The International Energy Commitments (IEC) database tool allows access to both internal stakeholders and the public to the archive of international energy commitments. It allows the user to search by country, technology, program office, signature date, and U.S. and/or foreign party to retrieve and view signed commitment documents and associated descriptive information. The IEC was initiated January 2009 to comply with DOE Order 142.4.

The U.S. Department of Energy has long-standing cooperative arrangements with foreign governments and international organizations in all areas of its mission – energy supply and security, science and technology, non-proliferation, and the environment, including promoting clean energy technologies to decrease emissions. The Department has over one hundred active commitments with 70-plus countries and 11 international organizations. Through this tool, the user can search and access the Department’s library of active, as well as historic commitments.

International science and technology agreements have two forms: legally binding (including intergovernmental treaties approved by Congress and executive-type government-to-government or agency-level agreements), and informal arrangements with no legally binding effect. Agreements of both types are signed at various levels of government, from the Executive Office of the President to program and project levels within a specific agency. There are also international commitments which have no written agreement; for instance, energy dialogues that provide a framework for consultation on policy issues.