EVERYDAY CHOICES:
OPPORTUNITIES FOR
ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP
Technical Report
prepared by the
EPA Environmental Stewardship Staff Committee
for the
EPA Innovation Action Council
November 2005
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER 1: ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP AND HOW IT
CONTRIBUTES TO EPA'S MISSION ; 3
1.1 SOMETHING is HAPPENING 3
1.2 ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP-AN EMERGING VISION AND FRAMEWORK 6
1.3 ENABLING AND ENCOURAGING ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP - A CHANGING ROLE
FOR EPA 13
CHAPTER 2: EPA'S CURRENT ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP
PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES 16
2.1 A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF EPA's CURRENT ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP
PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES 16
2.2 PERSPECTIVES FROM STATE OFFICIALS, EXPERTS, AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS 24
CHAPTER 3: OPPORTUNITIES FOR EPA LEADERSHIP 29
3.1 USE RECOGNITION/CHALLENGE PROGRAMS IN A STRATEGIC WAY TO MOTIVATE
BUSINESSES, COMMUNITIES, GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND INDIVIDUALS 30
3.2 ENERGIZE INDIVIDUALS TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL
STEWARDSHIP : 31
3.3 LEAD BY EXAMPLE AT EPA FACILITIES AND IN EPA OPERATIONS 32
3.4 INSPIRE EPA STAFF TO PRACTICE STEWARDSHIP ; 34
3.5 USE INFORMATION AND MARKETS TO FOSTER STEWARDSHIP OF ECOSYSTEMS 35
3.6 ENCOURAGE STEWARDSHIP IN COMMUNITIES 36
3.7 PROMOTE PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP 37
CHAPTER 4: STRENGTHENING THE FOUNDATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL
STEWARDSHIP AT EPA 40
4.1 STRENGTHEN MEASUREMENT AND REPORTING ON RESULTS FROM ENVIRONMENTAL
STEWARDSHIP ACTIVITIES 40
4.2. IMPROVE EPA-wiDE COMMUNICATION, OUTREACH AND MARKETING 48
4.3 UNIFY EPA ACTIVITIES TO MAKE MORE ACCESSIBLE FOR INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL
AUDIENCES 51
4.4 REFLECT STEWARDSHIP IN EPA PLANNING, BUDGETING AND ACCOUNTABILITY
SYSTEMS : .• 51
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4.5 ALIGN EPA EFFORTS WITH STATE AND TRIBAL ACTIVITIES AND PRIORITIES '.....53
4.6 REFINE ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS AND EDUCATION ACTIVITIES TO REALIZE FULL
VALUE 55
4.7 IMPROVE OUR KNOWLEDGE BASE - PERFORM CRITICAL RESEARCH 57
APPENDIX A: ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP & EPA: CHARGE FROM
THE ADMINISTRATOR TO THE INNOVATION ACTION COUNCIL 59
APPENDIX B: ROSTER OF PROJECT PARTICIPANTS 61
APPENDIX C: DETAILED SUMMARY OF INTERVIEWS WITH STATE
OFFICIALS, EXPERTS AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS 62
APPENDIX D: STEWARDSHIP RESOURCE OUTCOME STATEMENTS 80
APPENDIX E: SOME DEFINITIONS OF STEWARDS AND STEWARDSHIP 84
APPENDIX F: SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION FOR THE CRITICAL
ASSESSMENT 88
ENDNOTES 99
APPENDIX G: ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP MEASUREMENT
REPORT , [web link]
APPENDIX H: BENCHMARKING REPORT ON PERFORMANCE
MEASURES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP AND
INNOVATION [web link]
APPENDIX I: OPTIONS PAPERS [web link]
APPENDIX J: LIST OF EPA ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP
PROGRMS AND DESCRIPTIONS [web link]
[Web links to be supplied in the near future.]
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INTRODUCTION
On May 9, 2005, Administrator Stephen L. Johnson asked the EPA Innovation Action Council
(I AC), a group of the most senior career officials from each headquarters and regional office, to
undertake a special project on environmental stewardship. (See Appendix A, "Environmental
Stewardship and EPA: Charge from the Administrator to the Innovation Action Council.")
In his charge, the Administrator noted that "in addition to operating effective regulatory and
enforcement programs, EPA is gaining substantial experience with stewardship approaches -
including voluntary programs, market incentives, recognition and leadership programs, pollution
prevention, environmental education, information and collaborative problem solving. Although
these stewardship efforts are designed to produce environmental results, EPA can improve their
effectiveness with a more unified strategy and with clear goals and priorities."
With this in mind, he asked the Innovation Action Council to do three things:
1. Explore and better define EPA's vision of environmental stewardship and the role of
stewardship in the future of environmental protection;
2. Assess EPA's current environmental stewardship activities to determine effectiveness
and opportunities for improvement; and
3. Recommend options and priorities for how EPA, in partnership with states and tribes, can
encourage stewardship that addresses environmental priorities and achieves results.
The I AC responded by establishing a Steering Committee, composed mainly of I AC members,
and a staff committee that had broad representation from around the Agency. (See Appendix B)
The staff committee has met almost every week since it was established and has been very
actively and enthusiastically engaged throughout the project. In addition to its own research, the
staff committee also drew on the wisdom of a number of experts and stakeholders and several
outside consultants.
The report to the Administrator, Everyday Choices: Opportunities for Environmental
Stewardship, is the lAC's official response to the Administrator's charge. This technical report
and appendices from the staff committee to the I AC provide many details that could not be
included in a short report. The staff committee wrote and rewrote many papers on a wide range
of topics. Many of these papers appear as sections in the technical report and the appendices.
Taken together they illustrate the logic and the many opportunities for EPA's active involvement
in environmental stewardship.
The first chapter in this technical report addresses the first part of the charge, to explore and
better define EPA's vision and role in environmental stewardship. Chapter 2 contains the
assessment requested in the second part of the charge and the results of the interviews conducted
with state officials, experts and other stakeholders. Chapters 3 and 4 respond to the third part of
the charge, concerning options and priorities for EPA.
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It is important to stress that the ideas and proposals described in this technical report were
developed by the staff committee as background material for the IAC response to the
Administrator. They have been compiled in this report to help inform the broader dialogue about
environmental stewardship at EPA and to serve as a resource during the implementation phase of
this project.
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CHAPTER 1:
ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP AND HOW IT
CONTRIBUTES TO EPA'S MISSION
1.1 SOMETHING is HAPPENING
An industry official approves the design of a new product. An individual selects a new
automobile. A community launches a new recycling system. A state government purchasing
agent buys supplies.
These are everyday choices - each of which may appear to be small and of little consequence,
but when multiplied by the number of times they are made every day they have significant
implications for the environment and the quality of life for everyone. Some of the people making
these choices understand these consequences and factor them into their decisions. Others make
no connection.
Now consider the following news stories from the last 14 months:
• The president of a major U.S. manufacturing company announces plans to invest $1.5
billion in the development of cleaner technologies and products over the next ten years,
positioning the company for new sales. "We plan to make money doing it," he says.1
• The number of individuals placing orders for new hybrid-fueled automobiles creates
months-long backlogs.2
• The mayors of 50 cities from around the world sign the United Nations Urban
Environmental Accords, listing 21 actions to improve energy use, waste reduction, urban
design, urban nature, transportation, environmental health and water use.3
• The U.S. Secretary of the Army issues a far-reaching "Army Strategy for the
Environment: Sustain the Mission - Secure the Future," mandating principles of
sustainability across the Army specifically to strengthen its long-term military
effectiveness.4
These are news stories about leaders among business, individuals, communities and government
organizations voluntarily making choices in the course of their everyday lives and work -
choices that in these cases make economic sense and will help improve environmental quality
and achieve sustainable outcomes. Among the leaders, there is what some people are calling the
race to the top. These stories are not what many people expect to hear. These stories are about
leaders and they do not yet reflect broad practice among the 295 million Americans who make
countless decisions every day that affect the environment. But they demonstrate what can and is
being done around the United States and the world.
Throughout the millennia there have always been people who have voluntarily made choices that
respected the long-term interests of the environment. Stewardship has a long history in many
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cultures. Close to home, these values and practices have been and continue to be central for most
American Indians - considered by many to be the first practitioners of environmental
stewardship in North'America. George Washington practiced stewardship as a farmer. The
consequences of poor environmental stewardship were often not as severe when the population
and economy were smaller and technologies were simpler than they are today, but serious
human-caused environmental problems have occurred at a number of times and places.5
Today, some people and organizations see that ecologically sustainable choices are in their best
interest. They see that ecologically sustainable choices are likely to be economically sustainable.
For them, environmental stewardship is a natural part of the marketplace and can be the route to
sustainability.
Consider this recent statement by the leaders of five highly respected research institutes in five
major industrialized countries:
"Over the next 50 years, while the world's population is forecast
to increase by 50 percent, global economic activity is expected to
increase roughly fivefold. Conventional demand studies suggest
that global energy consumption is likely to rise nearly threefold
and manufacturing activity at least threefold, driven largely by
industrialization and infrastructure growth in developing regions.
Global throughput of material is also likely to triple, according to
conventional projections."
These numbers will likely be somewhat smaller in the US and other developed countries, but the
global trends will affect everyone. It is fair to say that most people do not want to see
environmental and other negative resource-related impacts grow by 500%, 300% or even 50%.
In fact, people want an environment that is cleaner for everyone, a resource base that is more
robust and an economy that is stronger and supports all individuals. Not only do people want to
enjoy these benefits in their own lifetimes, but they also want to sustain them for their children
and grandchildren.
The choices that businesses, individuals, communities and government organizations make every
day - product design and manufacture, personal housing and transportation, city planning and
services, and government procurement and operations - are what ultimately drives the strength
of our economy and our resource base and the quality of our environment. More specifically,
environmental degradation or improvement, whether it first appears to be caused by "major" or
"minor" sources, is ultimately the product of many everyday choices. (See Figure 1.)
It is possible for the 295 million Americans to make these everyday choices and meet their needs
while simultaneously improving and sustaining the economy, the resource base, and the
environment. Careful choices can abundantly provide for and sustain all three for future
generations. This is the vision that many of the leaders see. They see that this vision can be
accomplished by making everyday choices carefully - redesigning products, creating new
transportation options, and so forth. In these changes, they see opportunity for themselves, their
organizations and the society at large: overall success is linked to the success of each part.
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Figure 1: Who Can Help Solve These Environmental Challenges?
Proposed approach: Target key groups and their stewardship roles
purchasing
facility planning & management
technology demonstrations
policies & regulations
Other key groups
• universities
• NGOs
• financial community
' trade associations
consumer choices
transportation
household management
local decisions
product design
supply chain management
consumer education
facility design, management & operation
land use
ecosystem protection
infrastructure planning &
management
Most of these everyday choices are beyond the direct control of government and should remain
so. While current regulatory programs have yielded remarkable results over the past several
decades and should be vigorously continued, no amount of regulatory authority or funding would
be sufficient to meet the current challenges to the environment posed by a changing population,
economy and technology. But government can help by creating opportunities in the marketplace
and at large for careful everyday choices - enabling and encouraging environmental stewardship.
When people have realistic and attractive opportunities to make these careful choices, they often
do so on their own because they see that it is in their interest and then everyone benefits.
Today there is wide public recognition and agreement that human prosperity and environmental
quality go hand in hand and that environment and sustainability are critical to a successful
society. Equally important, there is a shared understanding that governments can not accomplish
many important societal goals on their own; for that reason, our understanding of and experience
with collaboration and partnerships have advanced considerably.
In response to these developments in the society at large, EPA and its state government partners
have initiated a series of efforts designed to enable and encourage environmental stewardship.
Some of these efforts remain small, but some have become substantial programs. At EPA, these
efforts are emerging throughout headquarters and regional programs. This is what led the EPA
Administrator to say in his charge to the Innovation Action Council that "in addition to operating
effective regulatory and enforcement programs, EPA is gaining substantial experience with
stewardship approaches - including partnership (or voluntary) programs, market incentives,
recognition and leadership programs, pollution prevention, environmental education, information
and collaborative problem solving. Although these stewardship efforts are designed to produce
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environmental results, EPA can improve their effectiveness with a more unified strategy and
with clear goals and priorities."
1.2 ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP - AN EMERGING VISION AND FRAMEWORK
Dictionary Definitions of Steward and Stewardship
Steward: [ME. steward < Old English E. stigweard < stig, enclosure, hall, sty + weard, a keeper, ward]
A person put in charge of the affairs of a large household or estate....7
Stewardship: The careful and responsible management of something entrusted to one's care.8
For additional definitions, see Appendix E.
The mission of the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency is to protect human health and the
natural environment. Our state government partners have missions that are very similar. Over
much of our history, we have approached this mission largely through regulations on pollution at
the point of discharge. In the 1990s, realizing that options for environmental benefits exist
earlier in a process or activity than the point of discharge, we added the focus of pollution
prevention to encourage pollution reduction at the source. This approach recognizes the many
choices that people make every day that affect the environment and creates opportunities for
them to make them in ways that benefit the environment. Within the Agency, it has also helped
forge the development of a number of cross-media and integrated activities.
This development has helped and been helped by an evolving sense of environmental
responsibility or stewardship, particularly among the leaders of the largest organizations whose
actions affect the environment. As illustrated in Figure 2, the evolution has progressed from
compliance, to continuous improvement, to goals and targets, and, most recently, to
sustainability-based strategies.
Figure 2: The Evolution of Environmental Stewardship9
Compliance
Acceptance
of meeting
standards &
requirements
Continuous
Improvement
Use of
measurement
& reporting to
improve env.
performance
Goals &
Targets
Use of targets,
measures, &
reports to
reduce env.
footprint
Sustainability-
based
Strategies
Focus on long-
lasting solutions
to promote
sustained env.
quality
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This evolving sense of environmental responsibility or stewardship is exciting because it can
significantly help to protect human health and the environment - a goal that is widely endorsed
and integral to EPA's mission. Indeed, environmental stewardship approaches have already
begun to yield impressive results. Environmental stewardship can help address a wide variety of
environmental problems. Current enforcement and compliance methods are and will remain
essential to the EPA, but in some cases, regulation could achieve greater results if coupled with
environmental stewardship. In some situations - especially involving many everyday choices -
stewardship may be the more or only viable approach. It holds the promise of giving private
parties the opportunity to participate in achieving sustainable environmental results and of
reducing costs to government. Given the actions already taken by some leaders and the readiness
of many parts of society to engage, EPA and its state partners have a significant opportunity to
enable and encourage others to follow.
The logic of this role is fairly straight-forward. (See Figure 3) By focusing on key groups, such
as individuals, communities, business and government organizations, EPA can help to enable
and encourage them to make everyday choices that will lead to the health and sustainable use of
key natural resources and resource systems: energy, water, materials, ecosystems, land and air.
With time and collaboration, this will lead to the long-term measurable improvements in the air,
water and land that we need to protect human health and the natural environment. In this
context, environmental stewardship is a means and sustainable natural resource systems and
better environmental quality are ends.
Figure 3: Stewardship Behavior - One Link Between EPA Activities
and Environmental Results
Logic model approach
Target
Groups
Individuals
Communities
Companies
Government
-
Short-term
Outcomes
Changes in
attitude,
knowledge
& skills
•
Intermediate
Outcomes
Behavior changes
that lead to
sustainable use
Energy
Water
Materials
Land
Air
EPA's Strategic Plan currently describes environmental stewardship as a driver that crosses the
Agency's five Goals. Specifically, it defines it as follows: "Behavior that includes, but also
exceeds, required compliance. Stewards of the environment recycle wastes to the greatest extent
possible, minimize or eliminate pollution at its source, and use energy and natural resources
efficiently to reduce impacts on the environment."10
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The EPA Innovation Action Council (IAC) has articulated a vision and definition of
environmental stewardship, to guide the Agency (see Exhibit 1):
Exhibit 1: Environmental Stewardship: IAC Vision and Definition
Vision
EPA's vision of environmental stewardship is that all parts of society actively take responsibility to
improve environmental quality and to achieve sustainable outcomes.
Definition
Environmental stewardship is the responsibility for environmental quality shared by all those whose
actions affect the environment, reflected as both a value and a practice by individuals, companies,
communities, and government organizations. Positive stewardship behavior demonstrates acceptance of
this responsibility through the continuous improvement of environmental performance to achieve
measurable results and sustainable outcomes.
This definition of environmental stewardship is meant to be broad and inclusive. EPA should
use this definition to encourage everyone to improve their environmental performance. Strong
environmental stewardship is expressed in both values and practice.
The values are simple:
1. Respect for the environmental, on which life depends;
2. Acceptance of personal and organizational responsibility for environmental quality; and
3. Recognition of the need to sustain the environment for future generations. (See
Exhibit 2)
Exhibit 2: Environmental Stewardship is Future-Oriented
White House Office of the Federal Environmental Executive
"We define sustainable environmental stewardship to include those concepts, strategies, tools, practices,
and approaches that lead to environmental improvement in a manner that is sustainable over time,
considers the long term effects as well as the shorter term, more immediate effects, and that contributes
positively, even if indirectly, to the social and economic condition."11
State of Illinois - Environmental Protection Agency
"Environmental stewards strive to sustain natural resources and our environment for future generations.
People depend on natural resources for their livelihood. However, pressures on the environment resulting
from development are steadily increasing. Therefore, it is necessary for citizens and the business
community to ensure that their activities and operations are environmentally responsible."12
University of Michigan
"Everyone is a steward of the environment around us. We do not own the environment-no one can. We
are simply caretakers of the resources that we use in our daily lives, and it is our responsibility to
administer those resources to the best of our abilities so they are available for the use and enjoyment of
others, including future generations. Stewardship is what we do.... Simply put, stewardship is the concept
of responsibly managing all of our resources for the benefit of present and future generations of people,
plants, and animals."13
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EPA: "Beyond RCRA - Waste and Materials Management in the Year 2020"
"What kind of world will we actually inhabit in 2020? Some predict that it will be better than the present -
where products and materials will be less toxic and reusable, and where resources will be used more
efficiently so that far less waste is produced. Others predict we will experience a bleaker future - where
harmful chemicals will be more prevalent throughout our environment and may seriously affect
groundwater, drinking water, and food supplies. While we can't know which of these scenarios - or others
- will exist in 20 years, considering the future now makes sense if we want a chance to shape it
positively."14
Iroquois Confederacy:
"In our every deliberation we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations."15
A Journalist
Every day parents prepare their children for the future; every day we should prepare the future for our
children.1
The committee developed a list of characteristics or practices and behaviors (see Exhibit 3)
("short-term outcomes" in the logic model) of sound environmental stewardship. This list is
based closely on several widely-recognized sets of principles, such as the Hannover Principles,
the CERES Principles, the Equator Principles, the Enlibra Principles, the Principles of Eco-
efficiency by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, The Natural Step and
others.17
Exhibit 3: Characteristics (or Practices and Behaviors) of Sound
Environmental Stewardship
/. Protects natural systems and uses natural resources effectively and efficiently. Considers and
reduces the household, community, farm, or company's entire environmental footprint. Safeguards
and restores nature at home and elsewhere. Follows the pollution prevention hierarchy of acting
first to prevent pollution at its source. Uses less toxic, more environmentally benign materials, uses
local resources and conserves natural resources whenever possible. Reuses and recycles materials
and wastes. Seeks sustainability.
2. Makes environment a key part of internal priorities, values and ethics, and leads by example.
Makes decisions through his/her own volition that will prevent or minimize environmental harm.
Anticipates, plans for, and takes responsibility for economic, environmental and social
consequences of actions. Approaches business strategies, policy planning, and life as an integrated
dynamic with the environment. Acts in innovative ways, using all available tools and adding value
wherever practical. Adopts holistic, systems approaches.
3. Holds oneself accountable. Measures the effects of behavior on the environment and seeks
progress. Applies an understanding of the "carrying capacity" of the environment (the ability of the
environment to absorb pollution) to measure progress and update objectives to achieve continuous
improvement, often using indicators, environmental assessments, and environmental management
systems.
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4. Believes in shared responsibility. Recognizes obligations and connections to shareholders,
customers, communities at home and elsewhere. Within a company, a steward is concerned with the
full life cycle of products and services, beyond company boundaries, up and down the supply chain
(including suppliers, customers and end-of-product-life). Within a community, a steward protects
the environment for all members and takes responsibility for effects of use of resources extracted
from other locations, effects on the overall watershed, effects on downstream air pollution, and
effects of wastes disposed of elsewhere. A steward operates with transparency and encourages
others to be collaborative stewards.
5. Invests in the future. Anticipates the needs of future generations while serving the needs of the
present generation. Actions reflect possible changes in population, the economy and technology.
Guides the development of technology to minimize negative environmental implications and
maximize potential stewardship applications. Values and protects natural and social capital. Seeks
preventative and long-term solutions in community development, business strategy, agricultural
strategy, and household plans.
6. Exceeds required compliance. Views environmental regulations only as a floor, not a target. (Note:
this characteristic applies only to the extent that regulations apply; an environmental steward does
not have to be part of EPA's regulatory universe.)
"In an ideal world, regulation is replaced by stewardship; an inherent respect for the environment. In this
concept of stewardship, everyone takes responsibility for their actions and the use of resources for the
benefit of the community."
- excerpt from the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, "Principles of Enforcement"18
Another way to look at key stewardship groups is to look at what drives them towards the values
and practice of environmental stewardship and what barriers they face. The experts and
stakeholders interviewed in connection with this environmental stewardship project made a
number of interesting points on this subject. The following chart is drawn largely from their
comments. (See Exhibit 4).
Exhibit 4: Drivers and Barriers for Environmental Stewardship
Drivers
Barriers
All
Consideration of future generations
Concern over environmental,
economic, and social viability
Lack of accountability and responsibility; Lack
of clear goal or end state
Lack of measuring and valuing tools
Lack of trust
Individuals
Individual belief system, altruism
Environmental education
Recognition of connection between
environmental quality and quality of
life
Increased awareness & access to
information and scientific evidence
Feeling that small, individual actions don't
make a difference
Lack of understanding of connection between
people and the environment
Perception that "green" products are more
costly and of lower quality; reluctance to
accept cost or quality penalties with purchases
Reluctance to make lifestyle shifts to
accommodate stewardship behaviors
10
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Companies
Drivers •
Increased knowledge of business
benefits from stewardship
Public, customer and shareholder
expectations
Pressure for corporate transparency,
public access to information
Competitive pressures for waste
reduction
Desire to reduce risk from non-
compliance with basic
environmental laws, regulations,
and standards
Concern over corporate or brand
image
- Awareness of supply chain risks
and opportunities
Emerging international regulations
Barriers
Lack of accountability and responsibility
- Lack of well-documented connection
between environmental stewardship and
economic benefits / good business practice
Consumer perception that "green" products are
more costly and of lower quality
Majority of capital market institutions are not
yet measuring and valuing environmental
performance and stewardship
Hard to navigate government programs
Lack of sufficient technical assistance for small
and mid-sized businesses
Lack of economic signals in the marketplace
Communities
Environmental education
Public demand- Recognition of
connection between environmental
quality and quality of life
Increased awareness & access to
information and scientific evidence
Enhance the effectiveness of public
services
General feeling of apathy; lack of
accountability and responsibility
- Feeling that small actions don't make a
difference
Lack of understanding of connection between
people and the environment
Reluctance to make lifestyle shifts to
accommodate stewardship behaviors
Reluctance to agree to up-front costs to support
stewardship
Government
Organizations
Public perception, expectations;
public pressure
- Pressure for transparency
- Need to respond to new and complex
problems
- Need to achieve better results with
less resources
Demands of stakeholders
Lack of accountability and responsibility
Term "environmental stewardship" not widely
used among state and local government
agencies
Difficulty defining environmental stewardship
and creating consistency across programs
Lack of alignment between stewardship and
regulations
Having defined the target groups and what they can do to practice environmental stewardship, it
is necessary to define the intermediate outcomes that EPA should work with these groups to
achieve.
Effective environmental stewardship requires all of us to manage natural resources in ways that
protect and enhance - rather than compromise - the ability of future generations to meet their
own needs. In this project we considered our stewardship of six major groups of natural
resources: air, ecosystems, energy, land, materials, and water.
The manner in which we extract (mine/harvest), use, reuse and dispose of these natural resources
determines the major environmental outcomes with which EPA and the nation at large are
concerned. How we steward these natural resources is also the key to solutions to environmental
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problems. Proactively supporting innovations to protect, conserve, and enhance these resources
will enable us to contribute to the well being of both people and the natural environment over the
long run.
To this end, the committee developed six simple statements describing the outcomes that the
nation ought to seek.
• Air: Sustain clean and healthy air.
• Ecosystems: Protect and restore ecosystem functions, goods, and services.
• Energy: Generate clean energy and use it efficiently.
• Land: Support ecologically sensitive land management and development.
• Materials: Use materials carefully and shift to environmentally preferable materials.
• Water: Sustain water resources of quality and availability for desired uses.
The committee expended considerable effort to describe these outcomes in greater detail, in the
belief that such statements could be very useful for planning, implementation and
measurement/evaluation. These outcome statements are included in Appendix D.
Because these six natural resources are each part of a larger, life-sustaining system, the
stewardship of any single resource inevitably influences the quality or availability of others. A
closer look at "materials stewardship" illustrates this interdependence: Through green design,
lifecycle management, conservation, and recycling of materials and products, environmental
stewardship can (1) protect ecosystems affected by resource extraction and waste disposal; (2)
avoid pollution of water, land, and air associated with materials production, transportation, use or
disposal; and (3) conserve water and energy consumed in production, transportation, or use.
Wise strategies maximize "compounded returns" such as these.
The discussion of key stewardship groups and the stewardship/sustainability outcomes lead to a
useful framework for environmental stewardship. (See Exhibit 5).
Exhibit 5: Environmental Stewardship Framework
Individuals
Companies
Communities
Government
Organizations
Air
Ecosystems
Energy
Land
Materials
Water
12
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The workgroup asked several experts to offer their thoughts on the vision statement we
developed (See Chapter 2 and Appendix C). Most tacitly agreed with the statement. However,
they also offered an admonition. EPA cannot allow environmental stewardship to become just
one more EPA initiative. It must be viewed as a legitimate part of the mission the Agency was
given by the Congress. It must be linked to core programs and it must be attended by operational
goals. For it to be viewed credibly, some suggest that the Agency needs to "set the bar higher"
for its actions under environmental stewardship and should offer bold steps that are recognized
as the Agency doing something differently. We should be a catalyst for change. In the words of
one expert: "Stewardship is a powerful and potentially very successful concept; it has the
potential to be a touchstone that people can use to bring them back to the underlying purpose and
goals that should inform and underlie all EPA activities."
1.3 ENABLING AND ENCOURAGING ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP - A CHANGING ROLE
FOR EPA
Over the past decade, EPA has gained considerable experience in stewardship approaches. Most
of EPA's programs can (directly or indirectly) encourage environmental stewardship values and
practices, but some are more oriented in this direction than others. Examples of programs and
activities that particularly enable and encourage environmental stewardship values and practices
include:
• Pollution Prevention
• Performance-based/Leadership/Recognition Programs
• Partnership/Voluntary Programs
• Environmental Education and Fellowships
• EPA Web Site - information on tools and best practices
• Collaborative problem solving
• Geographic Approaches
• Compliance Assistance
• Technical Assistance
• Provision of Market Incentives
.• Research (e.g., on green engineering and chemistry, behavior, industrial ecology)
In turn, each of these categories has many components. For instance:
• Pollution Prevention: Design for the Environment, Green Suppliers Network, Hospitals
for a Healthy Environment, state/tribal technical assistance to business;
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• Performance-based/Leadership/Recognition: Performance Track, Energy Star, President's
Environmental Youth Awards, Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award; and
• Geographic Approaches: Watersheds and estuaries, Brownfields, SEQL and other regional
projects, CARE.
As part of this project, the committee has created a list of many of these programs, with
descriptions. (See Appendix J). Within several months, we expect to have a web-enabled
portfolio, to make it easier to identify EPA environmental stewardship programs.
EPA has started down the path of enabling and encouraging environmental stewardship, but
there is still a great deal more for the Agency to do to help the country achieve the emerging
vision of environmental stewardship and meet the challenge to the environment posed by the
changing population, economy and technology.
In this context, several key points about EPA's changing role are in order. These points generally
apply to EPA's state and tribal government partners as well.
• An increase in the amount of attention to environmental stewardship should not imply a
decrease in the amount of attention to effective regulatory and enforcement programs.
• EPA will need to be much more strategic in its environmental stewardship activities. Our
strategy to date has been to "let a thousand flowers bloom." Now we need to think
carefully about targets of opportunity, approaches and deployment of resources. The
framework of key stewardship groups - individuals, companies, communities and
government organizations - and the six major resource systems that must be the
immediate objects of our stewardship - air, ecosystems, energy, land, materials and water
- appears to be a useful organizing concept.
• In this context, EPA environmental stewardship programs that address only one target
group and/or one resource may get environmental results, but programs or multi-program
strategies that address more than one group/resource may achieve more for EPA's limited
resources.
• Viewed from the outside, EPA has a treasure chest of information that can help people
and organizations meet their environmental stewardship responsibilities. But this
information is not integrated and oriented optimally to meet customer needs.
• In terms of jurisdiction and solutions, EPA has but a portion of environmental stewardship
opportunities within its purview. We acknowledge and applaud those whose own vision
and actions already are at the forefront of environmental stewardship, whether in their
personal, public, or business life. Our role is to enable and encourage those who have not
adopted environmental stewardship to benefit from the leaders, and to move individuals
from passive choices to informed and active choices.
• As EPA moves to enable and encourage better environmental stewardship, we will need to
play multiple roles. We will need to act as a leader, a partner, a student, problem solver, a
facilitator and a regulator. We will need to provide information, incentives and
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recognition, and we will need to demonstrate exceptional stewardship in our own
programs. More specifically, we will need to offer practical direction and challenges to
individuals both inside and outside the Agency. We will need to strengthen our role as
partners with companies who are incorporating environmental considerations within each
business decision they make. We must serve as a facilitator for communities, providing
access to the tools and knowledge they need to make informed environmental decisions.
We must continue to be environmental problem solvers. We will have to do all this while
maintaining our traditional regulatory role. In short, the "EPA brand" - the services for
which we are known - will evolve.
• EPA must collaborate with state, tribal and local government partners that deliver many of
its regulatory programs and also have developed regional and community based
environmental stewardship programs. As with other environmental stewardship leaders, a
number of state, tribal and local governments are on the forefront of environmental
stewardship and EPA should seek to support and encourage these efforts through its
funding, technical assistance, and partnerships on voluntary and other programs.
• These new roles will create new expectations of EPA staff. We will need to pay attention
to the resulting internal challenges as we address human capital development.
• Moving towards stewardship strategies already has fostered considerable innovation on
the part of EPA and other organizations. In fact, innovation and collaborative problem-
solving are key to advancing environmental stewardship strategies.
• The shifts suggested here will require a foundation based on three major elements:
— Information. Environmental stewardship must rest on a bed of sound knowledge and
information - strong science and research, technical assistance information,
transparent publicly-reported operating information, such as the Toxics Release
Inventory (not including confidential information), and program accountability
information.
— Inspiration. Environmental stewardship depends on people who can see beyond the
short-term and who are excited to take actions because they see the long-term benefits
to themselves and others. Spreading inspiration is also a major task of leaders in
every field.
— Trust. Environmental stewardship requires considerably more trust between all parties
than in the regulatory system - a change that can be particularly difficult to make.
Trust must be initiated by leaders. The old adage from nuclear disarmament may also
apply: "Trust but verify."
As we consider EPA's changing role in more detail, it is timely to begin with a further
assessment of our current programs and activities, which is where the next chapter begins.
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CHAPTER 2:
ERA'S CURRENT ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP
PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES
In order to assess EPA's current environmental stewardship activities, the committee undertook
two tasks. In the interest of getting an outside view, the committee engaged contractors to
perform both tasks. First, the committee retained ICF Consulting, Inc., to do an independent
assessment. This assessment is presented in the first section below. Second, the committee
retained Ross and Associates to interview key experts and stakeholders. The summary of these
interviews is presented in the second section below.
2.1 A CRITICAL ASSESSMENT OF EPA's CURRENT ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP
PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES
The critical assessment of EPA's current portfolio of environmental stewardship programs and
activities was based on data provided by EPA during August-October, 2005. The assessment
was designed to answer the following questions:
1. What fraction of the Agency's resources is invested in environmental stewardship
activities?
2. How are the Agency's investments distributed across the key sustainability goals of
environmental stewardship (i.e., air, water, land, materials/toxics, ecosystems, energy)?
3. How are the Agency's investments distributed across the key stakeholder groupings (i.e.,
individuals, businesses, governments and communities)?
s
4. How are the Agency's investments distributed among "end-of-pipe" programs versus
those that address problems from a prevention or sustainability perspective?
Time and resources did not permit a detailed program-by-program analysis to address these
questions. Rather, this assessment looked at EPA's stewardship portfolio as a whole using
previously-collected data, limited quantitative analysis, and the application of professional
judgment by EPA staff and ICF Consulting staff with broad experience with the subject matter.
Supplementary information relating to this critical assessment is presented in Appendix F.
2.1.1 Database Development
2.1.1.1 Definitions
This assessment sorted EPA's environmental stewardship activities into 4 major groupings:
1. Partnership programs that support environmental stewardship [These programs are also
often known as voluntary programs.]
2. Grant programs that support environmental stewardship
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3. Programs providing information, education, tools and other resources in support of
environmental stewardship
4. Regulatory, enforcement and compliance assistance programs, including site-specific
Regional projects.
To be included in the critical assessment of partnership (or voluntary) programs, an activity
had to meet all of the following criteria:
• Voluntary
• Significant, two-way engagement with their members
• Requires action on the part of the stakeholder
• In active operation
The grants program assessment, excluded grant programs principally designed to support State
or Tribal implementation of regulatory programs or enforcement activities, or were principally
designed to fund infrastructure construction.
EPA's portfolio of information, education and related programs is also analyzed below.
The Agency's regulatory program provides a baseline from which a stakeholder's voluntary
activities can grow and be measured. However, because the regulatory program dwarfs the
Agency's voluntary activities, the inclusion of the former would make it difficult to draw any
conclusions about the latter. With more time and resources, it would be possible to analyze the
regulatory program as well and elucidate its impact on stewardship behavior and outcomes.
2.1.1.2 Data Collection
Because there was no pre-existing list of environmental stewardship activities, it was necessary
to create one. The critical assessment process began by collecting, compiling and reconciling
several lists containing approximately 400 distinct EPA activities.19 Of these, several dozen
were found to be inactive or terminated, and a few dozen other activities fell out of the critical
assessment because no information about the activity - other than its name - was readily
available. The remaining activities were categorized as grants, information/education activities,
or as voluntary programs.
ICF developed a list of 133 partnership programs sponsored by various Headquarters
components and Regional offices. Budget data were provided by the program offices for 73 out
of the 87 headquarters programs, which account for the lion's share of the Agency's voluntary
programs investment. However, it must be noted that the budget data were collected somewhat
informally, and it is likely that there are inconsistencies between EPA offices in how voluntary
program budgets were defined.
Funding data for EPA's grant programs were collected from an online database maintained by
the Grants Administration Division, supplemented by data from the program offices. Funding
data were available for 24 of the 57 grant programs.
17
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ICF assigned each partnership program and grant program to one sustainability outcome (e.g.,
air, water, land, ecosystems, energy, materials/toxics, or "multiple resource outcomes"). ICF
also assigned each program to a primary and secondary stakeholder type (e.g., individuals,
communities, governments, businesses). In addition, ICF also assigned a third stakeholder
grouping as an intermediary if needed: for example, a partnership program might work with
retailers to change the products that consumers purchase. For this program, individuals would be
the primary stakeholder category, and businesses would be the intermediary. Not surprisingly,
assignment of programs to sustainability outcomes and stakeholder groupings was more an art
than a science.
Performance data for the partnership programs could not be collected in a consistent fashion
during the time available. EPA has struggled to collect comparable performance data for its
diverse portfolio of partnership programs, and because such data were lacking, ICF was not able
to analyze the performance of the voluntary programs; nor could ICF assess the extent to which
environmental stewardship drives environmental results. This is an important gap in EPA's
management systems, one which is addressed in greater detail later in this report.
2.1.2 Critical Assessment of Voluntary Programs
2.1.2.1 Aggregate Budget Analysis
The Agency's FY2005 appropriation included $2.3 billion for its'Environmental Programs and
Management account and approximately $8 billion for the Agency overall. The 73 partnership
programs for which ICF collected budget data accounted for $125 million in 2005 spending,
equivalent to 5.4% of the Environmental Programs and Management account or 1.6% of the
overall EPA budget. (See Figure 4.)
Figure 4: EPA Agency-wide Budget and Partnership (Voluntary) Programs Budget
•98.4% EPA Agency-Wide Budget
1.6% Voluntary Programs Budget
It is also interesting to evaluate the distribution of Agency investments based on the size of the
partnership programs. As shown in Exhibit 6 below, the 7 largest Headquarters programs
account for about two-thirds of the overall partnership program budget. The remaining 66
programs account for the other third.
18
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Exhibit 6: Distribution of Headquarters Partnership Programs by Program Budget & Size
Funding Range
Less than $100,000
$100,000 -$499,000
$500,000 - $999,999
$1 million -$4.9
million
$5 million - $9.9
million
$10 million or greater
Total
Number of Programs
19
19
9
19
3
4
73
Total Budget
$512,500
$3,999,900
$6,510,100
$34,385,670
$23,097,100
$56,900,000
$125,405,270.00
Percentage of Total Budget
0.4%
3.2%
5.2%
27.4%
18.4%
45.4%
2.1.2.2 Sustainability Outcomes
EPA's environmental stewardship portfolio is dominated by activities directed towards air (23%
of the programs), materials issues (22% of the programs), land use issues (18% of the programs)
and water issues (17% of the programs). Eighteen other programs address more than one
resource type. Only 9 of the 133 programs address ecosystems. Energy as a Sustainability
outcome is not the stated primary focus of any program (although many programs address energy
use as a means of reducing other environmental impacts). (See Figure 5.) However, as shown in
Figure 5, the large majority of EPA's HQ voluntary program budget is invested in air-related
programs, a natural resource highly affected by energy use.
Figure 5: Distribution of Headquarters Partnership Programs
and Investments by Sustainability Outcome
[See text above concerning percentages relating to energy.]
DISTRIBUTION OF PARTNERSHIP
PROGRAMS BY SUSTAINBILITY
OUTCOME
23% Air
22% Materials
18% Land Use
1 7% Water
13% Multiple Resource Areas
7% Ecosystems
0% Energy
DISTRIBUTION OF HEADQUARTERS
PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM INVESTMENTS
BY SUSTAINABILITY OUTCOME
71% Air
14% Materials
; 3% Land Use
J 3% Water
9% Multiple Resource Areas
0% Ecosystems
0% Energy
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Within the air resource category, climate change attracts the greatest attention, accounting for
almost half of the programs (and two-thirds of the HQ partnership program budget investment).
Criteria air pollution accounts for almost one third of the programs, while indoor air quality, air
toxics, and ozone depletion together account for the remaining quarter. Acidic deposition is not
the principal target of any stewardship program.
The other major resource areas (water, materials) did not have a similar concentration of
programs addressing a single environmental issue. About one quarter of the water programs
addressed water quality, another quarter addressed drinking water, and the remainder addressed
water availability, groundwater, surface water, etc. in fairly equal measure. Water availability
accounts for over half the budget for water-related HQ partnership programs, with the remaining
funds being evenly dispersed among programs that address other water issues. Irrigation and
recreational uses of water, water security, and near-shore and deepwater oceanic issues appear to
be unaddressed.
The materials programs were similarly well-distributed, with a handful of programs addressing
product design, product end-of-life, national program chemicals, other industrial/agricultural
chemicals, toxic waste, and hazardous waste. About two-thirds of the HQ partnership programs
budget that relates to materials is used to address pesticides and other industrial chemicals, with
the remaining one-third of funds addressing the other materials programs. Product packaging
and municipal solid waste are not the primary target of any of these programs.
2.1.2.3 Stakeholder Groups
About half of EPA's environmental stewardship programs engage the business sector. Another
24 percent engage community partners. The remaining programs are split between those that
promote stewardship with governments and with individuals. Business-focused programs also
take the largest share of HQ voluntary program budget investments, accounting for 56% of the
total. Note however, that programs targeting individuals receive a larger share of the budgetary
pie than their numbers would suggest, while the opposite is true of programs directed at
governmental and community stakeholders. (See Figure 6.)
Figure 6: Distribution of Partnership Programs
and Investments by Stakeholder Type
DISTRIBUTION OF
PARTNERSHIP PROGRAMS BY
STAKEHOLDER TYPE
DISTRIBUTION OF HEADQUARTERS
PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM INVESTMENTS BY
STAKEHOLDER TYPE
50% Business
24% Communities
17% Government
9% Individuals
5 6% Business
12% Communities
\ 8% Government
' 24% Individuals
20
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Within the business category, a plurality of programs (and over half of the HQ voluntary
program budget) address multiple business sectors (e.g., Sector Strategies) or all business sectors
alike (e.g. Green Power Partnership). Many other programs, however, address a specific
business sector, such as the chemical industry (5 programs) or the mining industry (2 programs).
Only one business-focused program explicitly addresses small business as its primary audience.
Within the community category, 21 of the 32 programs address all types of communities. The
remaining 11 are targeted at professional associations, non-governmental associations, rural and
urban communities, schools, and watershed groups. Over 90 percent of HQ funding for
community programs goes to programs that address all types of communities.
Five of the 12 programs addressing individuals address all individuals, while the remaining
programs specifically engage students and urban populations. Almost 90 percent of HQ funds for
programs targeted at individuals go to voluntary programs that address all individuals.
The 23 programs relating to governmental stakeholders are divided between Federal participants
(8), state/local participants (7), tribes (2), and programs open to any governmental participant
(6). Programs targeting Federal participants receive over 80 percent of HQ funding on voluntary
programs and states receive the majority of the remaining 20 percent.
2.1.2.4 Distribution of programs by resource area and stakeholder group
Exhibit 7 below displays the number of programs at each intersection of resource area and
stakeholder group, while Exhibit 8 displays the budget amount invested by HQ voluntary
programs at each intersection point. This view can suggest opportunities for program co-
marketing and program consolidation.
Exhibit 7: Distribution of Partnership Programs by
Stakeholder and Sustainability Outcome
Business
Communities
Government
Individuals
Total
Air
24
2
5
31
Ecosystems
—
3
5
1
9
Energy
--
--
~
-
0
Land
Uses
8
12
4
—
24
Materials
22
2
5
~
29
Multiple
Resource
Areas
7
4
5
2
18
Water
5
9
4
4
22
Total
66
32
23
12
133
21
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Exhibit 8: Distribution of FY05 Headquarters Partnership Program Investments by
Stakeholder and Sustainability Outcome
Business
Communities
Government
Individuals
Total
Air
$49,219,370
$12,350,000
~
$28,150,000
$89,719,370
Ecosystems
—
$502,000
$100,000
$10,000
$612,000
Energy
~
-
—
—
$0
Land Uses
$1,110,000
$2,078,000
$250,000
$3,438,000
Materials
$13,776,200
$0
$3,560,500
$17,336,700
Multiple
Resource
Areas
$5,980,700
$4,594,000
$85,000
$10,659,700
Water
$7,500
$405,000
$911,000
$2,316,000
$3,639,500
Total
$70,093,770
$15,335,000
$9,415,500
$30,561,000
$125,405,270
2.1.2.5 Program intervention
Programs can intervene at different points in a decision chain that gives rise to an environmental
problem. The Agency has increasingly sought to move from a pollution control to pollution
prevention and, in recent years, to working with businesses and individuals to completely re-
envision their production and consumption approaches to reduce life-cycle environmental
impacts (described as "sustainability" below).
ICF was able to assign 118 of the 133 partnership programs within this framework, although it
should be noted that not all programs or resource areas (viz. ecosystems) fit neatly.
Of the 118 programs, 72 can be classified as sustainability programs, 12 as source reduction
programs, and 34 as end-of-pipe programs. (See Figure 7 below.) Examples of sustainability
programs include ENERGY STAR, the Green Power Partnership and SmartWay Transport,
Green Chemistry, most of the Design for the Environment initiatives, the Federal Electronics
Challenge, Business for the Bay, Adopt Your Watershed, and the Water Use Efficiency Program.
Figure 7: Distribution of Partnership Programs by Intervention Point
DISTRIBUTION OF PARTNERSHIP
PROGRAMS BY INTERVENTION POINT
I 61 % Sustainability
\— 29% End of Pipe
10% Source Reduction
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2.1.2.6 Related Programs
In addition to operating programs that directly stimulate environmental stewardship activities by
stakeholders, EPA also supports environmental stewardship through the provision of grants,
information, software, educational materials and training.
2.1.2.6.1 Grant Programs
In the grants area, ICF identified 57 grant programs that could be categorized as environmental
stewardship-related.20 EPA allocated $343 million in FY2005 for the 24 grant programs for
which budget data were available, equivalent to 4.3% of the overall EPA budget.
The distribution by sustainability outcome - by both number of programs and dollar allocation ~
is dominated by multiple resource-area grants and grants in the water area. (See Figure 8.)
Grants programs that address water receive the most funding, at almost $226 million, while
programs that address multiple resource areas are funded at $110 million. The programs with the
largest individual headquarters budgets are the National Nonpoint Source Management Program
($207 million), Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Research Program ($51 million), and ORD's
Consolidated Research and Training ($30 million).
Figure 8: Distribution of Grant Programs and
Investments by Sustainability Outcome
DISTRIBUTION OF
GRANT PROGRAMS BY
SUSTAINABILITY OUTCOME
41 % Multiple Resource Areas
26% Water
DISTRIBUTION OF
GRANT PROGRAM INVESTMENTS BY
SUSTAINABILITY OUTCOME
32% Multiple Resource Areas
4% Air
4% Ecosystems
4% Land Uses
0% Energy
i 66% Water
2% Materials
0%Air
0% Ecosystems
0% Land Uses
0% Energy
2.1.2.6.2 Information, Education and Training Activities
ICF identified 104 distinct EPA activities which concentrate on providing education,
information, software, training and other tools in support of environmental stewardship. The
distribution of the activities is dominated by air, water, materials and multiple resource area
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activities. Ecosystems and energy together account for 7 of the 104 activities. (See Figure 9
below.)
Figure 9: Distribution of Environmental Education, Awareness, and
Training Programs by Sustainability Outcome
DISTRIBUTION OF ENVIRONMENTAL
EDUCATION. AWARENESS. AND TRAINING
PROGRAMS BY SUSTAINABILITY OUTCOME
25% Multiple Resource Areas
19% Materials
18% Air
18% Land Uses
14% Water
5% Ecosystems
2% Energy
2.2 PERSPECTIVES FROM STATE OFFICIALS, EXPERTS, AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS
To inform this report, interviews were conducted on environmental stewardship with several
groups of knowledgeable individuals: eight commissioner or deputy-commissioner level officials
in state environment and natural resource agencies and a number of subject matter experts and
EPA stakeholders from academia, policy advocacy and research organizations, the sustainability
and conservation movements, corporations and business, non-profit environmental organizations,
and officials from states, local government, and Tribal nations.
State officials were asked about EPA's draft vision and definition for environmental stewardship
and the concepts embedded therein; environmental stewardship or stewardship-like efforts
underway in their organizations; and how EPA might better work with states to facilitate
environmental stewardship and encourage stewardship behaviors in individuals, businesses, and
communities. Experts were asked questions about the definition and concept of environmental
stewardship, the prospective role of government and EPA in fostering stewardship, and examples
of stewardship behaviors among business, individuals, government, and communities.
Stakeholders were asked about the definition of environmental stewardship, their stewardship
efforts and experiences, barriers that prevent them from becoming better environmental
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stewards, and steps that EPA could take to help their organizations and/or constituencies to be
better environmental stewards.
On balance, interviewees expressed strong support for the ideals embodied in EPA's draft vision
and definition of environmental stewardship. State officials in particular emphasized the
importance of stewardship-related efforts both to achieving environmental quality goals and to
promoting the long-term health and sustainability of environment and natural resource agencies.
These views are summarized briefly below. Appendix C is a more detailed report.
2.2.1 Results of Interviews with State Officials
While state officials expressed strong support for
environmental stewardship ideas, there was less
unanimity of support for use of the term
"environmental stewardship." Some state officials
expressed a preference for terms that are more in
general use in program implementation and that
carry with them a stronger connotation of the
marriage of environmental quality and abundance
with economic prosperity.
State Leaders Interviewed
1. Bill Ross, North Carolina
2. Larry Soward, Texas
3. Dawn Gallagher, Maine
4. Mike Linder, Nebraska
5. Bob King, South Carolina
6. Scott Hassett, Wisconsin
7. Howard Roitman, Colorado
8. Jim Branham, California
All states have ongoing efforts that they characterize as consistent with EPA's draft vision and
definition of environmental stewardship, although these efforts often are articulated under the
umbrella of "environmental sustainability" or are related to traditional core environmental
programs rather than promoted as "environmental stewardship."
Many state efforts are focused on two related areas: working to encourage businesses to reach for
environmental outcomes that are beyond those that would be required by existing regulatory
programs (so-called "beyond compliance" efforts) and working to integrate or reduce barriers
between environmental programs. For example:
• Nebraska works across local, state, and federal agencies to combine watershed
development and protection efforts with small community revitalization;
• Colorado has an Environmental Management System (EMS) permit program that focuses
on superior environmental outcomes and regulating businesses in a more holistic way;
• Wisconsin has the "Green Tier" program that recognizes beyond compliance efforts;
• North Carolina has an "Environmental Stewardship Initiative" to promote and encourage
superior environmental performance in the regulated community;
• Maine is working with other New England states to establish joint priority setting between
environment and public health agencies. One of the outcomes of this effort will be
materials to support individuals in assessing the "health" of their homes;
• California is supporting efforts to develop best practices for sustainability in the wine
grape and other agricultural sectors; and
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• Minnesota has a program to foster product exchanges for lead tackle, mercury-containing
products, lawn equipment and wood stoves.
State stewardship-related efforts are not limited to areas where there are traditional
environmental regulatory programs or mandates.
• State environment agencies are increasingly considering land conservation goals in their
stewardship-related efforts and are partnering with sister natural resource agencies to
jointly further environmental and land conservation goals. For example, South Carolina is
working with other southeast states to explore sustainability and stewardship at active
military bases.
• States increasingly are investing in efforts to give businesses and consumers information
and encouragement to support more environmentally-sound behaviors and choices. Some
of these efforts extend to direct financial support for environmentally beneficial choices.
For example, Texas provides financial assistance for repair or replacement of vehicles that
fail emissions testing.
• States are acting as conveners and supporters of business or community-initiated
environmental stewardship efforts that often are primarily motivated by economic or
social values but can be optimized to achieve environmental benefits. For example,
Maine inspectors are working to match the "waste" streams of facilities with raw material
needs of other companies to further waste reduction goals.
State officials offered a number of suggestions for how EPA might better work with states to
further environmental stewardship goals. These include:
• Defining environmental stewardship efforts in the context of existing EPA programs and
priorities;
• Nesting environmental stewardship efforts in the context of existing EPA measurement
and program evaluation mechanisms;
• Creating true flexibility at the regional-office level for state programs to explore
stewardship-related ideas in part, at least, through an increased focus on environmental
outcomes over programmatic processes;
• Reaching to change culture within EPA, other government agencies, and with individuals,
businesses, and communities by emphasizing joint responsibility and accountability for
shared goals and working through partnerships and collaboration, rather than strict
command and control strategies; and
• Investing in stewardship-related support, including, for example, providing leadership
within federal agencies for government to act as an environmental steward in its own
consumptive and operational choices; developing core capacities, such as marketing
capacities, that states could access to support their independent state-specific stewardship
efforts; and acting as a convener and leader of a national dialogue that raises stewardship
awareness and expectations in individuals, businesses, and communities.
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2.2.2 Results of Interviews with Experts and Stakeholders
While they supported the ideas of environmental stewardship, experts and stakeholders identified
a number of potential improvements to EPA's definition and vision for environmental
stewardship, including:
• Articulate who is responsible for what to whom;
• Recognize that the term "environmental stewardship" fails to fully capture the broader
social and economic context of decision-making faced by many organizations and the
term may be less useful in the context of business where the terms "sustainability" and
"corporate citizenship" are increasing used; and
• Respect that for some people the term "stewardship" has a strong religious connotation.
While they often do not call them environmental stewardship activities, experts and stakeholders
identified a strong trend towards increasing implementation of steward-like behaviors and
working to encourage others to do so. A number of drivers motivate stewardship behaviors
including:
• Increasing awareness of the risks and opportunities posed by businesses' supply chains;
• Increasing availability of and access to
information and scientific evidence about
the status of ecosystems and their ability
to support human life, health, and
economy; and
• Shifting public expectations about
purchasing and investment decisions.
Experts and stakeholders also identified a
number of ways that environmental stewardship
behaviors may be constrained, including:
• Failure of "green" products to capture
consumer imagination or market share in
a way that allows companies to realize
marketing advantage;
• Failure of investors and financial
institutions to fully value environmental
performance;
• Measuring stewardship behavior and
performance can be difficult;
Experts Interviewed
1. Ray Anderson, Interface Carpets
2. Herman Daly, University of Maryland
3. Don Hudson, Chewonki Foundation
4. Wes Jackson, Land Institute
5. Matthew Kiernan, Innovest Strategic
Value Advisors
6. Reid Lifset, Yale University
7. Mindy Lubber, CERES
8. Joel Makower, Greenbiz.com
9. Doug McKenzie-Mohr, Community Based
Social Marketing
Stakeholders Interviewed
1. Marcia Aranoff, Environmental Defense
2. Bill Becker, STAPPA/ALAPCO
3. George Carpenter, Procter & Gamble
4. Don Chen, Smart Growth America
5. Chuck Clarke, Seattle Public Utilities
6. Steve Hellem, GEMI
7. David Paylor, State of Virginia
8. Mark Van Putten, ConservationStrategy
9. Terry Williams, Tulalip Tribes Natural
Resources Department
The perception that individuals and small actions cannot make a difference; and
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• The lack of information on or effective targeting of barriers to individual consumers
making better stewardship choices.
Like the state leaders interviewed, experts and stakeholders suggested a number of ways that
EPA might begin to help businesses, individuals, communities, and government organizations
overcome these constraints, including:
• Clarifying where the statutory authority to focus on stewardship comes from, in
anticipation of questions from potential critics;
• Focusing more of the Agency's voluntary initiatives on small and mid-sized businesses,
where technical assistance often is most needed;
• Improving integration and coordination of the Agency's voluntary programs and creating
a more "customer-focused" orientation;
• Targeting investments to explore actual implementation of stewardship behaviors,
particularly those where outcomes can be measured;
• Helping to understand the true barriers and benefits associated with specific stewardship
behaviors. Through the increased use of marketing research and expertise, EPA can
greatly improve state and local efforts to encourage specific stewardship behaviors among
the general public and targeted populations;
• Acting as a convener of public dialogue on stewardship issues and actions that companies,
individuals, and governments can take, and using the "bully pulpit' to publicize and call
for successful stewardship approaches;
• Considering approaches to reduce in a fundamental way the amount of material
throughput in the economy - that is, to limit the amount of extraction, depletion, and
pollution inherent in particular material flows;
• Reaching out to the education community to incorporate environmental and stewardship
based curriculum elements into ongoing efforts to define minimum educational
expectation and to help educators understand how environmental and stewardship based
curriculum might contribute to student success and testing program requirements; and
• Leading by example with respect to federal government purchasing and infrastructure.
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CHAPTER 3:
OPPORTUNITIES FOR EPA LEADERSHIP
INTRODUCTION
The role of EPA in environmental stewardship is to enable and encourage individuals,
companies, communities and government organizations to practice sound environmental
stewardship. This role is central to EPA's mission. The Agency can pursue this role in a variety
of ways as illustrated in the ideas described in this chapter. These ideas form the basis for the
options described in the Report to the Administrator. The ideas in this chapter, prepared by the
staff committee, are described at greater length in Appendix I.
It is important to stress that the ideas and proposals described in this report were developed by
the staff committee as background material for the IAC response to the Administrator. They
have been compiled in this report to help inform the broader dialogue about environmental
stewardship at EPA and to serve as a resource during the implementation phase of this project.
The ideas and proposals in this chapter are meant to spur creative thought and additional options
for consideration. Some of the proposals are better developed than others and some fit in several
categories and so are listed more than once. The staff committee considered five criteria while
creating the list:
1. Likelihood for significant, measurable environmental results.
— Inspires collaborative, multi-media approach for addressing important environmental
problems.
— Demonstrates potential for continuous improvement, short-term results and potential
for longer-term environmental outcomes.
— Addresses emergent, high priority issues.
— Iterative approach for getting results.
2. Practical implementation steps.
— Cost effectiveness/favorable funding prospects.
— Potential for replicability or leveraging to maximize investment.
— Short-term measurable impacts.
— Likely support by EPA offices and programs.
— Utilizes existing EPA skills, experiences, and authority.
3. Support from key outside groups.
— Creates stakeholder enthusiasm to adopt stewardship practices.
— Motivates public enabling institutions, e.g. academia, NGOs, and local governments.
4. Advances EPA strategic priorities.
— Targets major obstacles facing current EPA activities.
— Addresses a gap in existing activities or strengthens work already being done.
5. Alignment with stewardship strategy (principles, target groups & key outcomes).
— Unifying and inspirational.
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— Directly induces stewardship behavior or builds knowledge and capacity for
stewardship objectives (training, research, partnership activities).
IDEAS AND PROPOSALS FOR ADVANCING ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIPS
3.1 USE RECOGNITION/CHALLENGE PROGRAMS IN A STRATEGIC WAY TO MOTIVATE
BUSINESSES, COMMUNITIES, GOVERNMENT AGENCIES AND INDIVIDUALS
Principles:
• Focus on significant environmental issues, both nationwide and regional in scope.
• Design for biggest impact (use right incentives; reduce significant barriers).
• Figure out the key behavioral leverage points for specific target groups.
• Don't set up new challenge programs in isolation; build on existing efforts.
Approach: Create something of real interest to the public. For example, in conjunction with
EPA 35th anniversary, Administrator could:
• Host an environmental stewardship summit to discuss challenges and develop
commitments;
• Convene top experts to help prioritize emerging stewardship opportunities for EPA; and
• Consider creating a Baldridge type award for environmental excellence (Presidential or
Administrator level).
3.1.1 Motivate Businesses with Targeted Challenges, Networks and Information
• Expand EPA's compliance assistance and P2Rx centers to encourage stewardship
practices.
• Create a network of experts to educate business sectors on economic benefits of
stewardship.
• Create a national challenge for clean transportation strategy; stakeholders to define
priorities.
• Challenge key economic sectors to create comprehensive stewardship programs & targets.
• Develop regional and national challenges in programs such as Performance Track.
• Select key environmental challenge and business sectors for a national challenge program.
• Share ideas by creating an EPA Stewardship group/network of EPA employees who work
on stewardship programs.
3.1.2 Design Recognition, Challenges and Information to Encourage Community
Stewardship
• Highlight stewardship in EPA's National Award for Smart Growth Achievement.
• Target clubs (sports, garden, rotary) to participate in environmental stewardship activities
in the community.
• Institute a challenge to communities on ambient water quality monitoring and watersheds.
• Build environmental stewardship in the Community Action for a Renewed Environment
(CARE) grants.
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• Develop a report card for communities on availability and sustainable environmental
stewardship practices.
• Develop a "calculator" for communities to identify stewardship actions, environmental
and environmental impact links to information.
3.1.3 Use EPA Expertise to Help All Federal Agencies Improve Environmental
Performance
• Create a friendly federal agency-to-agency challenge/contest/competition to reduce the
environmental footprint.
• Expand the Fedcenter.gov website (maintained by EPA, the Office of the Federal
Environmental Executive, and the Army Corps of Engineers) to include more information
for federal facilities on improving and measuring their environmental stewardship
performance.
• Work with GSA on solutions to obstacles that prevent progress on our EMS significant
aspects.
• Encourage and/or create statements of best practice or (possibly voluntary)"standards" on
labeling and packaging to help consumers.
• Partner with Canada to bring the Canadian One Tonne Challenge to the American public.
• Work with the Federal Employee Thrift Savings Plan to include a corporate responsibility
stock index option.
• Leverage EPA efforts by working with non-government organizations (NGOs) and
universities to encourage stewardship.
(Note: ideas from topic 2, "Energizing Individuals," and topic 3, "Leading by Example," are
relevant here.)
3.2 ENERGIZE INDIVIDUALS TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP
Context:
• Individuals make environmental decisions every day (e.g., in our homes, purchases,
transportation).
• Many people want to make good environmental choices but not sure it makes a difference.
• Low environmental literacy inhibits adoption of good environmental practices.
• EPA can help increase awareness and information about stewardship behaviors.
3.2.1 Increase Awareness of Environmental Stewardship Among the General Public
• Encourage EPA staff to reach out locally to schools, companies, etc. on stewardship
practices.
• Strategically use environmental education to promote stewardship behavior in target
groups.
• Create partnerships to deliver existing tools/resources about how to reduce your
environmental footprint.
• Use Performance Track and other voluntary programs to engage staff/communities on
stewardship actions.
• Create an environmental stewardship major outreach/marketing campaign.
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3.2.2 Upgrade EPA Website to be the Premiere Location for how to "Reduce Your
Footprint"
• Build on existing sites that provide practical ways to be a good environmental steward.
3.2.3 Enhance Delivery of Information that Inspires Individuals to be Good Stewards
• Have EPA join the Commuter Choice Program, maintain transit subsidies program, etc.
• Lead the effort to include a socially responsible investment fund in the Thrift Savings Plan
(TSP).
• Work with the Federal Highway Administration to encourage bike trails along highway
routes in metropolitan areas.
• Work with companies to sponsor collection and proper disposal of household hazardous
wastes.
• Evaluate financial incentives for consumer choices that have less environmental impact.
3.2.4 Design Creative Challenges that Cultivate Stewardship Behavior
• Create challenges such as:
o For EPA employees to reduce their environmental footprint at home and work.
o To a specific group of individuals to solve a specific environmental problem.
o To the public to reduce their environmental footprint (e.g., Canada's One Tonne
Challenge as a model).
3.2.5 Leverage Recognition Programs and Find New Ways to Showcase the "Power of
One"
• Use of the Example Presidential Environmental Youth Awards.
• Create new recognition program for stewardship excellence at work, community or
personal lives.
3.3 LEAD BY EXAMPLE AT EPA FACILITIES AND IN EPA OPERATIONS
3.3.1 Set Bold Public Goals to Reduce EPA's Current Footprint Using Our New EMSs
• Achieve carbon neutral operations for at least one EPA facility every 2 years (EPA's Ada
Lab as model).
• Offset emissions for all EPA work-related air travel.
• Cut energy use by 25 percent by 2012 from 2003 levels.
• Cut water use by 20 percent by 2012 from 2003 levels.
• Have all new buildings achieve ENERGYSTAR label for energy efficiency.
• Adopt green janitorial & pest control services for all EPA-occupied facilities by 2010.
• Provide staff training on green meetings; develop contract language for easy access.
• Double the number of EPA laboratories in Lab 21 within 2 years.
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3.3.2 Spur Markets for Environmentally-Preferable Products and Services
• Identify the best opportunities to green incoming products/services (comprehensive supply
chain study).
• Purchase renewable energy certificates for 100% of EPA's electricity consumption by
2006.
• Triple EPA's fleet of energy efficient hybrid vehicles in three years.
• Require LEED Gold (the leading green building standard) for all new EPA facilities.
• Continually increase inventory of products offered in Agency's green office supply
contract.
• Have all new computer equipment meet the EPEAT bronze-qualified standard (for
environmental preferability).
3.3.3 Encourage Stewardship Behavior in EPA Employees
• Authorize each employee to spend one day per year working to work on a local
stewardship project.
• Increase overall employee participation in transit subsidy and carpool programs.
• Create new awards to recognize EPA's most outstanding environmental stewards - on and
off the job.
• Create high quality education and training to help staff understand environmental issues,
conditions, trends and stewardship initiatives.
3.3.4 Work with Other Agencies on Improving Federal Government Environmental
Performance
• Partner with the Office of Personnel Management on a socially responsible investment
option for the federal retirement system.
• Partner with the General Services Administration, the Department of Energy and other
federal agencies and DOE on infrastructure to support green power and alternative fuel
use, as well as the application of green building principles, throughout the federal
government.
• Challenge agencies to adopt best practices for all phases of electronics life cycle through
the Federal Electronics Challenge.
3.3.5 Demonstrate Value of Information, Education and Best Practices
•. Consider becoming the first federal agency to participate in the Global Reporting
Initiative.
• Highlight EPA's own environmental stewardship results in the Performance and
Accountability Report.
• Improve EPA's public website to empower citizens and other groups to practice
stewardship.
• Conduct live and virtual tours to show others the green aspects of EPA's facilities.
• Use EPA facilities to test latest green products, technologies, services, & conservation
design.
• Open a national environmental education center on EPA Research Triangle Park's (RTP)
campus.
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• Develop and promote educational resources about stewardship within EPA's library
system.
• Model green meetings principles at every EPA event and work with other federal agencies
to increase the number of^hotel and conference centers that offer green meeting facilities.
• Collaborate with state and local governments to increase their participation in
environmental stewardship activities.
3.4 INSPIRE EPA STAFF TO PRACTICE STEWARDSHIP
3.4.1 Top EPA Team Must "Walk the Talk"
• Ask that senior leaders visibly demonstrate a personal commitment to practicing
environmental stewardship.
• Reinforce consistent environmental stewardship "message" in speeches, conversations and
meetings.
• Make a consistent theme at grand events like Earth Day, P2 Week, etc.
• Re-enforce message in simple ways (ask staff about their stewardship accomplishments).
• Use the environmental stewardship ethic to promote cross-office planning and multimedia
action.
3.4.2 Train All Staff on Environmental Stewardship Principles, Responsibilities and
Opportunities
• Consider "mandatory" training (akin to the ethics training) on environmental stewardship.
• Create new training courses on key environmental problem areas for employees at all
levels.
• Promote outreach/advocacy and facilitation/negotiation skill development that enables
EPA staff to engage the public on environmental stewardship.
• Improve training on Federal Advisory Committee Act (FACA), ethics and other factors
that can complicate collaborative problem solving.
3.4.3 Incorporate Environmental Stewardship as a Priority in Staff Accountability
Systems
• Include in performance standards (like customer service, contract management &
diversity).
• Use Individual Development Plans to allow and encourage participation in community
outreach efforts.
3.4.4 Challenge and Enable EPA Employees to Improve their Environmental
Performance at Work
• Design measurable and reportable challenges.
• Encourage events via teleconferencing and other virtual meeting technology. This will
encourage those who would not otherwise be able to attend/participate to do so.
• Equip all offices with auto light shut offs and all computers with energy saving features.
• Provide convenient/effective collection for recycling throughout EPA facilities.
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• Make double-sided copying the norm.
• Pursue further ideas such green roofs, composting of food scraps, etc.
3.4.5 Reward Outstanding Environmental Stewardship Behavior by EPA Employees
• Create a new Agency award focused on environmental stewardship excellence at EPA.
• Create another EPA award for stewardship accomplishments outside the Agency.
• Ensure that other prestigious awards at EPA and other agencies value environmental
stewardship.
3.5 USE INFORMATION AND MARKETS TO FOSTER STEWARDSHIP OF ECOSYSTEMS
Goal: to protect and restore ecosystem functions (the goods and services they provide) through
• Improved "policy measures" that include broad range of regulatory/voluntary actions.
• Markets to promote entrepreneurial action, investment, and market innovation.
Emphasis:
• Information that supports decisions (at many levels) to protect and restore ecosystem
functions.
• All ecosystem goods and services; not limit to currently recognized market values.
Approach:
• Priorities based on importance, vulnerability, status of services and restoration/recovery
potential.
• Target stewardship that is likely to improve ecosystem integrity, resilience and
productivity.
• Ensure alignment with the overall stewardship initiative and EPA priorities.
• Find multiplier effects to catalyze a sequence of responses (e.g., in investment, research,
etc.).
• Focus on a few, mutually reinforcing strategies; plan to adapt based on learning and
experience.
3.5.1 Ecosystem Literacy Campaign Targeted to People of All Ages
• Actively engage elementary, middle and high schools, and universities in understanding of
ecosystems.
• Create compelling "public service" announcements for radio, TV.
• Assist journalists in all media to publicize ecosystem stewardship.
• Expand interpretive outreach programs in natural areas and parks, and by eco-tourism.
• Encourage sportsmen, birders, etc. to articulate ecosystem benefits to others.
,• Reach out to key sectors (e.g., building contractors, developers, transportation).
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3.5.2 Recognize Ecosystem Stewardship Leaders in Private Sector & State/Local/Tribal
Government
• Build on examples such as the collaboration between Wisconsin farmers and the World
Wildlife Fund; South Carolina and other southern states that are pursuing sustainability
and environmental stewardship with active military bases; and Nebraska, which works
across local, state and federal agencies to combine watershed development and protection
efforts with small community revitalization.
3.5.3 Expand Incentives that Foster Ecosystem Stewardship
• Consider how to use state revolving funds, labeling programs and trading programs.
• Re-align state and federal funding programs (such as water revolving funds).
• "Certify" some management activities expected to preserve or restore ecosystem services.
• Take advantage of unique current opportunities, such as those created by the current
military Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) activities.
3.5.4 Invest in Collaborative, Applied R&D Designed to Create New Stewardship
Approaches
• Use geospatial and decision-support tools for evaluating "natural infrastructure" vs.
'engineered infrastructure.
3.5.5 Target Geographic Collaborations with State, Tribal & Federal partners
• Select specific ecosystem type (e.g., agricultural ecosystems, freshwater systems).
3.6 ENCOURAGE STEWARDSHIP IN COMMUNITIES
Context:
• Place-based communities have huge potential to engage in environmental stewardship.
• Community is simply a localized, organized group of people with shared beliefs, goals, or
interdependence.
• Community can be defined by natural geography (such as a watershed, a valley, or a
coastal area).
• Community can be organized by political boundaries (such as a neighborhood, city,
county, reservation or state).
• EPA has a rich history of supporting community-based approaches to environmental
protection.
• There are many EPA community programs (e.g., Brownfields) but few focus on
stewardship directly.
• EPA has multiple roles in collaborative problem solving such as
leading/facilitation/partner/information.
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3.6.1 Demonstrate Stewardship Solutions in Rebuilding a "Sustainable Gulf Coast"
• Engage community leaders/citizens in planning and rebuilding for sustainability.
• Showcase the benefits of green infrastructure and smart growth for the rest of the country.
• Form federal and state partnerships for sustainability.
• Collaborate with water management experts from the Netherlands and elsewhere.
• Engage the lending and insurance industries to encourage responsible development.
3.6.2 Improve EPA's Capacity to Support Proactive Stewardship
• Staff a "Communities Clearinghouse" to provide easy public access to EPA resources.
• Strengthen and tailor EPA's long-term planning methods/tools to serve needs of local
communities.
• Coordinate with states and federal agencies in targeted partnerships (e.g., Great Lakes).
3.6.3 Information and Tools to Support Community Environmental Stewardship
• Develop EPA role as wholesaler of stewardship resources to groups with community
delivery mechanisms.
• Develop, publicize, and market EPA's resources for community-level activity (EMSs;
other tools).
• Build stewardship criteria in EPA's community-based grant solicitations (e.g., CARE,
Brownfields).
• Make stewardship grants/loans for community activities for technical or administrative
support (P2/CSO/etc.).
• Pilot a community-wide "GreenChoice" rewards program.
3.6.4 Integrate Principles of Community Stewardship into Current Awards and
Recognition
• Create an award for communities that achieve outstanding measurable environmental
results.
• Recognize outstanding community leaders.
• Recognize grassroots organizations of many types (e.g., faith congregations, sports clubs,
Boy/Girl Scouts, etc.
3.7 PROMOTE PRODUCT STEWARDSHIP
Goal: Products are designed and managed to be safe for the environment for entire life cycle
Context: This is a complex issue with many dimensions (toxics, product take-back,
globalization, etc.).
• Prosperity has increased consumption of products, with increased environmental impacts.
• Inaccurate market signals to makers, sellers, consumers and government.
• Disposal costs are an externality; few incentives for sound management by consumers.
• EU, Japan, and Canada and others developing product stewardship policies.
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• Lack of leadership in U.S. could place our producers at a competitive disadvantage.
• Numerous efforts underway at EPA and elsewhere, but no coherent, unified strategy.
Approach: Announce a bold integrated multi-media focus on products as an innovative way to
promote environmental stewardship by industry and individuals through making, buying and
managing products in a more sustainable way. Do this by creating partnerships with groups that
design, make, sell, use, and manage products at end of life.
• Industry (raw materials suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, retailers, waste
management).
• Individuals at the consumer, institutional, governmental level that use products.
• NGOs (examples: Product Stewardship Institute in Massachusetts) that provide
leadership.
• Government (local waste authorities; federal/state/ local P2 & solid waste policymakers).
3.7.1 Create an EPA-wide, Coordinated Green Product Strategy & Implementation Plan
• Aim to increase pace of green product design; facilitate greener products in marketplace -
clarify EPA position on labeling/product certification (e.g., Agency vs. 3rd party).
• Define criteria for selecting greener products (e.g., single factor vs. multi-media life-
cycle).
• Devise strategy for prioritizing product/technology categories for attention.
• Determine how various relevant EPA programs (and other Federal agencies) work
together.
3.7.2 Collaborative Approaches to Foster Sustainable Design
• Spur innovation of and publicity on next-generation/sustainable products and services.
• Sponsor multi-stakeholder collaboration on design of new products and services
• Increase press opportunities and visibility of environmental implications of everyday
product choices.
3.7.3 EPA Product Recognition Program
• Use Design for the Environment (DFE) to recognize consumer products with more
positive environmental/health profiles.
3.7.4 Innovation Challenge Awards
• Catalyze innovation & fundamental research on safer chemicals, processes and
engineering.
• Establish DFE Innovation Challenge Awards and supporting ORD research grants.
3.7.5 Design Product-Specific Strategies
• Continue to identify specific products for greener design, better use, and safer end-of-life
recovery.
• Work with stakeholders on product-specific life cycle improvement strategy.
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3.7.6 Partner with Other Countries to Share Experiences About Product Stewardship
• Share Canadian experience with U.S. audiences (especially State/local governments).
• Convene national meeting to showcase product stewardship programs and identify
opportunities.
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CHAPTER 4:
STRENGTHENING THE FOUNDATION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL
STEWARDSHIP AT EPA
The vision described in Chapter 1 and the ideas described in Chapter 3 can only become real if
EPA undertakes a series of actions to strengthen the foundation for environmental stewardship.
These actions may not be very visible to the public but they are essential for the success of an
EPA environmental stewardship strategy. This chapter describes key improvements that are
needed.
4.1 STRENGTHEN MEASUREMENT AND REPORTING ON RESULTS FROM ENVIRONMENTAL
STEWARDSHIP ACTIVITIES
Measurement is vital to successful environmental stewardship. This section discusses important
opportunities for strengthening measurement to support better environmental stewardship,
drawing on two detailed reports which were commissioned by the workgroup and which are
included in the Appendices: Environmental Stewardship Measurement Report, and
Benchmarking Report on Performance Measures for Environmental Stewardship and
Innovation.
Effective environmental stewardship measurement is needed to:
• Identify environmental opportunities and problems that need attention and environmental
opportunities that can be pursued;
• Evaluate stewardship programs and activities and their environmental results and identify
those worth replicating;
• Provide fast feedback to improve day-to-day decisions and longer term feedback to inform
strategic decisions;
• Inform strategy and support cooperative stewardship efforts;
• Assess return on public investments; and
• Reinforce stewardship attitudes and awareness.
4.1.1 Build a System of Measures to Support Environmental Stewardship
EPA's 2003 Draft Report on the Environment discusses the usefulness of a "hierarchy of
indicators" that clearly links various types of measures in a manner that enables one to
understand how programs and actions connect to ambient environmental conditions and
ultimately to human and ecological health outcomes. The "hierarchy of indicators" is helpful to
keep in mind as EPA considers how to strengthen measurement related to environmental
stewardship. There is no single indicator or measure of stewardship. Instead, effective
stewardship and stewardship program performance assessment requires a clearly defined system
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of measures that connects program outputs to stewardship behavior changes to measures of
natural resource outcomes and eventually to short and long-term ecological condition and human
health outcomes.
Effective environmental stewardship measurement can be challenging. Adherence to the
following guidelines can help to ensure that EPA's stewardship measurement activities are
effective and efficient.
• Make measurement relevant to compel action. Construct measures that provide real time
feedback and that illuminate the benefits of stewardship actions, including economic
benefits.
• Improve alignment and consistency among measures. Expand current efforts to
coordinate measurement activities across EPA voluntary programs to aid data
comparisons and aggregation and to ease measurement and reporting burdens. Common
measures can ease measurement and reporting burden while enabling comparison and
even spurring healthy competition for performance improvement.
• Strike a balance between burden and benefit. Pursue measurement strategies that provide
useful information in a cost-effective manner.
• Don't reinvent the wheel. Build partnerships with other organizations who are working to
improve measurement of stewardship behaviors and performance to improve and align
stewardship measurement activities.
• • Support measurement at multiple levels that can be tailored to users and uses. Ensure
that measurement activity is occurring at all geographic levels and locations that are
necessary to equip people with the information they need to focus their actions. For each
intended use of stewardship measures, focus on just a few key metrics that are meaningful
to the intended audience and relevant to the program's goals.
A review of how other federal agencies have successfully developed stewardship initiatives
suggests several models for measuring stewardship program performance. Effective measures
are directly tied to the program's strategic goals, and focus primarily on short and long term
program outcomes, as well as program efficiency. Data should be gathered to measure baseline
conditions and set appropriate targets, and then progress towards those targets can be assessed
annually or every few years. Federal agencies, where feasible, can partner with states to collect
baseline and performance data. Data can be collected from program participants in order to track
quantitative outcomes (e.g., amount of energy conserved), while surveys can be used to track
changes in attitudes and behaviors. The following are examples of reasonable performance
measures for stewardship, focusing on natural resource outcomes.
Outcome Measures
• Acres of undeveloped land or important habitat conserved.
• Number of acre-feet or gallons of water conserved.
• Kilowatt hours of energy conserved.
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• Number of acres of cropland on which erosion is reduced to below a specified level.
• Consumption of renewable fuel as a percentage of total transportation fuel consumption.
• Number of comprehensive nutrient management plans applied by owners and operators of
animal feeding operations.
• Increase in specific indicators of environmental literacy among program participants, as
compared to the general population.
• Percentage of program participants who initiate or implement a positive change in their
organization or community within five years of their participation, based on knowledge
gained from their participation.
Program Efficiency Measures
• Acres of wetlands established, re-established, rehabilitated, enhanced, or
protected/maintained per $1 million in total costs.
• Total program cost or expenditure per acre of forest protected from conversion to non-
forest uses.
Measures should be placed within a context. For example, measurements of water and energy
conservation should be compared to the total amount of water and energy used by program
participants and the target population as a whole. Finally, measures of stewardship should be
made readily available to key audiences (e.g., program staff, participants, and the public), in
order to recognize progress and encourage accountability.
A similar review of the performance measures from Program Assessment Rating Tool (PART)
assessments of EPA offices that have environmental stewardship initiatives yielded a similar list.
(It is important to note that because of the manner in which programs- including those with
environmental stewardship initiatives - are organized in the PART, these measures are
frequently applied to groups of programs, rather than individual initiatives.)
Outcome Measures
• Percent change in average nitrogen deposition and mean ambient nitrate concentrations
(Acid Rain, OAR).
• Number of waterbodies identified by states (on the 2000 303(d) list) as being primarily
NPS-impaired partially or fully attaining designated uses (Non-point Source Grants, OW).
• Percent cumulative reduction of chronic human health risk from environmental releases of
industrial chemicals in commerce since 2001 (Existing Chemicals, OPPTS).
• Cumulative conservation of millions of BTUs of energy and gallons of water (New
Chemicals, OPPTS).
• Reduction in phosphorus loadings (millions of pounds) (Non-point Source Grants, OW).
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Program Efficiency Measures
• Section 319 funds ($ million) expended per partially or fully restored waterbody (Non-
point Source Grants, OW).
• Reduction of EPA's per-chemical review costs from expedited reviews as a result of
training provided to chemical developers (Sustainable Futures, OPPTS).
• Cleanups Complete (3-year rolling average) per total cleanup dollars (Leaking
Underground Storage Tanks, OSWER).
• Ratio of number of students/teachers that have improved-environmental knowledge per
total dollars expended (Environmental Education, AO).
4.1.2 Learn From and Leverage Partners' Measurement Activities
EPA's partners are engaged in significant stewardship measurement activity. EPA can learn
from, encourage, and support the expansion of these external stewardship measurement and
reporting initiatives. Some compelling stewardship measurement initiatives are listed below.
• The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and Facility Reporting Project have developed
environmental measurement and reporting frameworks for corporations and facilities that
are being quickly adopted by companies worldwide. Companies across numerous sectors
are expanding stewardship measurement and reporting activities, and using metrics to
inform decision-making through tools such as the balanced scorecard.
• The Business Roundtable's SEE Change sustainability initiative has a major measurement
and reporting component.
• Numerous communities in the U.S. have developed quality of life and sustainability
indicators to track environmental stewardship outcomes at the local level.
• The Canadian and Australian governments and numerous non-governmental
environmental organizations have developed user-friendly calculators that help
individuals understand their environmental and greenhouse gas emissions "footprints" and
enable them to make better stewardship decisions.
• EPA's Office of Solid Waste has developed a widely used "WARM" model that helps
users convert quantities of materials (e.g., office paper, glass, aluminum, newsprint,
corrugated paper) that is "source reduced" or recycled into greenhouse gas savings.
• The GRI has developed a measurement and reporting framework for public agencies, to
help government organizations improve the consistency and effectiveness of sustainability
and stewardship reporting.
4.1.3 Opportunities for EPA to Improve Environmental Stewardship Measurement
In light of these reflections and activities, this section discusses key steps that EPA can take to
improve measurement to support effective environmental stewardship.
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4.1.3.1 Set clear environmental stewardship goals and objectives
Clear environmental stewardship goals and objectives lay the foundation for measurement.
Understanding the status of the environmental resources—air, water, land, ecosystems, energy,
and materials—provides important information regarding where additional stewardship actions
are needed. Knowing that EPA cannot encourage stewardship everywhere at once, measurement
is needed to identify where significant problems and challenges lie. Specific, challenging
environmental goals can be identified that address priority problems. Measurement can inform
how specific audiences affect or can contribute to specific environmental goals. Stewardship
actions from multiple audiences—individuals, companies, communities, and governments—may
be needed to achieve a particular environmental goal.
Pick specific, challenging environmental goals and objectives. The target audience-
environmental sustainability outcome matrix below can be a useful tool for identifying and
mapping how specific environmental goals and objectives are relevant to key groups and
outcomes. As an example, the matrix below highlights one potential goal that might fit within
the Individuals/Energy cell. Multiple objectives could be established for each goal (one is shown
in the matrix cell). The matrix could also be used to illustrate linkages among goals, objectives,
and measures. In this example, the Individuals/Air cell is highlighted to denote that the goal and
the associated objectives and measures in the Individuals/Energy cell have a strong connection to
individuals' stewardship activities related to air quality and climate change.
Individuals
Companies
Communities
Government
Organizations
Air
feji^isali
Ecosystems
Energy
\
Land
1 — -_
Materials
—
Water
~
Goal 1: Reduce residential energy use
Objective 1: Increase the energy-efficiency of home
appliances to lower residential energy use in the U.S.
Objective 2: Increase the energy-efficiency of lighting
and H VAC systems in new homes.
Potential Measures:
Total annual residential energy use (feVWi)
Total annual residential energy savings (kWh and
average annual household consumption equivalency)
Value of energy savings (dollars)
Associated reductions in air pollutant emissions,
including greenhouse gas emissions (tons)
Identify key outcome measures for each environmental stewardship goal. Under each goal and
objective, one could identify or develop multiple specific programs and projects designed to
achieve these goals and objectives, as measured by the common outcome measures. While
specific programs and projects would have additional measures to help tell a more complete
story, all of the programs and projects supporting a specific environmental goal could have
common measures that link them to that goal.
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4.1.3.2 Strengthen measurement systems for existing EPA environmental stewardship
programs and projects
Clearly map the relationship between EPA programs and projects and environmental
stewardship goals and objectives. Once specific, measurable environmental goals and objectives
have been established, EPA can determine which projects and programs address a particular goal
and objective and which could be adapted to do so. A single environmental stewardship goal,
such as to improve energy efficiency, could be supported by a portfolio of multiple projects and
program activities that are designed to accomplish the goal. For example, the ENERGY STAR
program may have a suite of program activities that address the goal of reducing residential
energy use, and that focus on the objective of improving the energy-efficiency of home
appliances. At the same time, the Sector Strategies programs or other EPA programs could also
support the goal of reducing residential energy consumption through other activities, such as
working with the construction sector or architects to address energy-efficiency in new homes.
Clearly map the relationship between program goals, outputs, and outcomes. While measures of
progress toward the environmental goal may be consistent across programs and projects,
programs and projects should have input, output, and outcome measures that help link them to
the larger environmental goal. Input measures for a program or activity can capture Agency
(e.g., staff, time, resources) and societal costs, when possible, to help measure program
efficiency. Output measures track products produced or services delivered by a program, and
can also help inform program performance. A range of short-term and long-term outcome
measures can complete the picture, illustrating a coherent story that demonstrates how program
results connect to the environmental goal, even in cases where causality can be difficult to prove.
By mapping a system of environmental stewardship measures and rigorously tracking project
and program performance during pilot phases, EPA can use measurement to more tightly
organize programs and activities around priority stewardship goals. Such a measurement system
can also help to ensure that investments in programs and projects are efficiently and cost-
effectively contributing to these broader goals. To bring greater organizational strength to this
approach to stewardship measurement and management, EPA could establish environmental
stewardship goal managers to facilitate communication and decision-making across projects.
Many U.S. companies are pursuing a similar strategy, where they are establishing "value stream
managers" who are responsible for working across functional and programmatic boundaries to
ensure that the end goal is met—the customer gets the high-quality product or service they want,
when they want it, at a reasonable cost.
Seek measurement alignment and consistency across programs. The mapping of programs and
projects to specific stewardship goals, as well as the mapping of program output and outcome
measures, should highlight areas where program measures could be aligned across selected EPA
programs or aligned with measurement standards being adopted outside of EPA, such as the
GRI. Current efforts to align EPA voluntary program measurement with the GRI- based
measures and "data dictionary" used by the National Pollution Prevention Roundtable should be
strongly supported.21 Consistency can reduce measurement and reporting burden, particularly in
places where a partner may be asked to measure and report on a stewardship activity in multiple
ways. For example, the measures of water use or hazardous waste generation required by the
GRI framework and various EPA voluntary programs may differ. In addition, measurement
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consistency can facilitate data aggregation across programs as well as comparability of
stewardship performance results.
4.1.3.3 Design new environmental stewardship programs with measurement in mind
New programs, projects, and challenges can be developed to address environmental stewardship
goals and objectives needing more attention than existing EPA programs provide. Measurement
should be an essential component of new EPA programs and challenges designed to encourage
stewardship behaviors and actions among targeted audiences.
Measures can be built into new program design. One approach is to select a priority
environmental problem and goal that requires attention across multiple partners. For example,
EPA's 33/50 Program set challenge goals for broad-based reductions in Toxic Release Inventory
releases for selected substances, and EPA's Resource Conservation Challenge has set a national
goal of recycling 35% of municipal solid waste in the U.S. Another approach is to select a
specific target audience or partner, and to reach agreement about specific, challenging
environmental objectives that contribute to the environmental goal. For example, EPA's Sector
Strategies program has worked with the iron and steel sector to identify important stewardship
objectives, such as increasing the beneficial reuse of slag to minimize waste from the sector and
reducing emissions of selected hazardous air pollutants. Similarly, EPA could work with
outdoor groups to identify environmental objectives and associated measures which these groups
could help to address by encouraging stewardship behaviors among their constituencies, such as
boating practices that prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species.
Engage partners when defining program measurement systems. While EPA can identify and
propose tangible goals and targets for potential challenges and partnerships, direct collaboration
with potential partners to establish measures and realistic targets can increase ownership of the
goal and help to identify potential obstacles to success. For example, EPA's Energy Star program
has successfully engaged appliance and electronics manufacturers to determine appropriate
energy use measures and targets for EnergyStar labeling and to select appropriate measures to
track progress.
4.1.3.4 Develop stewardship measurement systems that can inform and support people in their
work
EPA should do more than just focus on measurement to assess the effectiveness of EPA's
environmental stewardship programs. The Agency can also lead efforts to build measurement
tools that provide feedback to people that can inform and support their daily work. While there
is no one-size-fits-all approach to stewardship measurement, there are some general
opportunities for measuring stewardship behavior associated with each of the four target
audiences identified by EPA—individuals, companies, communities, and government
organizations. Some of these opportunities are outlined below.
Individuals
• Expand and coordinate use of marketing measurement studies to identify barriers and
benefits associated with specific stewardship behaviors (e.g., recycling, composting,
implementation of water and energy saving measures), and to test pilot behavior change
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outreach and marketing campaigns. Collect and share marketing measurement results and
program evaluation measurement results among state and local government agencies.
• Consider use of prominently featured calculator tools on EPA's website to raise awareness
of individuals' stewardship performance and steps they can take to improve their
stewardship performance.
Companies
• Expand the number of sectors where key measures and targets are identified that address
the most significant environmental issues for the sector, such as is done in EPA's Sector
Strategies program. Information on targets and measures can be used to develop sector-
focused challenges that seek to encourage specific stewardship behaviors.
• Meet with companies within one or more sectors to identify appropriate performance
measures for tracking progress with specific challenge programs.
• Consider expansion of web-based tools that can pool stewardship behavior and
performance results across voluntary programs and enable efficient roll-up and analysis of
trends information. The Pollution Prevention Assessment Tool used by the P2 community
would serve as a model for such an effort.
Communities
• Support programs that engage citizens in measurement of local ecosystem health
(particularly local water quality). These programs can both help to fill the significant
data/information gaps that exist, while raising local awareness about the status of local
ecosystems.
• Facilitate information sharing among communities who are developing sustainability and
quality of life indicators to track the effectiveness of community-based stewardship
efforts.
Government Organizations
• Measure and report on federal facility stewardship performance, including compliance
with Executive Orders targeting stewardship behaviors as well as basic measures such as
water and energy use. Consider the Global Reporting Initiative's public agency sector
framework as a guide to stewardship measurement and reporting for federal facilities.
Such an effort could start with measurement and reporting by EPA facilities, and could be
expanded for use by other federal agencies, state, and local government agencies.
• Expand web-based tools to support and communicate federal facility stewardship
measurement. Such an effort could build on the U.S. Office of the Federal Environmental
Executive (OFEE) EMS progress measurement and reporting scorecard. The
Fedcenter.gov website, a joint initiative of EPA's Office of Enforcement and Compliance
Assurance (OECA), the Army Corps of Engineers' Construction Engineering Research
Laboratory and OFEE could also be expanded to include stewardship measurement tools
and information.
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4.1.3.5 Continue to address data and measurement gaps related to natural resource areas
Measurement efforts undertaken by EPA program offices and EPA's Environmental Indicators
Initiative, including the development of the Draft Report on the Environment, are strengthening
EPA's ability to identify areas needing improvement. Less attention has focused on stewardship
measurement related to energy and materials. While significant data on energy and materials are
collected by other organizations and government agencies, there are significant opportunities to
collect, aggregate, and enhance this data in ways that would better inform environmental
stewardship efforts. These opportunities include:
• Continue programmatic and cross-agency efforts, such as the Environmental Indicators
Initiative, to improve environmental indicators related to air, water, land, ecological
condition, and human health and to address key measurement gaps;
• Improve understanding of material flows and use by developing Material Flow Accounts,
as recommended by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development; and
• Improve use of energy data for identifying areas where increased stewardship attention is
needed, drawing on energy data from existing EPA voluntary programs and other sources
such as the Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration.
• Continue and support consultations with international organizations examining
sustainability and stewardship measurements and indicators, including the Organization
for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the European Commission.
4.2. IMPROVE EPA-wiDE COMMUNICATION, OUTREACH AND MARKETING
As the federal environmental agency, EPA should be a national leader in promoting
environmental stewardship. EPA can do this in a variety of ways, such as supporting
environmental education initiatives that help us understand what motivates individuals to
practice stewardship, and by creating incentives for sound environmental behaviors through our
growing set of voluntary programs. But the most important role for EPA is in providing
information. EPA should help people understand what environmental stewardship is, why it is
important, and how they can join in a national effort to protect the environment and quality of
life in the United States for this and future generations through the choices they make.
To be an effective information provider, EPA must address several challenges. They include:
• Lack of a unified message at EPA about stewardship, including reconciling what can be
perceived as seemingly competing and even conflicting messages about regulatory
requirements and voluntary stewardship;
• Varying degrees of public understanding of environmental issues;
• Lack of understanding within EPA about how to manage a valuable asset for promoting
stewardship - the EPA brand;
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• Need to understand barriers to behavioral change;
• Insufficient knowledge within EPA of marketing as a science, in particular marketing
factors that can drive consumer behaviors;
• Lack of coordination among many different EPA stewardship initiatives that can lead to
competing and/or conflicting information; and
• Not enough tailoring of products and information for specific audiences.
Strategic marketing and outreach are effective means of overcoming these challenges. Indeed,
they are crucial for connecting EPA with the many people and organizations that must become
aware of environmental issues and part of the solution for addressing them.
While "leading by example" will be important for showing the outside world the seriousness of
our stewardship commitment, so too will the way we reach out and talk with people about what
we are doing and want to accomplish. If done well, effective marketing and outreach will greatly
increase the effectiveness of stewardship initiatives. It will connect EPA with people in a way
that it has not done to a great extent in the past, particularly individuals. By giving people
practical ways to protect the environment, we can start to build the kind of broad-based
partnership that is needed to deal with some of our society's most vexing and diffuse
environmental problems.
Key Actions
Develop a coherent message. EPA needs to explain - internally and externally - what
stewardship means and how it fits with our mission of protecting public health and the
environment. This message must be visible through words and actions at every level of the
Agency and must acknowledge the need for strong regulatory compliance. Once defined, EPA
should identify strategic opportunities to engage the public and build their support for
stewardship. Options include:
• Launch a national dialogue to engage the public on stewardship. Routinely set up public
dialogues to exchange ideas for encouraging and enabling stewardship and discuss why
stewardship is important;
• Publicly roll-out new initiatives that showcase stewardship as a means to solving priority
problems. Use the power of the Administrator's office to announce priority initiatives and
gain public support for them;
• Highlight EPA's own stewardship. Increase the visibility of EPA's annual environmental
performance report to show people internally and externally that our words are backed up
by action; and
• Develop a communications toolkit. Distribute a set of resources that can help headquarters
and regional offices stay on message and communicate consistently and effectively with
priority audiences about stewardship.
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Improve environmental literacy. Getting people to do more for the environment is difficult if
they do not understand its value and act accordingly. Recognizing the importance of an
environmentally-educated public, EPA should:
• Undertake an assessment of current environmental education resources. A recent study at
EPA identified about 50 environmental education programs. EPA should conduct a full
assessment to determine how the resources associated with those programs are being
deployed, what they are achieving, and how they might be leveraged more strongly to
maximize the collective value; and
• Develop strategic partnerships that increase the value of EPA's environmental education
initiatives. Based on the assessment described above, EPA should look for opportunities
to leverage its environmental education resources by partnering with educational
institutions and other organizations that share
similar goals. ^___^^_^^^___^_^^^^^
"A good brand reflects the
promise of your program.... it will
determine - perhaps more than
anything else - decision-makers'
receptivity to the actions you are
asking them to take."
EPA Voluntary Program Guidelines
on Branding (Draft)
Enlist specialized expertise to improve EPA's
marketing and brand management. EPA needs
marketing expertise to more effectively reach target
audiences. In particular, EPA needs a better understanding
of the factors and trends that drive individual (i.e.,
consumer) choices, and of how to manage its brand.
While EPA has gained considerable expertise with these
issues through select programs, such as ENERGY STAR
and the Chesapeake Bay Program, the Agency does not have expertise on these issues across the
board. To build this capability, EPA should:
• Develop an EPA-wide marketing plan to guide our many stewardship initiatives. EPA
should determine how to best reach out to target audiences and engage them in initiatives
and dialogues that can increase and improve stewardship; and
• Leverage the work on branding that has already been done for EPA's voluntary
programs. The Agency should use the branding guidelines being developed for its
voluntary programs to increase staff understanding of the branding concept and to help
shape a more strategic approach to managing the EPA brand.
Improve internal coordination among stewardship initiatives. EPA needs to become more
coordinated and sophisticated in how we develop products and services, including information
components, for end users. In particular, EPA should:
• Provide comprehensive links for priority audiences on EPA 's highly visible web page.
Create sites that consolidate information for individuals, communities, companies and,
overtime, subsets of these constituencies, e.g., schools, hospitals, service industries; and
• Simplify information about stewardship opportunities. EPA should start by packaging its
voluntary programs in a way that simplifies participation for priority audiences. Using
results from the critical assessment of existing programs, this packaging should reflect an
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understanding of which programs are likely to net both participants and the society at
large the greatest environmental return.
4.3 UNIFY EPA ACTIVITIES TO MAKE MORE ACCESSIBLE FOR INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL
AUDIENCES
It is important that both Agency employees and those outside the Agency have access to
materials and information that will help them practice better environmental stewardship. It is
clear that we need to organize our environmental stewardship programs as "portfolios of
opportunities" so that they can be easily used by all interested parties. It is also clear that we
need to market these materials more effectively to align with the needs and thinking of our target
audiences. We have initiated an effort to inventory all of these programs and to make the
information about them more accessible. (See Appendix J.)
4.4 REFLECT STEWARDSHIP IN EPA PLANNING, BUDGETING AND ACCOUNTABILITY
SYSTEMS
4.4.1 Introduction
The Agency's strategic and annual planning and budget processes are key mechanisms for
integrating environmental stewardship approaches into EPA's work. These long-term and short-
term planning processes establish priorities for our environmental protection efforts, and identify
the strategies for accomplishing our environmental results. To ensure a high degree of
accountability and visibility, the Agency should continue efforts to incorporate quantifiable
measurement of environmental stewardship results into the Agency's long-term and annual
performance commitments.and integrate environmental stewardship into existing implementation
strategies. Potential ways to accomplish this include incorporation of environmental
stewardship strategies and results in strategic and regional plans; annual plans and budgets;
national program priorities, guidance, and corresponding regional performance commitments;
and annual performance measures.
The following set of recommendations provides suggestions for potential ways to more clearly
establish priorities and demonstrate outcomes for environmental stewardship.
4.4.2 Recommendation 1: Increase Attention to Regional Environmental Stewardship
Activities in National Program Manager (NPM) Guidance Documents
Environmental stewardship program activities can contribute to the accomplishment of long-term
national program priorities and annual regional performance commitments. As national program
managers update their NPM guidance documents each year, opportunities exist for including
consideration of environmental stewardship approaches. In setting national program targets,
NPMs should consider the contribution that environmental stewardship programs and activities •
can make in achieving the targets. For example, if a region works with a company through a
voluntary environmental stewardship program to reduce energy use, water use, or air and water
pollution, the environmental results of these activities could potentially contribute to more
ambitious performance targets. These commitments could then be captured in the Agency's
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Annual Commitment System, which tracks Regional activities and contributions to achieving
national program priorities. The experience that Performance Track is getting in incorporating
directions into NPM guidance should be useful to other stewardship programs.
Regional managers should also include consideration of on-going state environmental
stewardship efforts when developing annual state workplans, performance partnership
agreements, and performance partnership grants. Appropriate recognition of multi-media
projects and the positive role of collaboration should be accounted for in these annual work plans
and to the extent possible, funding flexibility.
4.4.3 Recommendation 2: Integrate Environmental Stewardship into National &
Regional Planning
4.4.3.1 Strategic Planning
The current revision of the Agency's Strategic Plan presents a timely opportunity for
incorporating environmental stewardship as an integral approach for achieving environmental
results. The means and strategies section under each goal describes how the Agency intends to
achieve the long-term measurable environmental commitments contained in the strategic
planning architecture (e.g., objectives, sub-objectives). Representatives of the Agency's
stewardship programs could work with the Goal Teams to develop, for inclusion in the means
and strategies narratives that support each goal, a description of how environmental stewardship
specifically contributes to achievement of the outcomes under the goal. In this way, the Agency
can highlight the essential role that environmental stewardship plays in each of our programs to
achieve environmental results. The Agency has begun revising its Strategic Plan in the fall of
2005. In this connection, futures planning goes hand-in-hand with environmental stewardship.
4.4.3.2 Regional Planning
Regional planning establishes priorities for accomplishing regional environmental protection
work, based on joint planning and priority setting with states and tribes. Regional Plans could
present an opportunity for articulating the use of environmental stewardship approaches to
achieve ongoing programmatic outcomes. Regional plans also offer potential opportunities for
describing how environmental stewardship can help address unique regional priorities or
environmental problems. For example, voluntary approaches may enhance the results that can
be achieved through a more traditional regulatory approach.
EPA and the State Partnership and Performance Group recently formed a workgroup comprising
headquarters, regional, and state program and planning contacts to develop options on an
approach and format for the next round of Regional Plans. Guiding principles for these
recommendations include developing plans that will (1) inform key decision-making processes,
(2) reflect measurable environmental outcomes, (3) streamline plans, and (4) be beneficial to
headquarters and regional senior managers. The Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO)
intends to issue guidance for the next round of Regional Plans in late 2005.
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4.4.4 Recommendation 3: Develop Outcome Based Measures of Environmental
Stewardship
The Agency's Annual Plan and Budget includes annual performance goals and measures that are
expected to be accomplished with the requested resources. The Agency tracks progress toward
these annual performance targets and, at the end of the year, reports on whether they were
achieved in the annual Performance and Accountability Report. These annual performance goals
and measures should be outcome-based to the degree possible and linked directly to the longer-
term outcomes contained in the Agency's strategic planning architecture of goals, objectives, and
sub-objectives in the most recently developed five-year Strategic Plan.
Incorporating environmental stewardship measures in Agency performance measurement
systems would provide critical information about the relative contribution that voluntary
environmental stewardship programs can make toward accomplishing environmental results.
Development of new environmental stewardship annual performance goals and measures for
inclusion in Agency management systems (which may be tracked and reported either externally
or internally) would require development of the measure itself, a baseline, and an annual target.
To the degree possible, annual performance goals and measures should be stated as an
environmental or health outcome, rather than an output. Programs may begin developing new
external performance goals and measures at this time for inclusion in the FY 2008 annual
planning and budget process next summer.
4.4.5 Recommendation 4: Submit Budget Proposals to Advance Environmental
Stewardship
Each year, EPA submits a budget request to the Office of Management and Budget in September
that includes both the resources and the expected performance results associated with those
resources (i.e., externally reported annual performance goals and measures). The annual
planning and budget process provides an opportunity to advance the use of environmental
stewardship in Agency programs.
In a budget climate of level or declining resources, environmental stewardship approaches may
offer opportunities to accomplish our work in new ways, for example, through voluntary
initiatives aimed at changing the behavior of individuals. To enhance the likelihood of success
in the annual budget process, budget proposals should be supported by strong outcome-based
performance results information and describe how resources would be redirected from other
areas to accomplish the work.
The next opportunity to submit a budget proposal to advance environmental stewardship in the
Agency would be as part of the FY 2008 annual planning and budget process in Summer 2006.
4.5 ALIGN EPA EFFORTS WITH STATE AND TRIBAL ACTIVITIES AND PRIORITIES
As described in Chapter 2 and Appendix C of this report, State and Tribal officials generally
express strong support for the ideals embodied in EPA's draft vision and definition of
environmental stewardship and a willingness and interest in working with EPA to further these
ideals.
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All of the States interviewed for this report have ongoing environmental stewardship-related
activities and many States are actively expanding these types of efforts. Although they often are
articulated under the umbrella of "environmental sustainability" or are related to traditional core
environmental programs rather than promoted as "environmental stewardship," States
characterized many of their efforts as consistent with EPA's vision and definition of
environmental stewardship. They emphasized that it is important that EPA environmental
stewardship efforts reinforce ongoing State investments in environmental stewardship and learn
from State experiences. Whenever possible, correspondence between State and Federal efforts
should be established, so efforts are structured to be mutually complementary and supportive.
Many State efforts are focused on two related areas: working to encourage businesses to reach
for environmental outcomes that are beyond those that would be required by existing regulatory
programs (so-called "beyond compliance" efforts) and working to integrate or reduce barriers
between environmental programs. Increasingly, State stewardship-related efforts are not limited
to areas where there are traditional environmental regulatory programs or mandates. Often, State
environmental agencies are considering land conservation goals in their stewardship-related
efforts and partnering with sister natural resource agencies to jointly further environmental and
land conservation goals. States also are investing in efforts to give businesses and consumers
information and encouragement to support more environmentally-sound behaviors and choices.
Some of these efforts provide direct financial support for environmentally beneficial choices.
Tribal leaders emphasized that environmental stewardship is central to their culture and that their
Nations have a long history of environmental stewardship and considering the impacts of
decisions on future generations. Many of the general approaches that have been suggested for
aligning EPA and State environmental stewardship programs and activities also apply to aligning
EPA and Tribal environmental stewardship programs and activities.
State and Tribal officials offered a number of specific suggestions for how EPA might better
work with them to further environmental stewardship goals. Many of these suggestions, such as
creating a national dialogue on environmental stewardship, leading by example, applying
environmental stewardship approaches to ecosystems, communities and products, creating a
robust measurement program for stewardship and nesting stewardship activities within existing
environmental programs and planning mechanisms, are key parts of the options and
recommendations presented elsewhere in this report. Other suggestions include the following
options:
Create sufficient flexibility at the regional office level for State and Tribal programs to explore
stewardship approaches. The officials stressed that States and Tribes are laboratories of
innovation for environmental protection and are responsible for most direct delivery of
environmental programs. They need flexibility to experiment with stewardship-related ideas, .
particularly those that focus on environmental outcomes that cut across traditional program areas
or that reach beyond compliance with existing requirements. Part of this will be addressed by
incorporating stewardship activities into NPM guidance document and other national and
regional planning efforts as described earlier in this report. Flexibility also may be needed in the
types of activities for which State grant funds may be spent, the numbers of specific types of
activities (e.g., certain types of inspections) that States must carry out, and the ways in which
environmental regulatory targets are defined (e.g., to provide alternative targets in situations
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where overall superior environmental outcomes can be achieved, such as in an Environmental
Management System context). EPA needs to work with States and Tribes to integrate
stewardship as a legitimate environmental management tool and work to reconcile any potential
conflicts with regulatory responsibilities.
Provide support for stewardship efforts. The officials also stressed that EPA grant programs
must recognize and reward State and Tribal investments in stewardship efforts. Because of the
budget situation in which many States and Tribes find themselves, grants must recognize that
investment in stewardship may come at the expense of investments in other activities.
Stewardship needs to be connected to EPA's vision and funding priorities. EPA should also give
credit for stewardship activities during program performance reviews.
Build on existing EPA environmental stewardship programs and priorities and collaborate to
achieve common goals. Stewardship efforts are an opportunity to frame and coordinate many
current activities and to guide future thinking about investments and strategy. Specific
suggestions include:
• Target investments that explore actual implementation of stewardship behaviors,
particularly those in which outcomes can be measured.
• Increase the understanding of how economics can work harmoniously with ecosystems,
reducing the false sense of choice between a healthy economy and a healthy environment.
• Continue to create the floor, the baseline, of environmental protection through regulatory
and enforcement programs and through support of State and Tribal environmental
programs, while at the same time offering incentives to move beyond minimum standards.
• Create capacity, toolkits, or other resources that States and Tribes could use or customize
to support their programs, in particular, information and capacity on marketing to focus
efforts to educate consumers and change consumer behavior and ensure that educational
efforts at the local, State, Tribal and Federal level are as effective and efficient as possible
for the investment made.
• Encourage market mechanisms that provide competitive advantages to for stewardship
practices, including preferences in insurance, lending, and capital markets.
4.6 REFINE ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS AND EDUCATION ACTIVITIES TO REALIZE FULL
VALUE
4.6.1 Environmental Stewardship and Environmental Education (EE): An Integral
Partnership
Environmental stewardship efforts may be greatly enhanced through effective utilization and
improvement of existing Environmental Education (EE) resources. EE is a process that: 1)
increases public awareness and knowledge of environmental issues and challenges; 2) teaches
people how individual and collective actions affect the environment; 3) develops skills people
can use to weigh various sides of complex environmental issues, and make informed decisions;
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and 4) inspires personal responsibility for environmental preservation, restoration, and/or
conservation. The path from education, to increased knowledge and awareness, to behavior
change and action is one that EPA must utilize if it hopes to effectively persuade individuals,
communities, businesses, agencies and organizations to become better environmental stewards.
4.6.2 The Current Status of EPA's Environmental Education Programs
As with environmental stewardship programs, programs focusing on EE are scattered throughout
the EPA. EPA's formal EE programs may be grouped into voluntary programs, training
programs, community education and outreach, internships, fellowships, and K-12 programs.
Individual programs are housed in different offices, making communication and coordination
difficult. In an effort to connect these various programs to one another, the Office of
Environmental Education's (OEE) website acts as a centralized location for internal staff to find
out what other education efforts are occurring throughout the Agency. OEE also provide
resources to teachers and educators and offer grant opportunities to those involved in
environmental education.
4.6.3 Opportunities to Strengthen Environmental Stewardship through Environmental
Education
Education provides a forum to prevent human health risks and pollution by teaching choices and
encouraging good environmental stewardship. The stronger the education programs are, the
clearer and louder the stewardship message will be. For EPA's Environmental Education to
succeed, education and communication must occur both internally and externally. The Office of
Environmental Education (OEE) is already working on ways to increase communication and
awareness about EE within EPA, with other government agencies, and with the public at large.
Current efforts include:
• Facilitating communication among EE programs and staff, in part through the
development of an EPA program database containing information on materials produced,
methodologies used, and audiences targeted, to be available within and to the public;
• Enhancing evaluation and strategic planning for EE programs; and
• Working to include education approaches in EPA's future strategic plans.
In addition to present OEE efforts, the visibility and accountability of environmental education
may be increased through the following recommendations:
• Active management support for EE programs: In order for the EE approach to succeed at
the EPA, there must be more active support at all management levels in the form of
necessary resources, recognition, and encouragement;
• Provide professional development opportunities for EE staff with an emphasis on
education, evaluation, communication, and other key topics; and
• Improve the product review system to enhance the effectiveness of the products and
coordination between programs.
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The environmental stewardship effort can be greatly enhanced by tying into already existing EE
programs and helping the OEE reach a wider audience and better communicate with its present
audience. Education provides the underpinnings for EPA's overall mission and is inextricably
linked to environmental stewardship. The enhancement of one implies the growth of the other.
Through proper support and planning, EPA can grow both its environmental education and
stewardship programs, thereby moving substantially closer to achieving its overall goals and
mission.
4.7 IMPROVE OUR KNOWLEDGE BASE - PERFORM CRITICAL RESEARCH
Successfully implementing a stewardship approach to environmental protection and improving
over time will require us to build a knowledge foundation through research. In general, there are
several important aspects to capture in a research portfolio that will inform stewardship. First,
we should both understand and improve the infrastructure (physical, informational, economic,
social) that makes stewardship choices comfortable and convenient, and also develop new and
innovative choices for stewards. Second, we should learn from the successes and failures of the
past with respect to stewardship, as well as inform decisions that will enable us to shape the
future. Third, to develop lasting solutions to complex problems, we should draw on an
understanding of how societal and ecological systems interact. Fourth, we should learn how to
better provide the information required by government, communities, businesses, and individuals
to make better choices. Finally, we must understand under what conditions the collection of
stewardship behaviors and regulatory outcomes work together on a local, regional, and national
scale to help us achieve the sustainability outcomes we are aiming for.
Stewardship requires a multi-disciplinary research approach in engineering, chemistry, ecology,
public health, economics, social sciences, etc. Research that can potentially inform the plans and
decisions of four types of stewardship groups is described below: (1) community and regional
decisionmakers, (2) industry and business, (3) individuals and households (4) ecosystem
managers. Stewardship also requires full communication between researchers and users inside
and outside of EPA, so that useful research questions are asked and knowledge gained from
research is effectively transferred and applied.
4.7.1 Community and Regional Decisionmakers
Local governments and communities would benefit from a better understanding of future
implications of their planning decisions. The location, design, and materials selected for new
development within a community or region can affect the level of impact it has on the
environment. Different residential, commercial, and transportation densities (dictated by building
codes) and designs (driven by architectural and civil engineering practice) are associated with
altered consumption and land use patterns. These in turn lead to environmental implications. For
example, the characteristics and patterns of land development in a region can affect energy
consumption, as well as air quality through mobile and stationary source emissions. Similarly,
the water demands of development can be in balance or at odds with ecological health. Land use
can also affect materials use patterns and subsequent environmental impacts. Research can help
to illuminate the linkages among demographic changes, economic trends, and
technology/infrastructure transformations influencing future development; resource (water,
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energy, materials) flow and consumption patterns; alternative build-out scenarios for
metropolitan areas; and the associated projected environmental outcomes. Factors that motivate
or discourage community members to choose to become better stewards are also important to
understand. Then, tools and approaches can be developed that enable communities and
local/regional governments to be better environmental stewards and over the long run prevent
environmental pollution, promote wise use of resources, and enhance environmental quality and
public health.
4.7.2 Industry & Business
Companies would benefit from a broader array of options to meet their sustainability objectives.
Research can contribute to the knowledge foundation to increase available options over time to:
(a) design greener products, (b) build and operate greener facilities, and (c) manage materials and
products from "cradle to cradle." Research can lead to new approaches to designing molecules,
products, processes, and systems that use safe chemicals; use energy, materials, and water
efficiently; and effectively eliminate or reduce waste at the source. Broader issues can inform
strategic industrial and business stewardship. Understanding the environmentally beneficial
applications as well as harmful implications of emerging technologies, such as Nanotechnology
and Biotechnology, can help to guide the development of these new technologies. A materials
flow systems understanding can illuminate leverage points in product lifecycles that may reap
the greatest return. Finally, understanding the dynamics of organizations, including conditions
and factors that motivate green choices and behavior can inform future policies.
4.7.3 Individual and Households
Individuals and households would benefit from more information, more incentives, and more
choices for stewardship behavior. Research can contribute to individual and household
stewardship in several areas. First, an understanding of what types stewardship choices and
behavior (from composting to carpooling) on the part of individuals makes the biggest difference
for long-term environmental results would help to prioritize policy relating to individual
stewardship. Second, understanding how stewardship innovation behavior diffuses from lead
environmental stewards to others in the general population can help to target stewardship •
programs for individuals. Third, research can contribute to understanding the incentives and
disincentives for stewardship behavior, such as relating to economics, convenience, or comfort.
Finally, an understanding of the role of information in guiding stewardship can inform the
presentation of environmental information, such as in eco-labels or environmental indicators.
4.7.4 Ecosystem Managers
Ecosystem managers can benefit from decisionmaking tools drawing on an improved
understanding of ecosystem structure and function and effects on ecosystem services. Priority
research needs relate to (a) development of forecasting methods, (b) elucidation of how stressors
affect ecosystem services, and (c) decision tools to compare trade-offs among alternative
resource uses and flow patterns. The outputs of this research will include a variety of tools to
transfer this knowledge from scientific research to application by stewards at all levels of
society.
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APPENDIX A:
ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP & EPA:
CHARGE FROM THE ADMINISTRATOR TO THE INNOVATION ACTION COUNCIL
Background: EPA's current strategic plan has a new emphasis on environmental stewardship to
accomplish the Agency's mission - reflecting an ongoing evolution of policy goals from
pollution control to prevention and sustainability. The changing nature of the environmental
challenges we face and the different types of solutions that are needed to get results require us to
engage all parts of society - individuals, companies, environmental and other non-profit groups,
communities and government - to improve public health and the environment.
Today, a growing number of organizations and individuals are embracing stewardship values by
taking responsibility for the environmental consequences of their actions. Environmental
stewardship behavior can be harnessed in strategies for addressing "new" environmental
problems and in strategies for continued progress on "old" problems. Stewardship strategies can
help push beyond compliance-oriented outcomes, mobilize new players in environmental
problem solving and ensure that solutions consider long term impacts.
This vision of environmental protection is emerging throughout EPA programs and in all five
goals of EPA's strategic plan. Thus, in addition to operating effective regulatory and
enforcement programs, EPA is gaining substantial experience with stewardship approaches -
including voluntary programs, market incentives, recognition and leadership programs, pollution
prevention, environmental education, information and collaborative problem solving. Although
these stewardship efforts are designed to produce environmental results, EPA can improve their
effectiveness with a more unified strategy and with clear goals and priorities.
Charge: To realize the full benefits of stewardship and use EPA resources efficiently, we need
to critique our progress and define strategic priorities. The Innovation Action Council should:
1. Explore and better define EPA's vision of environmental stewardship and the role of
stewardship in the future of environmental protection;
2. Assess EPA's current environmental stewardship activities to determine effectiveness
and opportunities for improvement; and
3. Recommend options and priorities for how EPA, in partnership with States and tribes,
can encourage stewardship that addresses environmental priorities and achieves results.
Schedule and process: The IAC should organize an inclusive process to gather information and
ideas from program and regional offices, states and tribes. A draft report should be completed in
six months - to inform the next EPA Strategic Plan, and strengthen how EPA's management and
accountability systems support stewardship approaches.
Together with strong regulatory programs, stewardship approaches have significant potential to,
improve environmental quality'. Fostering environmental stewardship as a societal ethic requires
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new roles for EPA, and I look forward to a continuing IAC leadership role in charting this course
for the Agency.
Stephen L. Johnson
Administrator
Date: May 9, 2005
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APPENDIX B:
ROSTER OF PROJECT PARTICIPANTS
Office
OPEI
OSWER
OPPTS
OECA
OCFO
OAR
OW
ORD
OARM
OEE
Region 2
Region 3
Region 4
Region 5
Region 8
Region 9
Region 10
ECOS/NC*
Steering Committee
Jay Benforado, Chair
Louise Wise
Barry Breen
Margaret Schneider
Mike Stahl
Kathy Sedlak O'Brien
Rob Brenner
Mike Shapiro
Stan Meiburg
Rick Albright
Bill Ross
Staff Committee
Deny Allen, Chair
Bob Benson
Lynn Desautels
Sandy Germann
Sharquita Goldring
Lynda Goodgame
Shari Grossarth
Bill Hanson
Brigid Lowery
Karen Chu
Richard Kashmanian
Shannon Kenny
Greg Ondich
Betsy Shaw
Stephan Sylvan
Rob Wolcott
Gwen Yoshimura
Clare Lindsay
Tom Murray
Kate Perry
Elizabeth Walsh
Larry Weinstock
Kitty Miller
Diana Bauer
Iris Goodman
Gary Hudiburgh
Peter Fargo
Bucky Green
Drew Burnett
Walter Schoepf
Nick DiNardo
Linda Rimer
Melissa Heath
Marilou Martin
Whitney Trulove-Cranor David Schaller
Scott Stollman
Carolyn Gangmark
Bob Drake
Beth Graves
* Participants from North Carolina representing the Environmental Council of the States (ECOS)
The project participants also acknowledge with thanks the contributions of consultants from the
firms of ICF Consulting, Ross and Associates and Eastern Research Group.
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APPENDIX C:
DETAILED SUMMARY OF INTERVIEWS WITH STATE
OFFICIALS, EXPERTS AND OTHER STAKEHOLDERS
C.1 STATE OFFICIALS
Eight state environment and natural-resource agency commissioners were interviewed
individually by telephone and eight states participated in a group conference call on
environmental stewardship.
State commissioners were asked to provide their perspectives in three areas: (1) the term
"environmental stewardship" and EPA's working definition; (2) environmental stewardship
activities planned or ongoing in their state; and (3) how EPA might work with states and tribes to
support and foster environmental stewardship activities and behaviors.
This summary presents key themes and ideas that emerged from the interviews. Interviews were
carried out over a period of approximately five weeks in August and September 2005. Each
individual interview was approximately 30 minutes in length. The list of interviewees and
participants in conferences calls is attached.
C.1.1 Defining Environmental Stewardship
State commissioners were asked to react to EPA's draft vision and definition of environmental
stewardship and to the concepts embedded in the draft vision and definition.
State commissioners expressed support for the ideals embodied in EPA's draft definition of
environmental stewardship and the importance of these types of efforts both to achieving
environmental quality goals and to the long-term health and sustainability of environment and
natural resource agencies. Commissioners talked about environmental stewardship activities as
representing the "next phase" in environmental protection efforts and about the importance of
efforts that move to create a shared national vision for how individuals, businesses, and
communities can—through their actions—contribute to enhanced public health and
environmental protection. In particular, state commissioners emphasized the need to look
holistically across environmental programs to identify strategies that can solve multiple problems
at the same time.
There was not unanimity about the usefulness of the term "environmental stewardship " as
opposed to other terms. Some state commissioners were supportive of the term "environmental
stewardship" because that term was already in use in their states. For example, the Wisconsin
Department of Environment and Natural Resources has a strategic plan and vision statement that
includes the idea of "shared responsibility of natural resource stewards." The North Carolina
Department of Environmental Quality has an "Environmental Stewardship Initiative" aimed at
teaching businesses and other organizations about Environmental Management System (EMS)
approaches and recognizing exceptional EMS commitments and results. At the same time, other
state commissioners expressed concern that the term "environmental stewardship" is not in
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general use in their state agencies or among the individuals, businesses, or communities they
serve. In addition, some state commissioners expressed concern that the term "environmental
stewardship" had the potential to be interpreted as focused exclusively on natural resource issues
such as land-use and land conservation, or confused with long-term land use control initiatives
(often called "long-term stewardship" initiatives) in place in many state clean up programs.
State commissioners who were concerned with the term "environmental stewardship" expressed
a preference (sometimes a strong preference) for terms that are in more general use, such as
"environmental sustainability."
Incorporating the concept of economic prosperity into the thinking about "environmental
stewardship " is important. A number of state commissioners mentioned the need to link
environmental achievement with economic vitality and to move beyond the false thinking that
those two goals are at odds. State commissioners who were more comfortable with terms such
as "environmental sustainability" than "environmental stewardship" emphasized that
sustainability concepts already tend to connote the pairing of abundance in the environment and
the economy.
State commissioners echoed a number of the critiques of EPA's draft definition of environmental
stewardship that were identified during the expert and stakeholder interviews. In particular, it is
important to name accountability and responsibility—if everyone is responsible collectively,
then no one will feel responsible individually, and nothing will get done. The goal, end state, or
environmental outcomes that are the aspiration of stewardship activities should be clearly
identified. In other words, how do we know when we are making progress?
C.1.2 Environmental Stewardship Efforts in States
State commissioners were asked about environmental stewardship efforts that they are investing
in or leading.
All states interviewed have ongoing efforts that they characterized as consistent with EPA's draft
vision and definition of environmental stewardship. Most state commissioners described their
level of attention to and investment in stewardship-like efforts as increasing and becoming
increasingly important within their agencies.
Many state stewardship efforts are focused in two related areas: working to encourage
businesses to reach for environmental outcomes that are beyond those that would be required by
existing regulatory programs (so-called "beyond compliance" efforts) and working to integrate
or reduce barriers between environmental programs. Often, these efforts are not called by the
name "environmental stewardship." Frequently they are part of state environmental
sustainability programs or agendas, although in some cases, stewardship-like efforts are under
the umbrella of more general programmatic improvement or efficiency. Examples of state
stewardship-like efforts include:
• Nebraska works across local, state, and federal agencies to combine watershed
development and protection efforts with small community revitalization.
• Colorado has an Environmental Management System permit program that focuses on
superior environmental outcomes and regulating businesses in a more holistic way.
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• Wisconsin has the "Green Tier" program that recognizes beyond compliance efforts.
• North Carolina has an "Environmental Stewardship Initiative" to promote and encourage
superior environmental performance in the regulated community.
• Maine is working with other New England states on an initiative to establish connections
and joint priority setting between environment and public health agencies. One of the
outcomes of this effort will be materials to support individuals assessing the "health" of
their homes.
• California is supporting efforts to develop best practices for sustainability in the wine
grape and other agricultural sectors.
• The Texas environmental excellence awards celebrate efforts of citizens, communities,
businesses, and organizations to preserve and enhance the environment by honoring the
most outstanding waste reduction and pollution prevention efforts in the State.
• Minnesota has a program to foster product exchanges for lead tackle, mercury-containing
products, lawn equipment and wood stoves.
State stewardship-related efforts increasingly consider land conservation, particularly, but not
exclusively, in Agencies that have responsibility for both natural resources and environmental
protection. For example, Wisconsin has a $60 million land conservation fund. More traditional
environmental protection agencies also are looking at conservation. South Carolina is working
with other southern states to explore sustainability and stewardship at active military bases, in
part motivated by land conservation goals. California EPA, which does not have responsibility
for natural resource management, is working with its sister state agencies to support the work of
state land conservancies. This collaboration gives CALEPA the opportunity to work with the
conservancies to marry environmental efforts (such as the work of local water regulatory boards)
with the unique tools that conservancies have (such as the ability to purchase land and control
easements). In addition, many state cleanup programs have long incorporated considerations
about long-term stewardship, land use, and conservation, and a number of states environmental
agencies are initiating efforts to support sustainable agricultural practices that also are motivated,
in part, by land conservation goals. Opportunities for environmental agencies to team and
collaborate with land management and natural resource agencies and organizations, particularly
in the agriculture area, are an important part of the overall package of stewardship approaches.
There are important opportunities for stewardship-related activities in areas where there are not
currently as many programmatic drivers for compliance. State commissioners mentioned work
in areas such as energy usage, water conservation, and air pollution reduction. A number of
states also have efforts focused on agriculture and maintaining the health and viability of
agricultural operations.
In part to take advantage of these opportunities, states increasingly have efforts oriented towards
giving businesses and consumers information and encouragement to support more
environmentally sound consumptive behaviors and choices. These efforts are often media-
focused, particularly around waste reduction, water quantity and quality, and air quality efforts.
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For example, the Drive Clean Across Texas Program is a public outreach and education
campaign designed to raise awareness, change attitudes, and ultimately changes citizens'
behavior to reduce air pollution from cars and trucks. Some state programs extend to providing
financial support. In Texas, for example, the State provides financial assistance to qualified
owners of vehicles that fail emissions testing through the AirCheck Texas Repair and
Replacement Assistance Program.
States have an important role to play as conveners for environmental stewardship efforts,
particularly voluntary or beyond compliance efforts. States are facilitating and supporting
efforts by businesses, communities, or other organizations and helping these organizations
connect to and learn from one another. Often these efforts may have as their primary motivating
factor some economic or social value, but they also can be optimized to create environmental
improvement. For example:
• Maine inspectors are working to identify opportunities to pair businesses that have
complementary "waste" streams and production processes. For example, a potato
processor with high volumes of excess waste water was teamed with a paper manufacture
that could use the "waste" water in the paper production process.
• Maine convenes twice-yearly meetings of "Step Up" program participants—businesses
that have made commitments to superior environmental performance—so these businesses
can learn from one another's efforts.
• South Carolina has invested in full-time environmental liaison staff to serve as
ombudspersons and help people understand the complexities of health and environmental
issues and programs. These staff can work with communities who have identified
particular environmental concerns to cut across programmatic boundaries to develop
solutions.
State efforts also involve improving program delivery and services to improve efficiency and
overall outcomes. For example:
• South Carolina is investing in plain language and streamlining efforts around
environmental permitting.
• Maine is working to better combine and integrate pollution prevention efforts with
hazardous waste compliance inspections and efforts.
C.1.3 EPA and Environmental Stewardship
It is important for EPA to define its environmental stewardship efforts in the context of existing
Agency programs and priorities. State commissioners agreed with EPA's thinking that
stewardship efforts are not so much a new program or initiative, but rather an opportunity to
frame and—state commissioners emphasize—coordinate many current activities and to guide
future thinking about investments and strategy. At the same time, state commissioners advised
EPA to avoid creating the perception that environmental stewardship is just another "flavor-of-
the-month."
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EPA should identify and capitalize on stewardship efforts that are already occurring
independently, outside of government. There are opportunities to do this domestically by
working with sectors such as agriculture and forest products and forward thinking companies and
municipalities or other local governments and internationally by working with efforts in the
European Union, Japan, and other nations.
Measurement of stewardship efforts and nesting these efforts into existing measurement and
performance tracking systems is important to success and may be difficult. A number of state
commissioners described the importance of measures in driving state priorities and emphasized
the need to develop measures of stewardship activities that could be used to monitor
achievements and focus investments on environmental outcomes. Some state commissioners
mentioned that some current EPA measurement approaches may constrain state innovation and
stewardship-related activities. For example, particularly in times when state budgets and staffing
levels tend to be shrinking, measurement approaches that tie state grant levels to the numbers of
regulated facilities or the numbers of inspections or enforcement actions carried out force state
investment in directions that may not allow much room for innovation. In these situations, states
might rather invest in areas or programs that they believe would achieve superior environmental
outcomes, but are constrained from doing so by the need to fulfill ("get credit for") specified
program-related activities. These sorts of disconnects perpetuate the feeling that stewardship, or
innovative approaches that cut across programs to reach to environmental outcomes more
generally, are not really part of the core work of environmental programs and are somehow
separate from most of the day-to-day implementation work of environmental laws.
Creating true flexibility at the regional-office level for state programs to explore stewardship-
related ideas is important. States are the laboratories of innovation for environmental protection;
they also are responsible for most direct delivery of environmental programs. States need
flexibility to experiment with stewardship-related ideas, particularly those that focus on
environmental outcomes that cut across traditional program areas or that reach beyond
compliance with existing requirements. Commissioners described that too often EPA's
overarching ideas or goals about flexibility to further shared environmental priorities expressed
at the political level, by senior career officials, or in the innovation-focused offices do not seem
to "stick" with staff in enforcement-oriented offices or with line staff and managers in the
regional offices who have the most influence over day-to-day state/EPA interactions. A
commissioner observed, "if half of EPA is counting success by the number of enforcement
actions and half is worried about stewardship, then that's a tough discrepancy for states to
manage." Flexibility may be needed in the types of activities for which state grant funds may be
spent, the numbers of specific types of activities (e.g., certain types of inspections) that states
must carry out, and the ways in which environmental regulatory targets are defined (e.g., to
provide alternative targets in situations where overall superior environmental outcomes can be
achieved, such as in an Environmental Management System context).
Financial support for state stewardship efforts is critical. EPA grant programs must recognize
and reward state investments in stewardship efforts. Because of the budget situation that many
states find themselves in, grants must recognize that investment in stewardship will often come
at the expense of investments in other activities. Stewardship needs to be connected to EPA's
vision and funding priorities.
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Shifting to a stewardship-related way of thinking is primarily about culture change—creating a
culture that is more about individual and corporate responsibility and accountability and relies
on shared goals, partnership, and collaboration, rather than strict command and control
strategies. Many of the state efforts described above take this approach and could be supported
by EPA efforts to bring additional flexibility to state implementation of environmental programs.
EPA can make investments that will support or encourage state stewardship-like efforts. Many
of the suggestions for EPA investment made by state commissioners echoed some of the
suggestions made by experts and stakeholders. Specific suggestions from state commissioners
include:
• Creating a clear definition of environmental stewardship and how stewardship behaviors
might differ from current ways of acting.
• Targeting investments in exploring actual implementation of stewardship behaviors,
particularly those in which outcomes can be measured.
• Acting as a convener of public dialogue on stewardship issues and actions that companies,
individuals, and governments can take and using the "bully pulpit' to publicize and call
for successful stewardship approaches.
• Increasing the understanding of how economics can work harmoniously with ecosystems,
reducing the false sense of choice between a healthy economy and a healthy environment.
• Continuing to create the floor, the baseline, of environmental protection through
regulatory and enforcement programs and through support of state environmental
programs, while at the same time offering incentives to move beyond minimum standards.
Some interviewees discussed this as creating an appropriate balance of "carrots" and
"sticks;" at the same time, the majority of interviewees in the expert category emphasized
that government's role in setting and enforcing minimum standards and expectations is a
critical part of establishing the conditions for stewardship behaviors.
• Creating capacity, toolkits, or other resources that states could use or customize to support
their programs, in particular, information and capacity on social marketing to focus efforts
to educate consumers and change consumer behavior and ensure that educational efforts at
the local, state, and federal level are as effective and efficient as possible for the
investment made.
• Encouraging market mechanisms that provide competitive advantages to stewards,
including preferences in insurance, lending, and capital markets.
It is critical for states and EPA to "walk the talk. " One of the most important ways that
government can support stewardship efforts is leading by example. This not only strengthens
government's call to others to act as environmental stewards, it also pilots and tests stewardship
concepts and expands stewardship tools and infrastructure.
State Commissioner Interview List
1. Jim Branham, California
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2. Dawn Gallagher, Maine
3. Scott Hassett, Wisconsin
4. Bob King, South Carolina
5. Mike Linder, Nebraska
6. Bill Ross, North Carolina
7. Howard Roitman, Colorado
8. Larry Soward, Texas
States that participated in the conference call (September 29,2005)
1. Arizona
2. Massachusetts
3. Minnesota
4. New Hampshire
5. North Carolina
6. Texas
7. Utah
8. Virginia
9. Wisconsin
C.2 EXPERTS AND STAKEHOLDERS
In the expert category, interviewees included representatives of academia, policy advocacy and
research organizations, and the sustainability and conservation movements. In the stakeholder
category interviewees included representatives of corporations and business, non-profit
environmental organizations, states, local government, and Tribal nations.
Experts were asked questions about the definition and concept of environmental stewardship, the
prospective role of government and EPA in fostering stewardship, and examples of stewardship
behaviors among business, individuals, government, and communities. Stakeholders were asked
about the definition of environmental stewardship, their stewardship efforts and experiences,
barriers that prevent them from becoming better environmental stewards, and steps that EPA
could take to help their organizations and/or constituencies to be better environmental stewards.
This summary presents key themes and ideas that emerged from the interviews. Although the
questions differed for the expert and stakeholder groups, consistent themes emerged from the
.interviews across the two groups. As a result, this summary covers important themes from both
the expert and stakeholder interviews. Summary points and themes that pertain primarily to
either the expert or stakeholder interviews are noted as sucft.
Interviews were carried out over a period of approximately five weeks in July and early August
2005. Each interview was approximately one-hour in length. The list of interviewees is
attached.
To collect further feedback from Tribal environmental leaders, representatives from EPA's
Stewardship Workgroup met with Tribal representatives during a meeting of EPA's National
Tribal Operations Committee on September 29, 2005. Observations from this session are
incorporated into the summary below.
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C.2.1 Defining Environmental Stewardship
On balance interviewees expressed confidence in the term "environmental stewardship " as
having positive connotations as well as the potential to be a useful concept for advancing EPA's
goals. In particular, interviewees were positive about the potential of the term "environmental
stewardship" to capture public imagination and to motivate people and to create a touchstone that
could be used to bring decision makers and individuals back to a set of underlying purposes and
goals. Interviewees emphasized two important attributes of the term "environmental
stewardship." First, it conveys a sense of responsibility to something or someone beyond oneself
for protecting and enhancing the environment. Second, it implies the need and ability to
shoulder that responsibility by taking individual action.
Interviewees also noted a number of features that the term "environmental stewardship" typically
connotes, although these points are not necessarily articulated in EPA's current working
definition of environmental stewardship. The term "environmental stewardship" connotes:
• Being aware of and understanding the full spectrum of impacts on the natural
environment.
• Using the precautionary principle to guide actions that have potential to affect the
environment.
• Living on the interest of what is produced, without altering the substance of the principal.
• Adopting a holistic, integrated perspective on the consequences of decisions.
• Taking into account both the short-term and long-term implications of decisions and
actions.
• Connecting natural systems to people.
A definition of "environmental stewardship" should clearly articulate who is responsible for
what to whom. Interviewees, particularly in the expert category, offered a number of critiques of
EPA's draft definition of environmental stewardship. First, several interviewees identified the
need to more clearly allocate responsibility for stewardship behavior. Key observations include:
• Experts emphasized the need to name accountability and responsibility - if everyone is
responsible collectively no one will feel responsible individually, and then nothing will
get done.
It was noted that clarity and certainty of understanding related to the allocation of responsibility
are more important for institutions, such as businesses and government agencies. Institutions
operate in a context that is highly structured by property rights, laws, regulations, liability, etc.
Therefore, assuming ambiguous responsibility for stewardship can result in very few stepping up
to assume responsibility, unless doing so is aligned with other benefits to the organization (e.g.,
enhanced profit).
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Second, interviewees identified the need to more clearly identify the goal or end state that we
should collectively seek to achieve as environmental stewards. In other word, how do we know
when we are effective stewards? Specific reflections from the interviews include:
• "Avoiding environmental impacts" is not enough, environmental stewardship is also about
making positive contributions to environmental restoration and improvement.
• While many interviewees noted that environmental stewardship should focus on proactive
steps to protect and enhance environmental quality, some strongly believe that restoration
and recovery of degraded ecosystems must be included in EPA's definition and focus on
stewardship. Restoration is of particular interest to tribes, and collaborative efforts to
restore ecosystems such as the Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes, and the Everglades were
noted as examples of restorative stewardship in action.
• There is a need to address first order issues associated with moving from an extractive
economy (with predominant reliance on non-renewable sources of energy and materials)
to a renewable economy that lives off the interest of what is produced rather than tapping
into the principal.
• Some experts identified that the "sustainable use of ecosystem services" could be an
appropriate target for stewardship behaviors.
Third, interviewees identified the need to more clearly define "to whom" stewards are
responsible. They noted that much of the power of the term stewardship stems from its
implication of responsibility to someone (or someones) who is held in great esteem, such as God,
future generations, children and grandchildren, or oneself. Specific reflections include:
• Tribal wisdom often references the importance of considering the impacts of decisions on
the next seven generations.
• References of responsibility to God or a higher being or beings can be powerful to some,
but such references may not resonate with others and would be difficult for government
agencies to proffer or embrace.
• Focus on responsibility to children and grandchildren can be useful, as it speaks to a
human connection that most people can embrace and it has stronger immediacy and
connection to mainstream audiences than a more abstract reference to future generations.
It is important to recognize that the term "environmental stewardship" fails to fully capture the
broader context of decision-making faced by many organizations and the term may be less useful
in the context of business. A number of interviewees, particularly in the stakeholder category,
noted that the term "environmental stewardship" does not address two important dimensions of
decision-making: the economic and social dimensions. While supportive of the idea of
environmental stewardship, several stakeholders noted that the term is not in widely used among
businesses or state and local government agencies. They encouraged EPA to consider
positioning "environmental stewardship" in the context of other terms or trends that may be in
more widespread use. Other terms encompass many of the same ideas as "environmental
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stewardship," but they recognize other factors that compel and constrain behaviors. For
example:
• Most large companies are not thinking about "environmental stewardship" but instead are
thinking more broadly about corporate citizenship, sustainable development, and
corporate social responsibility.
• Some interviewees emphasized the need to consider environmental stewardship in light of
the "triple bottom line" of environmental, economic, and social viability.
• Some tribes think about environmental stewardship in the broader context of "cultural
sustainability," since many tribal traditions and cultural practices depend upon access to
various species and natural resources.
Interviewees raised another drawback of using the term "environmental stewardship" to frame
communications around EPA interactions with business. They noted that the term implies that
business may need to take actions for altruistic reasons, rather than because the actions make
good business sense. Talking about environmental stewardship to business could undermine a
growing trend and expanding efforts to mainstream the concept that superior environmental
performance is good business. Over reliance on altruistic arguments for business environmental
performance improvement runs the risk of marginalizing environment as a nice to have, but not
fundamental, business success factor. For example:
• Work by Innovest and others is demonstrating how business risk exposure related to
climate change and other environmental performance dimensions are critical factors to
consider in mainstream investment analysis and decision-making. This is represents an
important shift from conventional Socially Responsible Investment funds that appeal to
niche investors and only capture about 2% of current investment market share.
• Recent efforts by companies such as General Electric and Procter & Gamble illustrate that
there are powerful market drivers, such as shifting customer and shareholder expectations
and competitive pressures for waste reduction, that are causing companies to more
proactively embrace environmental performance improvement opportunities.
EPA should be aware of the heritage of the term "stewardship " and understand that the term
will mean different things to different groups based on its heritage. The term "stewardship" has
strong religious roots. Within religious circles, Genesis 1:26-28 is often used to support an ethic
of stewardship: "and let them rule over all the earth, fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the
fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature." In this context,
stewardship is often used to describe humans' responsibility to "God the Creator" for "taking
care of creation." As a result, the term can carry connotations of humans' dominion over nature,
which differs markedly from a conception that views humans as an integral part of ecosystems
on which humans depend for survival. Modern religious uses of the term "stewardship" vary in
their focus and emphasis:
• The Interfaith Council for Environmental Stewardship (ICES) has taken a conservative
viewpoint. The group's Cornwall Declaration on Environmental Stewardship focuses on
mankind's benevolent dominion over nature.
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• The National Religious Partnership for the Environment, the World Council of Churches,
the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL), and others take a more
centrist view of environmental stewardship that emphasizes humans as having a unique
role in caring for the earth's ecosystems and creatures (humans as "the Creator's special
stewards") while acknowledging that humans are embedded in and rely upon the same
natural systems as other life.
The term stewardship also has important legal heritage, as it is sometime associated with the
concept of usufruct. Usufruct means "use of the fruit" or "the right of enjoying a thing, the
property of which is vested in another, and to draw from the same all the profit, utility, and
advantage which it may produce, provided it be without altering the substance of the thing."
Usufruct has influenced legal conceptions of property rights, and it has bearing on legal
interpretations of the concept of environmental stewardship.
C.3 ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP EFFORTS OF STAKEHOLDERS
Interviewees in the stakeholder category were asked about their own stewardship efforts, factors
that motivate their investment in stewardship behaviors, and barriers to assuming greater
stewardship responsibility.
While they often do not call them environmental stewardship activities, many EPA stakeholders
are increasing implementation of steward-like behaviors or are working to encourage others to
do so. While no interviewees identified any particular corporations and businesses as "model
stewards," interviewees gave examples of how the incidence of steward-like behavior is growing
in their company or in other businesses. For example:
• General Electric's ecomagination initiative illustrates how leader companies see
environmental stewardship as a core element of future business success. Those companies
that can find creative, resource-efficient, non-polluting ways to meet basic human needs
for power, water, shelter, food, health, and transportation will capture significant
economic opportunity in decades to come.
• Companies such as Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola are pursuing initiatives that can
have significant environmental improvement outcomes, although environmental
stewardship is not necessarily the main driver.
• Companies such as Interface Carpets, Shaw Carpets, Herman Miller, Nike, and SC
Johnson are increasingly taking a cradle-to-cradle perspective in product and process
design.
• Business organizations such as the Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI)
have numerous initiatives underway to support companies' efforts to be better stewards.
Greenbiz.com and other corporate environmental news sources report increasing examples
of steward-like behaviors among business.
Tribal leaders indicated that Tribal Nations throughout the U.S. have a long history of effective
environmental stewardship. They would like to work with EPA on environmental stewardship.
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Interviewees identified ways in which some government agencies increasing their stewardship
activities or encouraging others to do so. For example:
• Government agencies such as Seattle Public Utilities are using robust triple-bottom line
analysis to improve the efficacy of decision making and public sector investments.
• Governments are supporting and investing in conservation easements and other efforts to
preserve natural places and habitat while accommodating low-impact human activity.
• Government partnerships such as Coastal America are working to leverage public and
private resources for effective environmental stewardship.
• Governments are engaging citizens in stewardship activities through community-based
environmental education initiatives, public service announcements, and citizen water
quality monitoring programs.
• Governments are providing more information about environmental quality in the hands of
citizens and consumers, helping them make informed decisions. Watershed-based water
quality information informs people about the state of local resources, while efforts such as
Energy Star enable people to more easily consider energy and environmental issues when
making purchasing decisions.
Interviewees identified ways in which non-governmental organizations are helping others to
adopt effective stewardship practices. For example:
• Organizations are empowering individuals and institutions to become effective stewards
through education, training, assistance, and encouragement. The National Wildlife
Federation's Backyard Wildlife Habitat Program has been highly successful in helping
people become better stewards of their own yards. Ceres is working with institutional
investors to increase their understanding of the connection between environmental
stewardship and business performance.
• Organizations are facilitating information sharing among individuals, organizations, and
governments, spreading creative solutions and practices that further stewardship efforts.
Smart Growth America has played a key role in expanding communities' interest and
capacity in stewardship.
Stakeholders identified a number of drivers that motivate stewardship behaviors. Many of these
drivers are resulting from key trends. Important factors compelling stewardship behaviors
among business and corporate entities include:
• The existence and enforcement of basic environmental laws, regulations, and standards
that set expectations for minimum performance. Increasingly, businesses are
implementing management systems to reduce the risk of non-compliance or making
changes to reduce the overall cost of environmental risk and compliance management.
Increasingly, the potential negative impact on corporate or brand image is of greater
concern to companies (particularly in visible sectors, such as consumer products) than the
potential costs associated with non-compliance.
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• Increasing awareness of the risks and opportunities posed by businesses' supply chains is
driving more and more companies to pay attention to and to work to improve
environmental performance among their suppliers, and to a lesser degree, among their
customers.
• Increasing availability of and access to information and scientific evidence about the
status of ecosystems and their ability to support human life, health, and economy.
Primarily spurred by the Internet, the public also has better access to information on the
environmental performance and compliance history of companies and facilities.
Information can shift public and customer expectations, increasing pressures for behavior
change. Increasing pressures for corporate transparency are also creating incentives for
companies to become better stewards.
• Shifting public expectations affect purchasing and investment decisions. Interviewees
indicated that the power of the marketplace can be significant in driving stewardship
behaviors, particularly when environmental externalities and risk are incorporated into
prices and valuation.
Important factors are compelling stewardship behaviors among individuals and communities:
• As mentioned above, the public has greater access to information and scientific evidence
about the status of ecosystems globally and in their local community.
• People are increasingly making the connection between environmental quality and quality
of life. There has been a significant increase in community-based organizations that are
working to protect and restore local water bodies, parks, and other natural resources.
Other community based organizations are working to reduce sprawl and traffic
congestion.
• For some individuals, altruism or their belief system may inspire them to assume
additional stewardship responsibility.
• Environmental education has played a key role in raising awareness of environmental
stewardship among young people, although there has been a recent trend away from
environmental education due to the increasing focus on core curriculum among most
schools as a result of the federal No Child Left Behind legislation. Interviewees reported
that many environmental education centers have not effectively linked environmental
education curriculum to core curriculum used for test preparation.
Stakeholders identified a number of barriers to stewardship behaviors. Important factors
constraining corporate environmental stewardship include:
• While there is growing pressure for corporations to become better corporate citizens and
to improve environmental performance, most consumers make specific purchasing
decisions on price and performance, not environmental criteria. Most "green" products
have failed to capture consumer imagination or market share in a way that allows
companies to realize marketing advantage. Mainstream product marketers often actively
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steer away from selling environmental benefits of products, since most consumers still
perceive "green" products as more expensive and of inferior quality.
• Investors and financial institutions are only beginning to value environmental
performance and stewardship behaviors, and what's measured and valued by capital
market institutions drives shapes corporate direction and priorities.
• Measuring stewardship behavior and performance can be difficult. Accepted
methodologies for valuing social and environmental impacts and costs, and the value and
outcomes of stewardship behaviors are only beginning to emerge.
• Many government programs designed to assist companies to become better environmental
stewards are not customer-focused. The shear number of EPA programs and initiatives,
and the difficulty of navigating these programs to find relevant technical assistance.
Interviewees also noted that there are important factors constraining individuals' environmental
stewardship behaviors, which need to be understood and addressed.
• Some interviewees noted that the challenge is not lack of awareness or caring, but rather a
perception that small actions do not make a difference. Most individuals are not willing to
make major shifts in lifestyle, or to accept significant cost or quality penalties when
making purchasing decisions, to be better environmental stewards.
• Other interviewees noted that it is not possible or wise to talk about universal barriers to
behavior change, as the specific barriers that are most salient vary. Research is needed to
better understand the barriers to specific stewardship behaviors, since our assumptions
about barriers are often wrong. For example, what are the biggest barriers which prevent
people from properly disposing of hazardous household waste? What are the biggest
barriers that cause people to buy more paint than they need?
• Other interviewees noted that people do not always see how environmental quality
information and environmental issues connect to them, their families, their health, their
quality of life. They indicate that efforts to make the people-environment connection
more transparent are needed. Increasing recognition of the value of ecosystem services
and the ability of ecosystems to provide these services would be useful.
C.4 EPA AND ENVIRONMENTAL STEWARDSHIP
The approach that EPA takes to defining and pursuing "environmental stewardship " should
reflect what the agency is interested to accomplish with the term. Interviewees made several
suggestions of ways that EPA might want to think about defining and pursuing environmental
stewardship, including: -
• Stakeholders advised EPA to avoid creating the perception that environmental
stewardship is just another "flavor-of-the-month." EPA should think hard about the
potential value of using the concept of environmental stewardship to organize or guide
agency activities. In particular, what does the concept of environmental stewardship
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enable the agency to accomplish that it cannot address through current initiatives,
language, and organizing concepts?
• Some interviewees noted that a definition that was allowed to be "all things to all people"
doesn't really set a direction.
• Some stakeholder interviewees also emphasized that, to the extent stewardship is used to
address business activity, there is a need to put appropriate boundaries on any
environmental stewardship initiative such as "consistent with sound science and risk
management and sound fiscal responsibility" so that stewardship would not become a
standardless ideal that, therefore, no company could achieve.
• If EPA is interested to use the concept of environmental stewardship to influence
behaviors of the mainstream public, several interviewees indicated that a simpler, more
compelling version of the definition is needed. For example, "We all need to accept the
responsibility to be good environmental stewards, safeguarding nature's ability to support
our health and livelihoods and ensuring that the air, water, land, and natural systems can
sustain the health and prosperity of our children and grandchildren while enabling them to
experience the majesty and beauty of nature." Some interviewees suggested that EPA
might want to consider developing a compelling example or analogy to clearly articulate
the concept of environmental stewardship.
• Some interviewees were interested in the aspirational nature of a stewardship
conversation, and the ways that the concept of stewardship might permeate both
organizational and individual decision making.
• Some interviewees noted that current public perceptions of EPA and the federal
government's commitment to improving environmental quality may lead many
stakeholders and segments of the public to be skeptical of the concept of environmental
stewardship if it is interpreted as government abdicating its responsibility for
environmental protection or its role as a guardian of the public interest and the
"commons."
Stakeholder and expert interviewees both indicated that many of EPA's current activities and
programs support and encourage environmental stewardship. EPA plays a vital and critical role
in establishing minimum performance expectations through regulations and enforcement. EPA
also plays a critical role in conducting and supporting research and disseminating information of
the status of environmental quality and performance. Experts noted that these functions provide
a foundation for stewardship behavior, and the focus attention of areas needing additional
stewardship attention. At the same time, many of EPA's voluntary and educational programs are
providing tools, resources, and incentives to support stewardship behaviors that are not possible,
at least at this time, to require through regulatory means. EPA increasing role in convening
collaborative processes to restore and protect ecosystems was identified as critically important to
fostering a broad-based stewardship agenda and ethic. EPA is also helping to raise the visibility
of important stewardship issues and opportunities, such as smart growth and environmental
awareness among financial markets.
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Stakeholders also had suggestions about how their stewardship efforts might be more effectively
supported or encouraged by EPA. These include:
• Clarifying where the statutory authority to focus on stewardship comes from, in
anticipation of questions from potential critics.
• Creating a clear definition of environmental stewardship, and how stewardship behaviors
might differ from current ways of acting.
• Focusing more of the Agency's voluntary initiatives on small and mid-sized businesses,
where technical assistance often is most needed.
• Improving integration and coordination of the Agency's voluntary programs and creating
a more "customer-focused" orientation. (Note: a similar suggestion was made by experts
interviewed.)
• Avoiding the perception or appearance of a disconnect between the aspirations of
stewardship and agency actions, particularly in the program offices. Any such disconnect
would undermine the agency's stewardship efforts and inhibit its ability to inspire
stewardship in others, especially the public. EPA's work to establish an environmental
stewardship agenda should demonstrate that the agency is serious, and should avoid
disconnects between the agency's public stance on stewardship and the individual actions
of the media programs.
• Target investments in exploring actual implementation of stewardship behaviors,
particularly those where outcomes can be measured.
Interviewees in the expert category offered a number of views about actions EPA might take to
foster environmental stewardship. These include:
• Helping to understand the true barriers and benefits associated with specific stewardship
behaviors. Through the increased use of social marketing research and expertise, EPA can
greatly improve state and local efforts to encouraging specific stewardship behaviors
among the general public or targeted populations.
• Acting as a convener of public dialogue on stewardship issues and actions that companies,
individuals, and governments can take, and using the "bully pulpit' to publicize and call
for successful stewardship approaches.
• Increasing the understanding of how economics can work harmoniously with ecosystems
- reducing the false sense of choice between a healthy economy and a healthy
environment.
• Increasing the understanding of the natural environment and the dependence that all
people have on the natural environment. This will help increase the understanding of how
to accurately value ecosystems both in a monetary sense and in the sense of public mores.
In related comments, interviewees also emphasized the important role EPA might play in
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supporting efforts to develop methods for incorporating full environmental costs into
product pricing.
Continuing to create the floor, the baseline, of environmental protection through
regulatory and enforcement programs and through support of state environmental
programs, while at the same time offering incentives to move beyond minimum standards.
Some interviewees discussed this as creating an appropriate balance of "carrots" and
"sticks;" at the same time, the majority of interviewees in the expert category emphasized
that government's role in setting and enforcing minimum standards and expectations is a
critical part of establishing the conditions for stewardship behaviors.
Taking up the potential difficulties associated with the underlying economic assumption
that "all growth is good." Some growth may not be good from an environmental
standpoint and government may, over time, need to consider approaches that set an upper
limit on overall consumption but then let markets allocate the constrained resources,
similar to cap and trade approaches.
Considering approaches to reduce in a fundamental way the amount of material
throughput in the economy - that is, to limit the amount of extraction, depletion, and
pollution inherent in particular material flows.
Developing policies that encourage people to farm and that increase the number of small
farms that operate in harmony with nature - protecting land from erosion, nutrient
depletion, and contamination.
Reaching out to the education community to incorporate environmental and stewardship
based curriculum elements into ongoing efforts to define minimum educational
expectation and to help educators understand how environmental and stewardship based
curriculum might contribute to student success and testing program requirements.
Packaging voluntary programs and agency resources so that they are conveniently
accessible to users rather than, as is currently the case, organized according to EPA's
internal programmatic structure. Some suggested a quick, easy to complete profile that
businesses (or individuals) could fill out, that would result in them receiving a tailored
menu of EPA programs that might be of interest.
Leading by example with respect to federal government purchasing and infrastructure.
C.5 EXPERT INTERVIEW LIST
1. Ray Anderson, Interface Carpets
2. Herman Daly, University of Maryland
3. Don Hudson, Chewonki Foundation
4. Wes Jackson, Land Institute
5. Matthew Kiernan, Innovest Strategic Value Advisors
6. Reid Lifset, Yale University
7. Mindy Lubber, CERES
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8. Joel Makower, Greenbiz.com
9. Doug McKenzie-Mohr, Community Based Social Marketing
C. 6 STAKEHOLDER INTERVIEW LIST
1. Marcia Aranoff, Environmental Defense
2. Bill Becker, STAPPA/ALAPCO
3. George Carpenter, Procter & Gamble
4. Don Chen, Smart Growth America
5. Chuck Clarke, Seattle Public Utilities
6. Steve Hellem, GEMI
7. David Paylor, State of Virginia
8. Mark Van Putten, ConservationStrategy LLC (formerly President, National Wildlife
Federation)
9. Terry Williams, Tulalip Tribes Natural Resources Department
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APPENDIX D:
STEWARDSHIP RESOURCE OUTCOME STATEMENTS
Effective environmental stewardship requires all of us to manage resources in ways that protect
and enhance - rather than compromise - the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs. Resources directly relate to the multi-media environment we protect, the underlying
causes of the environmental problems we address, and the solutions we develop. EPA will
encourage stewardship activities contributing to sustainable outcomes in six resource areas: air,
ecosystems, energy, land, materials, and water. Proactively supporting innovations to protect,
conserve, and enhance these resources will enable us to contribute to the well being of both
people and the natural environment over the long run.
• Air: Sustain clean and healthy air
• Ecosystems: Protect and restore ecosystem functions, goods, and services
• Energy; Generate clean energy and use it efficiently
• Land: Support ecologically sensitive land management and development
• Materials: Use materials carefully and shift to environmentally preferable materials
• Water: Sustain water resources of quality and availability for desired uses
Because these six resources are each part of a larger, life-sustaining system, the stewardship of
any single resource inevitably influences the quality or availability of others. A closer look at
"materials stewardship" illustrates this interdependence: Through green design, lifecycle
management, conservation, and recycling of materials and products, environmental stewardship
can (1) protect ecosystems affected by resource extraction and waste disposal; (2) avoid
pollution of water, land, and air associated with materials production, transportation, or use; and
(3) conserve water and energy consumed in production, transportation, or use. In order to
maximize "compounded returns" such as these, EPA's strategy explicitly encourages
stewardship activities among the six resource areas that are mutually enhancing.
Our goal is to support infrastructure and encourage activities that inspire commitment to
environmental stewardship at all levels of public and private society. We aim to stimulate a wide
variety of stewardship activities that will not only yield immediate, localized benefits but will
also confer large-scale regional and national benefits that will leave a lasting legacy for future
generations.
D. 1 AIR: SUSTAIN CLEAN AND HEALTHY AIR
Clean air is an essential resource for healthy people and ecosystems. Clean and healthy air
necessarily encompasses indoor and outdoor breathing environments for people, animals, and
plants. Energy production and use has a major influence on the breathing environment in the
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form of emissions from cars, trucks, and power plants. Additionally, emissions from other
sources such as manufacturing, agriculture, and waste incineration can also affect our air quality.
The air and atmosphere provide many services besides healthy breathing. For example, the
hydrologic cycle is intimately connected with atmospheric circulation patterns, and
consequently, acid rain links air pollution to negative affects on forests, soils, water bodies, and
urban structures. In the upper atmosphere, air also plays various protective roles. Stratospheric
ozone provides an irreplaceable service to human and ecosystem health by filtering the sun's
harmful rays. Meanwhile, appropriate concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere
help to regulate the climate system upon which our society depends.
D.2 ECOSYSTEMS: PROTECT AND RESTORE ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONS, GOODS, AND
SERVICES
Ecosystems are self-organized, geographic mosaics of interacting living and non-living
components. Ecosystem goods & services are derived from the structure and function of these
interacting components. As noted by the National Academy of Sciences, "Human society is
dependent on the 'goods and services' provided by ecosystems, including clean air, clean water,
productive soils, and generation of food and fiber." This list could be expanded to include flood
mitigation, nutrient recycling in wetlands and streams, climate regulation, and the provision of
valuable genetic resources. In addition to providing goods and services for human society,
ecosystems provide animal habitat and aesthetic beauty.
Conserving and enhancing ecosystems for current and future generations requires adaptive
management approaches. We can work to protect ecosystems in their entirety by further
integrating our expertise in specific media areas such as air, land, and water and incorporating an
understanding of biodiversity and native flora and fauna. We can play an important supporting
role in developing methods for people at all levels of society and governance to help them
understand and protect ecosystem function over the long term.
D.3 ENERGY: GENERATE CLEAN ENERGY AND USE IT EFFICIENTLY
Our modern American society needs energy for transportation, manufacturing, commercial, and
residential purposes. Energy production and use impacts our environment at every stage of its
lifecycle - from extraction of fuels and generation of power to the use of electricity and gasoline.
From a life-cycle standpoint, Americans also consume energy in the form of imported products,
since other countries must use energy to manufacture and transport their exports.
Of the numerous types of energy resources, each has unique environmental risks and benefits;
some are cleaner and more renewable than others. Clean generation minimizes waste, pollution,
and ecosystem damage on local, regional, and global scales. Greenhouse gas emissions and
climate change have further crystallized the need to move toward abundant energy resources that
are renewable, clean, and ecosystem friendly. As we undergo this transition, it is important that
we continually improve energy conservation, efficiency, and effective use so that we increase
societal benefits per unit of energy consumed.
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D.4 LAND: SUPPORT ECOLOGICALLY SENSITIVE LAND MANAGEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT
Abundant and high-quality land has long been one of our nation's most valuable natural
resources. Therefore, encouraging stewardship ethics and behaviors among landowners is
important for long-term environmental protection. Long-term stewardship of land - in the form
of preservation, conservation, restoration, and responsible economic development - will help
protect ecosystem function and enable beneficial human use. Continuous improvement of land
management practices should protect watersheds, conserve critical habitats, restore contaminated
lands to ecological and economic use, encourage prudent waste management practices, and
incorporate the principles of "smart growth."
The way we manage our land influences every other resource. For example, developing
suburban and "exurban" land without provision of mixed land uses and transportation
alternatives can compound traffic congestion (an energy implication) and air pollution.
Additionally, most substances that we use on urban lands and rooftops eventually find their way
into our waterways, where they join rural pollutants such as eroded soils, fertilizers, manures,
and pesticides. Greater use of "buffer zones" and permeable surfaces reduces erosion and runoff
and also allows more pollutants to filter naturally through vegetation and soil.
D. 5 MA TERIALS: USE MA TERIALS CAREFULL YAND SHIFT TO ENVIRONMENTALL Y
. PREFERABLE MATERIALS
Enhancing materials stewardship has three main aspects: (1) careful use of non-renewable
materials throughout product lifecycles (extraction, processing, product manufacture, product
use, product reuse/ recycling/ disposal); (2) sustainable use of renewable materials throughout
product lifecycles; and (3) moving from toxic towards safer chemicals and environmentally
preferable materials.
Products can be designed, manufactured, used, and returned to the industrial or natural cycle for
reuse and recovery, with safer chemicals and environmentally preferable materials chosen
everywhere feasible along the way. A systems understanding of the flow of materials through
product lifecycle and associated toxicological effects, as well as water and energy consumption,
informs continuous improvement including the next generation chemical synthesis, materials
development, and product design. Materials cycling enables materials to be carefully used
through several product lifecycles. Some materials (particularly non-renewable materials) are
best recycled by industry. Others (particularly renewable materials) are appropriately designed
to biodegrade and return nutrients to improve the land without causing contamination or
compromise.
D.6 WATER: SUSTAIN WATER RESOURCES OF QUALITY AND AVAILABILITY FOR DESIRED
USES
Sustaining long-term quality and availability of water resources will directly enhance human and
ecosystem health. Effective stewardship of water at all levels of society requires an integrated
approach to continuously (1) increase informed use, (2) improve our water efficiency, (3)
minimize impacts on hydrologic systems, and (4) ensure clean water.
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First, informed use of water resources is founded on a realistic understanding of the geographic
constraints on water availability and quality; these constraints should shape our conservation
strategies and practices. Second, innovative products, processes, and systems can dramatically
improve the efficiency with which we use water in all aspects of our lives - whether in
residential, industrial, or agricultural settings. For example, since we consume about 40% of our
fresh water in producing energy, improved energy efficiency would confer dramatic benefits for
water as well. (And conversely, conservation of water leads to benefits for energy through
reductions in requirements, such as for pumping and water treatment.) Third, minimizing
alterations to our hydrologic environment means that, wherever possible, we choose to use water
in ways that protect and restore ecosystem functions and replenish the quality and availability of
long-term water supplies. Finally, and we must ensure clean water that supports healthy
drinking, recreation, and a productive and diverse natural environment.
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APPENDIX E:
SOME DEFINITIONS OF STEWARDS AND STEWARDSHIP
Webster's New World Dictionary
"steward [ME. stiward < OE. stiweard < stig, enclosure, hall, sty + weard, a keeper, ward] 1. A
person put in charge of the affairs of a large household or estate...."
President George W. Bush, Earth Day, 2002
"Good stewardship is a personal responsibility of all of us. And it's a public value. And that's
what's important for Americans to understand, that each of us have the responsibility, and it's a
part of our value system in our country to assume that responsibility."
White House Office of the Federal Environmental Executive
"We define sustainable environmental stewardship to include those concepts, strategies, tools,
practices, and approaches that lead to environmental improvement in a manner that is sustainable
over time, considers the long term effects as well as the shorter term, more immediate effects,
and that contributes positively, even if indirectly, to the social and economic condition."
EPA Strategic Plan - Goal 5
"EPA uses the term "environmental stewardship" to describe behavior that includes, but also
exceeds, required compliance. Stewards of the environment recycle wastes to the greatest extent
possible, minimize or eliminate pollution at its sources, and use energy and natural resources
efficiently to reduce impacts on the environment."
EPA Annual Report (FY2004) - Goal 5
"Strong environmental stewardship protects the environment and conserves natural resources.
EPA works directly with the regulated community to recognize and encourage outstanding
environmental leadership and performance through innovative programs...."
EPA: "Beyond RCRA - Waste and Materials Management in the Year 2020"
"What kind of world will we actually inhabit in 2020? Some predict that it will be better than the
present - where products and materials will be less toxic and reusable, and where resources will
be used more efficiently so that far less waste is produced. Others predict we will experience a
bleaker future - where harmful chemicals will be more prevalent throughout our environment
and may seriously affect groundwater, drinking water, and food supplies. While we can't know
which of these scenarios - or others - will exist in 20 years, considering the future now makes
sense if we want a chance to shape it positively."
EPA National Center for Environmental Innovation (NCEI) Retreat Session: Corporate
Stewardship and Responsibility
"Corporate stewards are generally expected to provide environmental and public health
protections beyond what is required by the law and to integrate environmental considerations
into their business decision-making.... 'Stewardship' generally refers to taking responsibility for
the long run well-being of an organization or resource, such as the environment."
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E4E: The Environmental Protection System in Transition - Toward a More Desirable
Future
"Corporate environmental stewardship is an approach to managing a company that reflects an
internal set of values and priorities that takes into account society's concern for the environment.
It is a way of identifying and pursuing good business strategies that are consistent with
protection of the environment, from raw materials selection to manufacturing processes to
product composition to disposal. It entails the more efficient use of materials through increased
knowledge and information concerning inputs, and focuses attention on the life cycle of a
product and the services that product provides in addition to (or in lieu of) the more traditional
focus on producing and selling a product. Stewardship holds the potential for decreasing a
company's environmental impact, increasing operational and economic efficiencies, and
improving financial performance. In effect, stewardship allows firms to derive business value
from environmental excellence."
PCSD: Sustainable America - A New Consensus
"Goal 5: Stewardship - Create a widely held ethic of stewardship that strongly encourages
individuals, institutions, and corporations to take full responsibility for the economic,
environmental, and social consequences of their actions."
Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac
"In short, a land ethic changes the role of Homo sapiens from conqueror of the land-community
to plain member and citizen of it. It implies respect for his fellow-members, and also respect for
the community as such."
The Massachusetts Environmental Stewardship Program
The Massachusetts Environmental Stewardship Program encourages "environmental
improvement through pollution prevention and resource conservation. The purpose of the
Program is to encourage Massachusetts manufacturers and other regulated entities to become
superior environmental performers by going beyond the requirements of environmental
regulation as they strive toward sustainability"
University of Michigan
"Everyone is a steward of the environment around us. We do not own the environment-no one
can. We are simply caretakers of the resources that we use in our daily lives, and it is our
responsibility to administer those resources to the best of our abilities so they are available for
the use and enjoyment of others, including future generations. Stewardship is what we do....
Simply put, stewardship is the concept of responsibly managing all of our resources for the
benefit of present and future generations of people, plants, and animals."
3M Corporation
"3M's commitment is to actively contribute to sustainable development through environmental
protection, social responsibility and economic progress. To us that means meeting the needs of
society today, while respecting the ability of future generations to meet their needs."
"A few of 3M's key objectives around sustainable development include:
• Reducing our environmental footprint.
85
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• Assuring our products are safe for their intended use through their entire life cycle.
• Assuring the appropriate management of any 3M health and safety issues that may touch
customers, neighbors and the public.
• Maintaining a safe and healthy workplace.
• Satisfying our customers with superior quality and value.
• Providing a supportive, flexible work environment.
• Supporting local needs and education in communities where 3M employees live and work."
Baxter International
"Baxter takes seriously its commitment and responsibility to produce life-enhancing products
while limiting their impact on the environment and society. This responsibility continues
throughout a product's lifecycle, from research, development and design, through selection and
use of raw materials, manufacturing, packaging, distribution and product use and disposal.
Baxter is continually seeking opportunities for improvement and innovation in this area.
• Non-hazardous Waste: For the second year in a row, Baxter generated less non-hazardous
waste than it did the year before. Baxter has achieved a 27 percent reduction on a per-unit-of-
production-value basis since 1996.
• Regulated Waste Performance: On a per-unit-of-production-value basis, Baxter reduced
hazardous waste generation by 9 percent and achieved an 8 percent reduction since 1996.
• Packaging Performance: Baxter is on-target to meet or exceed its goal to reduce packaging
material by 20 percent by year-end 2005, compared to the 1995 baseline.
• Water: Baxter has not formally adopted a companywide water use reduction goal. In the face
of a nearly 8 percent increase in production, water usage remained constant in 2003
compared to 2002. Baxter has reduced its water usage by 18 percent per unit of production
value since 1996.
• Air: Baxter has achieved its air goal, an 80 percent reduction on a per-unit-of-production-
value basis in toxic emissions in 2001. Since 2001 Baxter has further reduced air emissions
by an additional 10 percent
• Reducing Energy Use and Associated Greenhouse Gas Emissions: In 2003 Baxter achieved a
savings and cost-avoidance of approximately $3.9 million. On a per-unit-of-production-value
basis, the company improved overall company energy efficiency an additional 3 percent from
2002 to 2003."
Johnson & Johnson
"Johnson & Johnson has established a leadership role among multinational corporations in terms
of ethical behavior and stewardship of the environment. We take a beyond compliance approach
to environmental responsibility striving for performance that does not merely comply with
regulations but reduces our environmental footprint."
"Johnson & Johnson is committed to:
• Operating beyond compliance with all applicable laws and regulations by uniformly meeting
Johnson & Johnson global environmental policies and standards, ISO 14001 environmental
management system standards, and other voluntary principles to which we subscribe.
• Maintaining structure at the corporate and operating companies that assures proper oversight,
using environmental accountability as a measure for management performance.
86
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• Integrating environmental goals into our business strategies and plans while publicly
reporting on our progress.
• Striving for zero waste, 100% resource efficiency, and enhancement of the environment.
• Utilizing innovative technologies and leveraging best practices globally for the greatest
environmental gain and continuous improvement.
• Fostering an environmental ethic among our management, employees, stockholders,
customers, suppliers and communities worldwide.
• Building relationships with regulatory agencies, interest groups, thought leaders, and
communities to engender collaboration, cooperation, and mutual understanding.
• Enhancing corporate social responsibility by supporting environmental health and education,
conservation and community-based programs worldwide."
Rockwell Collins
"Rockwell Collins is committed to responsible environmental, safety and health management
wherever it does business around the world. We have established goals to provide a safe and
healthful workplace for all employees and to prevent pollution in the communities in which we
operate. Environment, safety and health is an integral part of managing our business and serves
the enterprise as a competitive business advantage. Through continual improvement programs,
we strive to exceed environmental, safety and health regulatory requirements, enhance our
environmental, safety and health management processes, and establish voluntary environmental,
safety and health programs at our facilities worldwide."
87
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APPENDIX F:
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION FOR THE CRITICAL
ASSESSMENT
Program Name
Adopt your Watershed
AgStar
Air Challenge for Performance Track
Facilities-Region 2
Air Challenge for Performance Track
Facilities-Region 3
Air Challenge for Performance Track
Facilities-Region 6
America's Marketplace Recycles
Anacostia Watershed Toxics Alliance
Atlantic Station XL Project
Atmospheric Protection Branch
Bartow County EMS
Best Workplaces for Commuters
Brownfields Federal Partnership
Buncombe County XL Project
Businesses for the Bay (B4B)
Carpet America Recovery Effort
Charlotte Harbor, Mobile Bay, Tampa
Bay, Indian River Lagoon,
Albemarle/Pamlico, and Sarasota Bay
National Estuary Programs
Chesapeake Bay Program: Builders for
the Bay
Children's Environmental Health
Awards
Citizen-Based Water Quality
Monitoring
Clean Marine Engine Initiative
Clean Water Act Recognition Awards
Climate Leaders
Coal Combustion Products Partnership
(C2P2)
Coalbed Methane Outreach Program
(CMOP)
Coastal America
Collaborative Cleanups for Land
Revitalization
Combined Heat and Power Partnership
Community Involvement in Drinking
Water Assessment (The Clean Water
Coalition)
Corporate Wetlands Restoration
Partnership (CWRP)
Program
Type
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
EPAAAship
ow
OAR
Region 2
Region 3
Region 6
OSWER
Region 3
Region 4
ORD
Region 4
OAR
OSWER
Region 4
Region 3
OSWER
Region 4
Region 3
OCHP
Region 9
Region 1
OW
OAR
OSWER
OAR
OW
OSWER
OAR
OW
Region 1
Sustainability Outcome
Water
Air
Air
Air
Air
Materials
Water
Land Uses
Air
Multiple Resource Areas
Air
Land Uses
Land Uses
Water
Materials
Water
Water
Multiple Resource Areas
Water
Water
Water
Air
Land Uses
Air
Water
Land Uses
Air
Water
Ecosystems
Primary Stakeholder
Target
Individuals
Business
Business
Business
Business
Business
Communities
Communities
Business
Communities
Individuals
Government
Government
Business
Business
Communities
Business
Communities
Communities
Business
Communities
Business
Business
Business
Government
Communities
Business
Communities
Government
Stakeholder groups are identified for all partnership (indicated here as "voluntary") programs, but not for all
grant and information/education programs. Unlike partnership programs, which are expressly designed to
address specific stakeholders, grant and information/education programs can interact with and provide benefits
to a range of parties. As a result, we decided to terminate further attempts to assign these programs to specific
stakeholder groups.
-------
Program Name
Louisville MSD XL Project
Mercury Program- Dental Amalgam
Mercury Program- Products
Mid-Atlantic Federal Partners for the
Environment
Mine Scarred Lands Initiative
Mobile Air Conditioning Climate
Protection
National Award for Smart Growth
Achievement
National Environmental Performance
Track
National Partnership for Environmental
Priorities
Natural Gas Star
Natural Landscaping Workgroup
Nitrogen Management Challenge for
Golf Courses
Orphan Sources Initiative
Partnership for Safe Water
PFC Emission Reduction Partnerships
Plug-In To eCycling
Portfields Initiative
President's Environmental Youth
Awards
Public Private Partnership for Land
Revitalization
RCRA Reuse and Brownfields
Prevention Initiative
Region 4 Environmental Education
Speakers Bureau
Region 5 PCB Phasedown
Regional Clean Air Inventives Market
(RECLAIM)
Regional Pesticides Stewardship
Collaborative Committee
Regional Vulnerability Assessment
(ReVA) Program
Regional/CDC University Outreach on
Environmental Health
Resource Conservation Challenge
Schools Chemical Cleanout Campaign
Schuylkill Action Network
Sector Strategies
SEQL
SF-6 Emission Reduction Partnership
for Electric Power Systems
SF-6 Emission Reduction Partnership
for the Magnesium Industry
Smart Growth Program
Smart Way Transport
Program
Type
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
EPAAAship
Region 4
OSWER
OSWER
Region 3
OSWER
OAR
OPEI
OPEI
OSWER
OAR
Region 5
Region 2
OAR
OW
OAR
OSWER
OSWER
OPA
OSWER
OSWER
Region 4
Region 5
Region 9
Region 4
ORD
Region 4
OSWER
OSWER
Region 3
OPEI
Region 4
OAR
OAR
OPEI
OAR
Sustainability Outcome
Ecosystems
Land Uses
Materials
Ecosystems
Land Uses
Air
Land Uses
Multiple Resource Areas
Land Uses
Air
Land Uses
Water
Materials
Water
Air
Materials
Land Uses
Multiple Resource Areas
Land Uses
Land Uses
Multiple Resource Areas
Materials
Air
Materials
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Land Uses
Materials
Water
Multiple Resource Areas
Land Uses
Air
Air
Land Uses
Air
Primary Stakeholder
Target
Communities
Business
Business
Government
Communities
Business
Government
Business
Business
Business
Communities
Business
Government
Business
Business
Business
Communities
Individuals
Business
Communities
Individuals
Business
Business
Business
Government
Business
Business
Communities
Communities
Business
Communities
Business
Business
Communities
Business
89
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Program Name
Southeast Diesel Collaborative
Southeast Ecological Framework
Southern Appalachian Man and the
Biosphere
State Transportation and Air Quality
SunWise School Program
Superfund Redevelopment Program
Sustainable Ag Partnership
Sustainable Environmental Systems
Sustainable Futures
Technical Outreach Services for
Communities
Tribal Center for Excellence
Tribal Pesticide Project
Trust for Public Land
Vernal Pools Stewardship Program-
Voluntary Aluminum Industrial
Partnership
Voluntary Children's Chemical
Evaluation Program
Voluntary Chlor-alkali Industry Mercury
Program
Voluntary Mercury Air Emission
Reduction Program with Nevada Gold
Mines
WasteWise
Water Source Book education program
Water Use Efficiency Program
Watershed Academy Web-Based
Training
Watershed/Water Drop Patch Project
Air Pollution Training Institute
AirData Web Site
American Indian Air Quality Training
Program
An Introduction to Drinking Water
Source Assessment & Education,
Guide and Participant Materials
Annotated Bibliography of Source
Water Materials
Asbestos Outreach
Backyard Burning Web Site
Battery Recycling web site -consumers
Biodiversity Education Network
Building for Environmental and
Economic Sustainability
Capacity Building in the Columbia
River Basin
Program
Type
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
VP
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
EPA AAship
Region 4
Region 4
Region 4
Region 4
OAR
OSWER
Region 9
ORD
OPPTS
OSWER
Region 4
Region 4
OW
Region 9
OAR
OPPTS
Region 5
Region 9
OSWER
Region 4
OW
OW
OW
OAR
OAR
OAR
OW
OW
OPPTS
OSWER
OSWER
OPA
OPPTS
OPA
Sustainability Outcome
Air
Ecosystems
Ecosystems
Air
Air
Land Uses
Materials
Multiple Resource Areas
Materials
Land Uses
Multiple Resource Areas
Materials
Land Uses
Ecosystems
Air
Materials
Air
Air
Land Uses
Water
Water
Ecosystems
Ecosystems
Air
Air
Air
Water
Water
Materials
Air
Materials
Ecosystems
Materials
Water
Primary Stakeholder
Target
Business
Government
Communities
Business
Individuals
Communities
Business
Government
Business
Communities
Government
Government
Communities
Government
Business
Business
Business
Business
Communities
Individuals
Individuals
Government
Individuals
Individuals
Government
90
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Program Name
Chemical Management Services for
Schools
Chemical Safety Network Materials
Chemicals in My Community
ChemSTEER: Software Tool for
Screening Level of Estimates of
Environmental Releases and Worker
Exposure
Children's Health Protection: What You
Can Do
Citizens Guide to Community Water
Conservation
Citizens Guide to Pest Control and
Pesticide Safety
Cleanups In My Community
Community Air Screening How To
Guide
Community-based childhood asthma
programs
Community-based radon reduction
Composting/Organics web site and
publications
Concerned Citizen Web Page
Consider the Source: Pocket Guide to
Protecting Drinking Water
Consumer Handbook for Recycling
Solid Waste
Contaminated Sediments in Our
Waterways: Impacts and Solutions
Customer Incentives for Water
Conservation - A Guide
Deconstruction and Reuse web site
and publications
Drinking Water Academy
Drinking Water for Kids
Earthcare Program
eGrid
Environmental Education and Training
Partnership
Environmental Education Video
Program
Environmental education website
Environmental Kids Club
Environmental Tobacco Smoke/Smoke
Free Homes
EPA Student Center
Evaluation Exposures to Toxic Air
Pollutants: A Citizen's Guide
Exposure Assessment Tools and
Models
Extrended Product
Responsibility/Product Stewardship
web site
Federal Task Force on Environmental
Education
Fundamentals of Superfund: A Public
Awareness Workshop
Program
Type
1
1
1
1
1
i
1
i
i
'
i
1
i
i
1
1
i
1
i
i
i
i
1
1
i
i
1
i
i
i
1
1
1
EPA AAship
OSWER
OSWER
OSWER
OPPTS
OCHP
OW
OPPTS
OSWER
OPPTS
OAR
OAR
OSWER
Collection of
agency-wide info
OW
OSWER
OSWER
OW
OSWER
OW
OW
OPA
?
OPA
OSWER
OPA
OPA
OAR
OPA
OAR
OPPTS
OSWER
OPA
OSWER
Sustainability Outcome
Materials
Land Uses
Land Uses
Materials
Multiple Resource Areas
Water
Materials
Materials
Air
Air
Air
Land Uses
Multiple Resource Areas
Water
Land Uses
Land Uses
Water
Land Uses
Water
Water
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Air
Multiple Resource Areas
Air
Air
Land Uses
Multiple Resource Areas
Land Uses
Primary Stakeholder
Target
Government
Individuals
91
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Program Name
Getting In Step: Guide for Conducting
Watershed Outreach
Global Warming Education
Program/Visitor Center
Global Warming Visitor Center for
Concerned Citizens
Green Power Locator
Green Vehicle Guide
Healthy Environments and Living
Places for Kids
Healthy School Environments Web
Site
High School Environmental Center
Household Hazardous Wastes Web
Site
How Can 1 Help Protect Drinking Water
Human Health Pesticides Issues
Website
Improving Air Quality through Land
Use Activities
Improving Education Programs and
U.S. Nature and Environmental
Centers
Jobs Through Recycling web site
Lake Michigan Watershed Academy -
R5
LCAccess
Learning and the Environment
Make a Difference Campaign
Managing and Collecting Used Oil
National Environmental Education
Advisory Council
National Environmental Education and
Training Foundation
National Network for Environmental
Management Studies (NNEMS)
Fellowships
National Waste Minimization Web site,
tools and publications
Non-formal Environmental Education
Evaluation
Non-point Source Pollution Outreach
Notebook on Local Urban Air Toxics
Assessment and Reduction Strategies
OAQPS Education and Outreach
Program
OEE Environmental Education
Program
OnSite OnLine Tools for Site
Assessment
OSWER Superfund Teachers and
Student Web site
Ozone and Your Patients' Health
P3 Student Competition - ORD
Partners in Resource Education -
Hands on the Land
Program
Type
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
i
1
i
1
1
i
EPA AAship
OW
OAR
OAR
OAR
OAR
Region 6
OCHP
OPA
OSWER
OW
OPPTS?
OAR
OPA
OSWER
Region 5
ORD
OPA
OSWER
OSWER
OPA
OPA
OPA
OSWER
OPA
OW
OAR
OAR
OPA
?
OSWER
OAWPS
ORD
OPA
Sustainability Outcome
Ecosystems
Air
Air
Energy
Air
Air
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Materials
Water
Materials
Air
Multiple Resource Areas
Land Uses
Ecosystems
Materials
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Land Uses
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Land Uses
Multiple Resource Areas
Water
Air
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Land Uses
Materials
Air
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Primary Stakeholder
Target
Individuals
Communities
Communities
Individuals
92
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Program Name
Pay As You Throw website
Pesticide Safety Program
Planet Protectors Club
Planning Environmentally Aware
Meetings
Pollution Prevention Citizen Tips
Power of Change: Protecting the
Environment for the Next Generation
Campaign
Power Profiler
Product Stewardship - Where you live
Protect Your Children from Lead
Poisoning
Protecting Drinking Water Workbook
for Tribes
Reducing Pesticide Risks Web Site
Reuse of Abandoned Gas Station Sites
Reuse Reports/Planners
SAGE - Solvent Alternatives Guide
Source Water Protection Local
Government Resources
Source Water Stewardship: Guide to
Protecting and Restoring Drinking
Water .
TRACI - Tool for Reduction and
Assessment of Chemical and Other
Environmental Impacts
Tribal Integrated Waste Management
Training
USTfields
Waste Reduction Record Setters
Program
Wastes: What You Can Do Around
Your Community web site
Water Alliance for Voluntary Efficiency
(WAVE) Software
Water on Tap: Consumer's Guide to
Drinking Water
Watershed Ecological Risk
Assessment Training Module
Wetlands Education
What You Can Do Around Your Home
and Community Web Site
What You Can Do to Clean the Air
Web Site
What You Can Do: Office of
Transportation and Air Quality
Consumer Guide
Worker Protection Standard Training
ALTERNATIVE OR INNOVATIVE
TREATMENT TECHNOLOGY
RESEARCH, DEMONSTRATION,
TRAINING, AND HAZARDOUS
SUBSTANCE RESEARCH GRANTS
Program
Type
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
G
EPAAAship
OSWER
OPPTS
OSWER
OSWER
?
OSWER
OAR?
OSWER
OPPT?
OW
OPPT?
OSWER
OSWER
ORD
OW
OW
ORD
OSWER
OSWER '
OSWER
OSWER
OW
OW
OW?
OW
OPA?
OAR
OAR
OPPTS
OSWER
Sustainability Outcome
Land Uses
Materials
Multiple Resource Areas
Land Uses
Materials
Multiple Resource Areas
Energy
Materials
Materials
Water
Materials
Land Uses
Land Uses
Materials
Water
Water
Materials
Materials
Land Uses
Land Uses
Land Uses
Water
Water
Ecosystems
Ecosystems
Multiple Resource Areas
Air
Air
Materials
Materials
Primary Stakeholder
Target
93
-------
Program Name
American Farmland Trust Cooperative
Agreement
Assessment and Watershed Protection
Program Grants
Beach Monitoring and Notification
Program Implementation Grants
Biopesticide Demonstration Projects
Brownfields State and Tribal Response
Program Grants
CARE program
Center for Agricultural Partnerships
Chesapeake Bay Program
Childhood Blood-Lead Screening and
Lead Awareness (Educational)
Outreach for Indian Tribes
Clean School Bus USA
Decentralized Waste Water System
Grants
Environmental Education and Training
Program
Environmental Education Grants and
Interagency Agreements Program
Environmental Information Exchange
Network Grant Program
Environmental Justice Collaborative
Problem-Solving Cooperative
Agreement Program
Environmental Justice Small Grant
Program
Environmental Policy and Innovation
Grants
Environmental Policy and State
Innovation Grants
Environmental Protection Consolidated
Grants - Program Support
Great Lakes Program
Greater Opportunities Research
Program
Greater Research Opportunities
Fellowship Program
Gulf of Mexico Program Grants
Healthy Communities Grant Program
Indian Environmental General
Assistance Program
International Financial Assistance
Projects Sponsored by the Office of
International Affairs
Lake Champlain Basin Program
Long Island Sound Program
National Estuary Program
National Nonpoint Source
Management Program
National Wetland Program
Development Grants
Program
Type
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
EPAAAship
OPPTS
OW
OW
OPPTS
OSWER
multiple Aas
OPPTS
OW
OPPTS
OAR
OW
OPA
OPA
OEI
OECA
OECA
OA/OPEI
OA/OPEI
Region 9/2
OW
ORD
ORD
OW
Region 1
OW
OIA
Region 1/2
OW
OW
OW
OW
Sustainability Outcome
Materials
Water
Water
Materials
Land Uses
Multiple Resource Areas
Materials
Water
Materials
Air
Water
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Water
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Water
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Water
Water
Water
Water
Ecosystems
Primary Stakeholder
Target
Communities
Business
Communities
Business
Communities
Government
Business
94
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Program Name
Office of Research and Development
Consolidated Research/Training
OSWER Innovation Pilots
P3 Award: National Student Design
Competition for Sustainability
Pesticide Environmental Stewardship
Program
Pesticide Environmental Stewardship
Regional Grants
Pollution Prevention Grants Program
Protection of Children and Older Adults
(Elderly) from Environmental Health
Risks
Regional Environmental Monitoring
and Assessment Program (REMAP)
Research Projects
Regional Wetland Program
Development Grants
Science to Achieve Results (STAR)
Fellowship Program
Science to Achieve Results (STAR)
Research Program
Small Business Innovation Research
Source Reduction Assistance
State Indoor Radon Grants
Strategic Agricultural Initiative
Strategic Agriculture Initiative-Region 4
SUPERFUND TECHNICAL
ASSISTANCE GRANTS (TAG) FOR
COMMUNITY GROUPS AT
NATIONAL PRIORITY LIST (NPL)
SITES
SURVEYS, STUDIES,
INVESTIGATIONS AND SPECIAL
PURPOSE GRANTS WITHIN THE
OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND
DEVELOPMENT
Surveys, Studies, Investigations and
Special Purpose Grants Within the
Office of the Administrator
Surveys, Studies, Investigations,
Demonstrations, and Training Grants
and Cooperative Agreements - Section
1 04(b)(3) of the Clean Water Act
SURVEYS, STUDIES,
INVESTIGATIONS, TRAINING
DEMONSTRATIONS AND
EDUCATIONAL OUTREACH
Targeted Watershed Grants •
Water Quality Cooperative Agreements
Water Quality Management Planning
Wetland Program Grants - State/Tribal
Environmental Outcome Wetland
Demonstration Program
Program
Type
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
G
EPAAAship
ORD
OSWER
ORD
OPPTS
OPPTS
OPPTS
OA/OCHP
ORD
OW
ORD
ORD
ORD
OPPTS
OAR
OPPTS
Region 4
OSWER
ORD
OA
OW
OPPTS
OW
OW
OW
OW
Sustainability Outcome
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Materials
Materials
Materials
Materials
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Ecosystems
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Air
Materials
Land Uses
Materials
Multiple Resource Areas
Multiple Resource Areas
Water
Materials
Water
Water
Water
Water
Primary Stakeholder
Target
Communities
Business
Business
95
-------
Supplementary information for Figure 4.
EPA Agency-Wide Budget and Voluntary Programs Budget
Voluntary Programs Budget $125,405,270
Overall EPA Budget $7,874,594,730
Total $8,000,000,000.00
1.6%
98.4%
Supplementary information for Figure 5.
Distribution of Headquarters Voluntary Programs by Sustainability Outcome
Sustainability Outcome Number of Headquarters Voluntary Programs
Air 31
Ecosystems 9
Land Uses 24
Materials 29
Multiple Resource Areas 18
Water 22
Energy 0
Total 133
Distribution of Headquarters Voluntary Program Investments by Sustainability
Outcome
Sustainability Outcome Total Headquarters Funding
Air $89,719,370.00
Ecosystems $612,000.00
Land Uses $3,438,000.00
Materials $17,336,700.00
Multiple Resource Areas $10,659,700.00
Water $3,639,500.00
Energy $
Total $125,405,270.00
96
-------
Supplementary information for Figure 6.
Distribution of Voluntary Programs by Stakeholder Type
Stakeholder Type
Business
Communities
Government
Individuals
Total
Number of Voluntary Programs
66
32
23
12
133
Distribution of Headquarters Voluntary Program Investments by Stakeholder Type
Stakeholder Type
Business
Communities
Government
Individuals
Total
Headquarters Funding
$70,093,770.00
$15,335,000.00
$9,415,500.00
$30,561,000.00
$125,405,270.00
Supplemental information for Figure 7.
Distribution of Voluntary Programs by Intervention Point
Lifecycle Intervention Point
Sustainability
Source Reduction
End of Pipe
Total
Number of Headquarters Voluntary Programs
72
12
34
118
Supplemental information for Figure 8.
Distribution of Grant Program Investments by
Sustainability
Sustainability Outcome
Air
Ecosystems
Land Uses
Materials
Multiple Resource Areas
Water
Energy
Total
Outcome
Grants Budget
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
$
9,312,984
14,092,806
-
12,039,250
174,621,801
122,941,016
-
333,007,857
97
-------
Supplemental information for Figure 8 (cont).
Distribution of Grant Programs by
Sustainability Outcome
Number of Grants
Sustainability Outcome Programs
Air 2
Ecosystems 2
Land Uses 2
Materials 12
Multiple Resource Areas 24
Water 15
Energy 0
Total 57
Supplemental information for Figure 9.
Distribution of Environmental Education, Awareness, and
Training Programs by Sustainability Outcome
Number of Environmental Education,
Sustainability Outcome Awareness, and Training Programs
Air 19
Ecosystems 5
Land Uses 19
Materials 20
Multiple Resource Areas 26
Water 15
Energy 2
Total 106
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END NOTES
1 BNA, Inc., Daily Environment Report, "General Electric Commits to Cut Emissions, Increase
Investment in Cleaner Technologies," May 10, 2005, page A-8.
2 http://www.detnews.eom/2005/autosinsider/0506/01 /AO1 -19758Q.htm
3 BNA, Inc., Daily Environment Report, "U.N. Environmental Accords Signed By Mayors From
50 Cities Worldwide," June 7,2005, page A-9.
4 U.S. Army, "Strategy for the Environment: Sustain the Mission, Secure the Future,"
Washington, DC, October 1, 2004
5 See Jared Diamond, Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed, Viking, New York,
2005.
6 World Resources Institute (WRI), The Weight of Nations (Washington, 2000), p. v., available
at http://materials.wri.org/pubs description.cfm?PubID=3023
7 Webster's New World Dictionary, 2nd Edition. David B. Guralnik, ed. World Publishing Co,
New York, 1970.
8 Merriam-Webster's Online Collegiate Dictionary at http://www.m-
w.com/dictionarv/stewardship.
9 Adapted from speech by Jonathan Lash, President, World Resources Institute, June 2005.
10 See the EPA Strategic Plan at http://www.epa.gov/ocfo/plan/plan.htm
11 http://www.ofee.gov
12 http ://www. epa. state. il .us/small-business/environmental-ste ward/
13 http://www.umich.edu/~urel/stewardship/whatis/
14 http://www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/vision.htm
15 http://www.usda.gov/news/pubs/indians/preface.htm
16 Paraphrase of statement by Joel Makower, as recorded and confirmed by Carolyn Gangmark,
EPA
17 Hannover Principles: http://repo-
nt.tcc.virginia.edu/classes/tcc315/Resources/ALM/Environment/hannover.html
CERES Principles: http://www.ceres.org/coalitionandcompanies/principles.php
Equator Principles: http://www.equator-principles.com/principles.shtml
Enlibra Principles: http://www.epa.gov/adminweb/administrator/enlibra.htm
Ecoefficiency by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development: Livio D. DeSimone,
Frank Popoff with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, Eco-efficiency:
The Business Link to Sustainable Development, The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1997.
Natural Step: http://www.naturalstep.org/learn/principles.php
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18 North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, "Principles of
Enforcement," http://www.p2pays.org/esi/
19 An Access database was constructed for this assessment, and remains available for further
updating and development. It is likely that additional EPA activities should have been included
in this assessment, but were not discovered in the course of our research.
20 Unlike the voluntary program list, the grant program list was developed in a top-down fashion.
ICF started with a list of all EPA grant programs, and eliminated those supporting State, local or
Tribal regulatory or enforcement programs; infrastructure grant programs; and, Congressional
earmark programs. It is important to note that the alignment of the remaining grant programs
with the environmental stewardship objective was often less clear than was the case for the
typical voluntary program; it likely, even probable, that some fraction of grant funds was used to
support activities that did not foster or enable environmental stewardship.
21 The National Pollution Prevention Roundtable (NPPR) and P2RX have developed a set of
standard outcome, behavior, and activity measures for pollution prevention, as part of its vision
for a National P2 Results Data System. See http ://www.p2 .org/workgroup/Background.cfm for
more information.
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