 
Development.--The Secretary of State and the Administrator of the 
United States Agency for International Development shall work with the 
Clean Cooking Alliance, founded in 2010--
            (1) to engage in a wide range of diplomatic activities, 
        including with countries across the globe and with United 
        States embassies abroad, to support activities of the Clean 
        Cooking Alliance and the clean cookstoves and fuels sector;
            (2) to continue the clean cooking initiatives supported by 
        the Climate and Clean Air Coalition, an intergovernmental 
        organization formed in 2012, to reduce emissions of climate 
        pollutants;
            (3) to advance programs that support the adoption of 
        affordable cookstoves that require less fuel to meet household 
        energy needs and release fewer pollutants, as a means to 
        improve health, reduce environmental degradation, mitigate 
        climate change, foster economic growth, and empower women; and
            (4) to carry out other activities authorized under this 
        Act.
    (b) Department of Energy.--The Secretary of Energy shall work with 
the Clean Cooking Alliance--
            (1) to conduct research to spur development of low-cost, 
        low-emission, high-efficiency cookstoves through research in 
        areas such as combustion, heat transfer, and materials 
        development;
            (2) to conduct research to spur development of low-
        emission, high-efficiency energy sources;
            (3) to support innovative small businesses in the United 
        States that are developing advanced cookstoves and improved 
        cookstove assessment devices; and
            (4) to carry out other activities authorized under this 
        Act.
    (c) National Institutes of Health.--The Director of the National 
Institutes of Health shall work with the Clean Cooking Alliance--
            (1) to support health research and training to improve the 
        health and lives of those at risk from household burning of 
        solid fuels, including--
                    (A) dedicated resources for research on household 
                air pollution to ensure adoption of life-saving 
                interventions and policy formulation; and
                    (B) regional network research and training hubs in 
                global environmental health and occupational health 
                with a household air pollution focus; and
            (2) to carry out other activities authorized under this 
        Act.
    (d) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.--The Director of 
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shall work with the 
Clean Cooking Alliance--
            (1) to evaluate cookstove and fuel programs to better 
        understand their public health benefits and key determinants of 
        adoption;
            (2) to promote a better understanding of the relationship 
        between human exposures and health outcomes from the use of 
        rudimentary cookstoves and open fires; and
            (3) to carry out other activities authorized under this 
        Act.
    (e) Environmental Protection Agency.--The Administrator of the 
Environmental Protection Agency shall work with the Clean Cooking 
Alliance--
            (1) to conduct cookstove and fuel testing and evaluation in 
        the lab and in the field, including by--
                    (A) evaluating energy efficiency and air pollutant 
                emissions that impact human health and the environment;
                    (B) building the capacity of regional stove testing 
                and knowledge centers around the world; and
                    (C) developing international standards regarding 
                fuel use, emissions, and safety of cookstoves and 
                fuels;
            (2) to conduct climate, health, and air quality research, 
        including with United States institutions of higher education, 
        regarding the air quality and climatic benefits of 
        interventions for cookstoves and residential burning, and to 
        continue the clean cooking initiatives supported by the Climate 
        and Clean Air Coalition to reduce emissions of climate 
        pollutants;
            (3) to provide technical and policy expertise and to help 
        the Clean Cooking Alliance align with ongoing international 
        efforts in the field; and
            (4) to carry out other activities authorized under this 
        Act.
    (f) Other Federal Agencies.--Other Federal agencies may engage with 
the Clean Cooking Alliance or other agencies, as appropriate, to 
further the policy described in section 3.

SEC. 6. REPORTING REQUIREMENTS.

    (a) Defined Term.--In this section, the term ``appropriate 
congressional committees'' means--
            (1) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate;
            (2) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate;
            (3) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of 
        Representatives; and
            (4) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of 
        Representatives.
    (b) Annual Report.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter, the President shall 
submit a report to the appropriate congressional committees that 
describes the progress made to further the policy described in section 
3.
    (c) Information Included in Reports.--Each report submitted 
pursuant to subsection (b) shall include--
            (1) the indicators used by the Department of State and each 
        Federal agency participating in the interagency working group 
        established pursuant to section 4(a) to monitor and evaluate 
        the progress made by each such agency to further the policy 
        described in section 3;
            (2) data pertaining to populations served in United States 
        Government-funded cookstoves and fuels programming;
            (3) information regarding United States Government 
        investments in clean cookstoves and fuels programming, 
        including funding that has been planned, appropriated, 
        obligated, or expended during the most recently concluded 
        fiscal year and cumulatively for the 5 most recently concluded 
        fiscal years; and
            (4) information regarding the progress made toward 
        increasing collaboration among Federal agencies to further the 
        policy described in section 3, including interagency research 
        efforts and collaboration with international research partners.
    (d) Public Availability.--The President shall make the report 
required under subsection (b) available to the public.

SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATIONS OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated for fiscal years 2022 
through 2027 such sums as may be necessary to carry out this Act.
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