Notice2021-18637
Request for Comments on U.S. Clean Technologies Export Competitiveness Strategy
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
August 30, 2021
Issuing agencies
Commerce DepartmentInternational Trade Administration
Abstract
Recognizing the vital importance of clean technologies in tackling the global climate crisis and spurring U.S. innovation and creating well-paying jobs, the Department of Commerce (DOC), in partnership with the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate (SPEC), has made it a top priority to encourage growth and ensure U.S. innovation and competitiveness in clean technologies sectors. To that end, via this general solicitation, the International Trade Administration (ITA) is requesting public comments on clean technologies export competitiveness. This stakeholder input will inform the Department's effort to develop a ``U.S. Clean Technologies Export Competitiveness Strategy'', which intends to identify key issues influencing the deployment of these goods and services, highlight potential opportunities and challenges, and identify possible actions for the DOC and federal government to take in order to foster U.S. export competitiveness in clean technologies sectors.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 165 (Monday, August 30, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 165 (Monday, August 30, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48399-48401]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-18637]
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
International Trade Administration
Request for Comments on U.S. Clean Technologies Export
Competitiveness Strategy
AGENCY: International Trade Administration, Department of Commerce.
ACTION: Request for public comments.
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SUMMARY: Recognizing the vital importance of clean technologies in
tackling the global climate crisis and spurring U.S. innovation and
creating well-paying jobs, the Department of Commerce (DOC), in
partnership with the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for
Climate (SPEC), has made it a top priority to encourage growth and
ensure U.S. innovation and competitiveness in clean technologies
[[Page 48400]]
sectors. To that end, via this general solicitation, the International
Trade Administration (ITA) is requesting public comments on clean
technologies export competitiveness. This stakeholder input will inform
the Department's effort to develop a ``U.S. Clean Technologies Export
Competitiveness Strategy'', which intends to identify key issues
influencing the deployment of these goods and services, highlight
potential opportunities and challenges, and identify possible actions
for the DOC and federal government to take in order to foster U.S.
export competitiveness in clean technologies sectors.
DATES: Comments will be considered on a rolling basis but are due no
later than 5 p.m. Eastern Time on October 1, 2021.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, identified by ITA-2021-0005, by
either of the following methods:
<bullet> Online Submission (Strongly Preferred): Submit all
electronic public comments via the Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to
<a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> and enter ITA-2021-0005 in the Search box.
Click on the ``Comment'' icon, complete the required fields, and enter
or attach your comments.
<bullet> Email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#6a09060f0b041e0f09022a1e180b0e0f440d051c"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="d5b6b9b0b4bba1b0b6bd95a1a7b4b1b0fbb2baa3">[email protected]</span></a>. Comments submitted by email
should be machine-readable and should not be copy-protected.
Due to COVID-19 building closures, we are currently temporarily not
accepting comments by mail. However, if you are unable to comment via
<a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a>, you may contact <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#47242b2226293322242f07333526232269202831"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="15767970747b6170767d5561677471703b727a63">[email protected]</span></a> for instructions
on submitting your comment.
Instructions: Comments sent by any other method, to any other
address or individual, or received after the end of the comment period,
may not be considered by ITA. All comments received are a part of the
public record and will generally be posted for public viewing on
<a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> without change.
Commenters should include the name of the person or organization
filing the comment. All personal identifying information (for example,
name, address) voluntarily submitted by the commenter may be publicly
accessible. ITA will not accept anonymous comments.
For those seeking to submit confidential business information (CBI)
for Government use only, please clearly mark such submissions as CBI
and submit an accompanying redacted version to be made public. CBI
comments can be submitted either through <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> (strongly
preferred) or by email.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Devin Horne, International Trade
Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution Avenue
NW, Room 28018, Washington, DC 20230; telephone (202) 482-0775; email
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#36555a5357584253555e76424457525318515940"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="d9bab5bcb8b7adbcbab199adabb8bdbcf7beb6af">[email protected]</span></a>. Please direct media inquiries to ITA's Office of
Public Affairs (202) 482-3809 or <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#225257404e4b41434444434b50516256504346470c454d54"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="8afaffe8e6e3e9ebececebe3f8f9cafef8ebeeefa4ede5fc">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background: On January 27, 2021, President Biden issued Executive
Order 14008, ``Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad'' (FRN
Doc. 2021-02177) (E.O. 14008). E.O. 14008 puts climate considerations
at the forefront of United States foreign policy and national security.
The E.O. also directs agencies that engage in extensive international
work to develop strategies and implementation plans for integrating
climate considerations into their international work. ITA intends to
integrate such considerations into its export promotion work. President
Biden's Build Back Better economic recovery plan seeks to mobilize
American manufacturing and innovation to ensure that the future is made
in all of America by all of America's workers. By mobilizing American
ingenuity to innovate and develop clean technologies products and
services that can be deployed at home and exported abroad, we can
ensure a just transition while mobilizing a 21st century education
workforce and advancing racial equity and inclusion in America.
Scope: Clean technologies is a broad term that can encompass a
range of technologies used to address a variety of environmental
issues. For the purpose of this request for public comment, ITA is
focused on both established and emerging technologies, and their
associated goods and services, that can contribute to a transition to
net-zero emissions by significantly removing or reducing the greenhouse
gas (GHG) emissions in a specific application compared to existing,
carbon-intensive technology in the same application. This notice serves
as a general solicitation for public comment and as an initial step in
improving ITA's understanding of the current technological and policy
landscape.
These technologies can be organized by their ability to reduce GHG
emissions in broad economic sectors identified by the United Nations
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as major contributors to
global GHG emissions, including:
(1) Electricity and heat production (25 percent of global direct GHG
emissions)
(2) Agriculture, forestry, and other land use (24 percent of global
direct GHG emissions)
(3) Industry (21 percent of global direct GHG emissions)
(4) Transportation (14 percent of global direct GHG emissions)
(5) Other energy emissions not directly associated with electricity or
heat production, such as fuel extraction, refining, processing, and
transportation (9.6 percent of global direct GHG emissions)
(6) Buildings (6.4 percent of global direct GHG emissions)
Illustrative examples of clean technologies include but are not
limited to: Power generation from civil nuclear renewable energy
sources; electric vehicles and renewable fuels for road, aviation,
rail, maritime shipping, or other transportation; agribusiness,
including anaerobic digesters and zero-emission agricultural equipment;
smart grid solutions; energy storage; hydrogen fuel cells; carbon
capture, utilization, and sequestration; decarbonization technologies
for energy production; low-carbon solutions for heavy industry, such as
cement and steel production; energy efficient advanced manufacturing
techniques; and low-carbon and energy efficient building materials.
For the purpose of this request for public comment, competitiveness
entails the capacity to produce and deploy affordable, reliable, and
accessible clean technologies and compete in global markets, with the
overall aim of accelerating global private sector capabilities to fight
the effects of climate change while also bringing benefits to the U.S.
economy and people.
Request for Written Comments
Instructions: This notice serves as an initial step in improving
ITA's understanding of private sector interests, concerns, and policy
needs with respect to the potential for exports of clean technologies.
This notice is a general solicitation for public comments and further
sets forth topics for discussion and comment. ITA seeks broad input
from all interested stakeholders--including U.S. industry, researchers,
academia, and civil society--on the potential opportunities for and
challenges to increasing U.S. clean technologies export competitiveness
across multiple industry sectors. Commenters are encouraged to address
any or all of the following questions and may respond in
[[Page 48401]]
terms of clean technologies broadly, or in terms of specific
technologies therein. To the extent commenters choose to respond to the
specific questions asked, responses may be formatted as the commenter
prefers.
Questions
Scope
1. Is there an established methodology for designating particular
technologies as clean technologies or additional factors that the
Government should consider for purposes of scoping this strategy?
2. What clean technologies offer the most significant immediate
opportunities for U.S. exports of associated goods and services?
3. What clean technologies do not currently offer significant
immediate opportunities for U.S. exports of associated goods and
services but may offer such opportunities within the next five to ten
years?
4. What types of services offer the most significant immediate or
future opportunities for U.S. clean technologies exports? How do the
needs of clean technologies services exporters differ from exporters of
manufactured products?
Challenges
5. For sectors or technologies in which the United States currently
has a competitive domestic industry, what are the main factors (i.e.,
economic, technical, regulatory, etc.) that could pose a significant
risk to the U.S. industry's competitive position?
6. For sectors or technologies in which the United States does not
currently have a competitive domestic industry, what are the main
factors (i.e., economic, technical, regulatory, etc.) inhibiting U.S.
industry competitiveness?
7. What issues related to intellectual property, standards, or
measurement science pose a challenge to U.S. clean technologies export
competitiveness?
8. When pursuing opportunities in foreign markets, what are the
main risks or barriers (i.e., economic, financial, regulatory,
technical, trade policy, etc.) facing U.S. businesses seeking to export
clean technologies goods and services, whether generally or in specific
foreign markets?
Solutions
9. What are the most impactful existing tools or resources offered
by the Government to reduce or remove challenges, risks, and barriers
in order to help position U.S. clean technologies industries for
competitiveness in the global market?
10. How can existing tools or resources offered by the Government
to reduce or remove challenges, risks, and barriers be improved to
increase their effectiveness or make them more accessible to U.S. clean
technologies companies?
11. What are the most impactful new actions the Government could
take domestically to reduce or remove challenges, risks, and barriers
in order to help position U.S. clean technologies industries for
competitiveness in the global market?
12. What are the most impactful new actions the Government could
take through engagement with foreign countries to reduce or remove
challenges, risks, and barriers in order to help position U.S. clean
technologies industries for competitiveness in the global market?
13. Which foreign countries or regions present the greatest market
opportunities for U.S. exports of clean technologies and/or should be
prioritized for engagement by the Government?
14. What objectives should the Government set for a U.S. Clean
Technologies Export Competitiveness Strategy in the first 6-months, 12-
months, 2-years, and 5-years, and what metrics should the Government
use to measure these objectives?
Trade Policy
15. How do U.S. trade policies impact the development and
deployment of clean technologies in the United States and abroad?
Other
16. Are there additional relevant issues impacting U.S. clean
technologies export competitiveness not addressed by these questions,
and what are the most impactful actions the Government could take to
address these issues?
Dated: August 25, 2021.
Man Cho,
Deputy Director, Office of Energy and Environmental Industries.
[FR Doc. 2021-18637 Filed 8-27-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DR-P
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