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EPA 600/S-07/001 I October 2007
Sustainability Research Strategy
Office of Research and Development
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Washington, D.C.
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To download this report
and learn more about
EPA programs
that support
sustainability,
please visit
www.epa.gov/sustainability
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Foreword
Within the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Office of Research and Development (ORD) has a central role in
identifying, understanding, and helping to solve current and future environmental problems. The Sustainability Research
Strategy (SRS) describes ORD's approach to some of the most pressing current and future national environmental issues.
Science and technology are two key elements in ensuring that people understand the full environmental implications
of their actions and will help ensure that sound decisions are made by individuals, communities, companies, and
government agencies. ORD presents this Sustainability Research Strategy to improve understanding of the earth's natural
and man-made systems, to assess threats to those systems, and to develop and apply new technologies and decision
support tools.
The focus on Sustainability research recognizes the changing nature of environmental challenges that society faces today.
In the past EPA focused its actions more directly on specific pollutants, their sources, and causes. More recently, and
into the future, the Agency must provide information to help address a broader set of environmental issues involving
population and economic growth, energy use, agriculture, and industrial development. Capably addressing these
questions, and the tradeoffs they will entail, requires the new systems-based focus on science and analysis outlined in
the Sustainability Research Strategy.
EPA is an agency with a strong internal research capability. The ability to directly link research and policy in one agency
puts EPA in a good position to lead on environmental Sustainability. ORD leads the research element in that linkage;
by thinking and operating strategically, it plays a vital part in forming and driving the policy element. This research
strategy recognizes that system-wide thinking is required to ensure our goal of promoting and achieving environmentally
sustainable decisions at home and around the world.
George Gray
Assistant Administrator for Research and Development
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Acknowledgments
We acknowledge and thank the drafting team of Gordon Evans, Douglas Young, Heriberto Cabezas, Michael Gonzalez,
Frank Princiotta, Cynthia Gage, and Tim Johnson (National Risk Management Research Laboratory); Diana Bauer and
Julie Zimmerman (National Center for Environmental Research); Anita Street (Office of Science Policy); and Donna Perla,
Richard lovanna, and Edward Fallen (Office of the Assistant Administrator) for preparing this research strategy.
Gary J. Foley
Director, National Center for Environmental Research
Sally Gutierrez
Director, National Risk Management Research Laboratory
Alan D. Hecht
Director, Sustainable Development
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Peer Review History
Peer review is an important component of developing a research strategy. The following is the peer review
history for this document:
Office of Research and Development Science Council
September?, 2005
EPA Science Policy Council
November 21, 2005
External Peer Review Science Advisory Board (SAB):
June 13-15, 2006
Environmental Engineering Committee Augmented for Sustainability Advisory
Dr. Michael J. McFarland, Utah State University, Logan, UT, Chair
Chartered SAB Members
Mr. David Rejeski, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC
Dr. Thomas L. Theis, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL
Dr. Valerie Thomas, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA
Members of the Environmental Engineering Committee
Dr. Viney Aneja, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC
Dr. David A. Dzombak, Carnegie-Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA
Dr. T. Taylor Eighmy, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH
Dr. Michael Kavanaugh, Malcolm Pirnie, Inc., Emeryville, CA
Dr. Catherine Koshland, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
Dr. Reid Lifset, Yale University, New Haven, CT
Dr. Mark Rood, University of Illinois, Urbana, IL
Dr. John R. Smith, Alcoa Technical Center, Alcoa Center, PA
Member of SAB Ecological Processes and Effects Committee
Dr. William Mitsch, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH
Member of SAB Environmental Economics Advisory Committee
Dr. Anna Alberini, University of Maryland, College Park, MD
Peer Review Coordinator
Ms. Kathleen White, Designated Federal Officer, EPA SAB Staff, Washington, DC
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Acronyms
BOSC Board of Scientific Counselors
CMS Collaborative Science and Technology Network for Sustainability
EDS Environmental and Decision Sciences
EERS Environmental Economics Research Strategy
GEOSS Global Earth Observation System of Systems
ISA Integrated Systems Analysis
LCA Life Cycle Assessment
LTG Long-Term Goals
MFA Material Flow Analysis
MYP Multi-Year Plan
NACEPT National Advisory Committee for Environmental Policy and Technology Policy
NEPA National Environmental Protection Act
NPD National Program Director
ORD Office of Research and Development
P3 People, Prosperity, and Planet Student Design Program
RoE Report on the Environment
SAB Science Advisory Board
SRS Sustainability Research Strategy
STS Science and Technology for Sustainability
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Table of Contents
Foreword 1
Peer Review H istory 3
Acronyms 4
Table of Contents 5
Executive Summary 6
Chapter 1 Introduction and Purpose 11
Describes the strategy's organization and its national benefits
Chapter 2 Rationale for the Strategy 15
Assesses the impact of selected future stressors and justifies the need
for sustainable use of resources
Cha pter 3 Definition and Scope 21
Defines an EPA context for sustainability
Chapter 4 Six Research Themes 25
Defines six sustainability research themes
Cha pter 5 Research Objectives 37
Describes how ORD will organize its research activities
Cha pter 6 Roadmap for Implementation 47
Describes ORD's roadmap for implementing the Sustainability Research Program
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Executive Summary
Chapter 1. Introduction and Purpose
We make decisions on a daily basis that affect the quality of our own lives as well as the lives of future generations. These
decisions determine how sustainable our future will be. To assist governments, businesses, communities, and individuals
in making sustainable choices, our Sustainable Research Strategy aims to develop an understanding of the earth as a
natural system and craft models and tools to support sustainable decision making. Our strategy incorporates both core
research that advances fundamental understanding of key biological, chemical, and physical processes underlying
environmental systems, and problem-driven research that targets specific environmental problems or customer needs.
The research strategy draws on and integrates across the many research programs within the Office of Research and
Development and focuses this research to support sustainable decision making.
Chapter 2. Rationale for the Strategy
A combination offerees—including unprecedented growth in population, economy, urbanization, and energy use—are
imposing new stresses on the earth's resources and society's ability to maintain or improve environmental quality. In
order to improve environmental protection, human health, and living standards, our generation must move to mitigate or
prevent the negative consequences of growing population and economy. The increasing stresses require new approaches
to environmental protection that go beyond end-of-pipe control strategies concerned principally with pollutant emissions.
Based on our understanding that environmental problems are rarely contained within a single resource or geographic
area, we must develop and implement integrated and systems-based approaches to meet society's needs today and
ensure a more sustainable future.
Chapter 3. Definition and Scope
The concept of sustainable development marries two important insights: environmental protection does not preclude
economic development; and economic development must be ecologically viable now and in the long run. Sustainable
development, which requires an integration of economic, social, and environmental polices, cannot be achieved by
any single federal agency, because it relies on policy coherence across government agencies. EPA's contribution to
sustainability is to protect human health and the environment for both this and future generations. Our Sustainability
Research Strategy rests on the recognition that sustainable environmental outcomes must be achieved in a systems-
based and multimedia context that focuses on the environment without neglecting the roles of economic patterns and
human behavior. This recognition begets a fundamental change in research design. In a systems-based approach, the
traditional goals of achieving clean air or water or protecting ecosystems and human health can be fully understood
only through a multimedia approach. EPA and its partners will develop integrating decision support tools (models,
methodologies, and technologies) and supporting data and analysis that will guide decision makers toward environmental
sustainability and sustainable development.
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Chapter 4. Six Research Themes
Emphasizing an integrated and systems-based approach to achieving sustainability,
we focus on six broad research themes.
1. Renewable Resource Systems. The sustainability of natural systems is critical to protecting human health, supporting
our economy, and maintaining our quality of life. Sustainability demands that we determine how best to obtain the
benefits that renewable resources provide, while considering the system-wide effects their use has on the regenerative
capacity of the entire system. Three of our research strategy aims are especially relevant to renewable resources: (1)
defining clear measures of sustainable renewable systems, (2) improving understanding of ecosystem processes and
services, and (3) developing and applying advanced systems models and tools for decision making.
2. Non-Renewable Resource Systems. The extraction, processing, and use of fossil fuels, minerals, and other materials
are critical elements of our economic life. Sustainability calls for greater conservation and efficient use of these non-
renewable resources, as well as greater reliance on renewable energy, development of substitutes for toxic and
dangerous materials, and an emphasis on management of materials rather than disposal of waste products. Our strategy
seeks to promote sustainable management of non-renewable resource operations and to support the shift to renewable
resources. The research will include life cycle assessment and material flow analysis; application of models to assess the
regional impacts of various energy sources on emissions and air quality; and development of alternative chemicals and
new industrial methods. Climate change research and assessment, a major global sustainability issue, will continue to be
a collaborative effort of many programs at EPA and other agencies.
3. Long-Term Chemical and Biological Impacts. The intergenerational dimension of sustainability means that society must be
mindful of the long-term threat posed by chemical and biological impacts on the environment. Improving our use of materials,
shifting to environmentally preferable materials, and protecting human health all rely on assessing and eliminating the long-
term impacts posed by harmful chemical and biological materials. Our research will aim to develop alternate chemicals and
new industrial processes, as well as decision support tools for evaluating the environmental dimensions of the new chemicals
and processes. It will also employ life cycle assessment and material flow analysis to evaluate environmental releases from
industrial systems and nanomaterials.
4. Human-Built Systems and Land Use. The growth of urbanized areas over the past century has shown that human-
built systems can significantly harm ecosystems and undermine their ability to provide critical services. This strategy will
include research on topics such as sustainable building design and efficiency, management of urban systems, life cycle
assessment for building design and land use, and decision support tools for urban land development and revitalization.
ORD scientists and engineers will work directly with key customers and stakeholders who can most benefit from our
research capabilities in these areas—such as those at state and local levels responsible for myriad decisions on urban
development, land use, and provision of public services.
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5. Economics and Human Behavior. Since the sustainable management of natural and man-made systems depends on
human behavior and choice, our research strategy is closely linked with research in economics and behavioral science,
such as developing ecosystem valuation methods and analyzing the role of incentives in decision making and the causes
of market failures. Research in this area is led by ORD's Economics and Decision Science Research Program. Activities
in the Sustainability Research Strategy will be closely coordinated with this program.
6. Information and Decision Making. The establishment of an information infrastructure of sustainability metrics and
environmental monitoring is a necessary component of any strategy advancing sustainability. EPA's Draft Report on
the Environment (RoE) provides snapshots of the existing environmental state. Metrics are defined in relation to clearly
stated questions such as, "What are the conditions and current trends of surface waters?" and, "What are the trends in
the ecological processes that sustain the nation's ecological systems?" As EPA moves toward identifying a set of clearly
articulated questions related to sustainable outcomes—such as, "How sustainable are the nation's water supplies?"—
research can focus on identifying appropriate indicators and ensuring their quality. Our strategy is also closely linked with
the Global Earth Observation Systems of Systems (GEOSS) program. GEOSS will effectively take the pulse of the planet by
compiling a system of all relevant databases (or systems), thus revolutionizing our understanding of how the earth works.
Over time, GEOSS will contribute greatly to sustainability by providing important scientific information for sound policy
and decision making in every sector of society.
Chapter 5. Research Objectives
The five principle research objectives of our research strategy represent areas of strong ORD competence. Our research
aims first to advance systems understanding—to better comprehend the interconnections, resilience, and vulnerabilities
over time of natural systems, industrial systems, the built environment, and human society. Second, our research aims
to further develop decision support tools to assist decision makers. A third key element of our strategy is to develop and
apply new technologies to address inherently benign and less resource-intensive materials, energy sources, processes,
and products. Fourth, our research is committed to collaborative decision making. We aim to develop an understanding
of motivations for decision making and to craft approaches to collaborative problem solving. Fifth and finally, our research
strategy emphasizes developing metrics and indicators to measure and track progress toward sustainability goals, to send
early warning of potential problems to decision makers, and to highlight opportunities for improvement
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Chapter 6. Roadmap for Implementation
Our Sustainability Research Strategy builds on ORD's traditional focus on risk assessment and risk management and
dovetails with EPA's commitment to stewardship and sustainable outcomes. The strategy supports shifts by program
offices toward developing sustainable water infrastructure, managing materials rather than waste, managing ecosystems
and ecoservices, and emphasizing green chemistry and urban sustainability (including green building design and low-
impact development). To implement this research strategy we will take the following steps:
• Demonstrate the value of sustainability research by identifying key national issues where application of sustainability
approaches can be most effective in promoting sound and sustainable economic growth.
• Advance core sustainability research and development of new tools and methodologies by transitioning the current
Pollution Prevention and New Technologies Research Program into the Science and Technology for Sustainability
Research Program.
• Leverage all ORD resources by coordinating and integrating research across ORD that builds a critical knowledge
base for sustainability, such as identifying synergies, gaps to be filled, and high-priority emerging areas among
existing research strategies.
• Leverage all EPA resources by coordinating and strengthening collaborations and partnerships—with EPA program
and regional offices, other federal agencies, state and local governments, communities, industry, nonprofit
organizations, universities, and international partners—that address critical sustainability issues and stimulate
broader progress toward sustainability in both research and implementation.
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Chapter 1. Introduction and Purpose
This chapter relates the Sustainability Research Strategy to the mission of the Office
of Research and Development and describes the research strategy's goals, outcomes,
and organization.
Sustainability and the ORD Mission
From the perspective of the Office of Research and
Development, the science of Sustainability is developing
the underlying knowledge base that allows decision
makers to make sustainable choices. For natural resource
managers, this means how to manage our resources to
provide maximum services today and in the future. For
urban planners, this means how to build cost-effective
and efficient urban systems that protect both human
health and the environment. For decision makers in
industry, this means how to enhance economic growth
while minimizing industry's footprint on the environment.
The science of Sustainability aims to anticipate problems
and promote innovation. A 1997 National Academy of
Engineering report suggests the path to Sustainability
"involves the creative design of products, processes,
systems and organizations, and the implementation of
smart management strategies that effectively harness
technologies and ideas to avoid environmental problems
before they arise."1
ORD conducts cutting-edge research and fosters the
use of sound science and technology to fulfill the
Agency's mission of protecting human health and
safeguarding the natural environment. ORD research
is a mix of (1) core research that seeks to advance
fundamental understanding of key biological, chemical,
and physical processes that underlie environmental
systems; and (2) problem-driven research that focuses
on specific environmental problems or customer needs.
The Sustainability Research Strategy encompasses
both core and problem-oriented research, aiming first
at understanding biological, physical, and chemical
interactions through a systems approach; and second,
developing effective models, tools, and metrics that
enable decision makers to achieve sustainable outcomes.2
This important goal of helping society make good
decisions was identified by the 1998 House Committee on
Science report, Unlocking Our Future-.
While acknowledging the continuing need for science
and engineering in national security, health and the
economy, the challenges we face today cause us to
propose that the scientific and engineering enterprise
ought to move toward center stage in a fourth role;
that of helping society make good decisions. We
believe this role for science will take on increasing
importance, as we face difficult decisions related to
the environment.3
Recent external reviews of two other ORD research
programs have re-emphasized the theme of this
congressional guidance. The 2005 reviews by ORD's
Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) of the Ecological
Research Program and Global Change Research Program
both emphasized a need for activities that lead to "wise
decision-making" and that are "demand-driven and
participatory."4
National Academy of Engineering. The Industrial Green Game:
Implications for Environmental Design and Management. Washington:
National Academies Press, 1997
2 National Research Council, Building a Foundation for Sound
Environmental Decisions. Washington: National Academies Press,
1997.
3 Unlocking Our Future: Toward a New National Science Policy.
Washington: House Committee on Science. September 24, 1998.
4 The BOSC review of ORD's Global Change Research Program noted:
"Two underlying themes have surfaced in the Program's approach to
its work. The first is that its emphasis now and for the future should
be on decision support—improving the ability of those who control
actions to make wise choices in the face of global change through
provisions of useful research and activities. The Subcommittee
concludes that this is the right emphasis and that it should be a
guiding star for the efforts of this Program. The second emphasis is on
stakeholder involvement—being 'demand-driven' and participatory."
Board of Scientific Counselors, Reviewofthe Office of Research
and Development's Global Change Research Program at the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency: Final Report. (March 27, 2006).
www.epa.gov/OSP/bosc/pdf/glob0603rpt.pdf
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Purpose of the Strategy
Recognizing its responsibility to lead EPA in science
applications for decision making, ORD management
identified two objectives for this research strategy:
• Develop a crosscutting sustainability research plan
that will tie together the ORD multi-year plans (MYPs)
that concern component parts of sustainability; and
• Develop a revised MYP for Pollution Prevention (P2),
entitled "Science and Technology for Sustainability,"
that will identify new annual and long-term goals and
annual performance outcome measures to better
focus pollution prevention and innovative technology
on sustainability.
In moving to establish an integrated sustainability
research program across ORD, management recognizes
three challenges: (1) defining clear and comprehensive
sustainability goals that are meaningful to EPA and that
connect the dots among existing ORD research strategies;
(2) initiating and leveraging new activities within a limited
range of budget options; and (3) overcoming a tradition of
media-specific ("stovepipe") approaches to environmental
problems.
Through this strategy, ORD aims to address these
challenges by defining sustainability within EPA and
identifying research priorities and management steps
necessary to achieve the dual national goals of supporting
a growing economy and advancing environmental
protection.
Stakeholder Input and Strategy
Goals and Outcomes
This Sustainability Research Strategy was derived from
input gathered through internal and external activities:
• Consultation with regional and program offices on the
types of research that can provide the greatest benefit
to their programs,
• Recommendations of the EPA Science Advisory
Board (SAB) and Board of Scientific Counselors
(BOSC),
• Review of the sustainability research literature and
consultation with outside experts,
• Review of EPA-sponsored workshops related to
sustainability, and
• Review and consultation with other national
governments, the European Commission, and
multilateral organizations.
Economic Benefits
The economic benefits of applying sustainable
management practices for current and future energy
construction, greenhouse gas emissions, material and
chemical use, ecosystems services, and health protection
are only now being fully appreciated. For example, by
2030 new and replacement building development will
amount to 204.1 billion square feet, equal to almost
90 percent of the built space that existed in 2000.
All of this amounts to about $30 trillion in total new
development (including infrastructure) that will occur
between 2000 and 2030. A new focus on biofuels as
an energy source will demand new infrastructure and
transportation systems in nearly all ecozones of the United
States. Rebuilding the aging U.S. water infrastructure
will translate into billions of dollars. EPA's Clean Water
and Drinking Water Infrastructure Gap Analysis (2002)5
estimated that if capital investment and operations and
maintenance remain at current levels, the potential
funding shortfall for drinking water and wastewater
infrastructure could exceed $500 billion by 2020.
www.epa.gov/waterinfrastructure
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Aiming to affect present and future economic
development and encourage sound taxpayer and public
investment, the research strategy seeks to advance these
goals:
• Improve understanding of earth systems to better
protect human health, manage natural resources,
and design
cost-effective and sustainable policies;
• Enable EPA, states, and communities to more
successfully envision, plan, develop, manage, and
restore their infrastructure and spaces so that human
health and quality
of life, and the quality of air, water, and land are
protected
for the future; and
• Design, manufacture, and manage chemicals and
materials so as to protect the environment and public
health, prevent pollution, and conserve resources,
while advancing global competitiveness and societal
objectives.
Criteria for measuring the success of this research
strategy and the companion ORD MYPs are outlined in
Goal V of the 2006-11 EPA Strategic Plan.6
Goal V of the EPA Strategic Plan for 2006-2011
Objective 5.4: Enhance Society's Capacity for
Sustainability through Science and Research.
Conduct leading-edge, sound scientific research on
pollution prevention, new technology development,
socioeconomics, sustainable systems, and decision-
making tools. By 2011, the products of this research
will be independently recognized as providing critical
and key evidence in informing Agency polices and
decisions and solving problems for the Agency and its
partners and stakeholders
Sub-objective 5.4.2: Conducting Research. Through
2011, conduct leading-edge, sound scientific
research on pollution prevention, new technology
development, socioeconomics, sustainable systems
and decision-making tools. The products of this
research will provide critical and key evidence in
informing Agency policies and decisions affecting the
Agency programs in Goal 5, as well as EPA partners
and stakeholders.
6 www.epa.gov/ocfo/plan/plan.htm
7 www.epa.gov/indicators/roe
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Chapter 2. Rationale for the Strategy
A host of far-reaching, interrelated, and complex factors—such as growing human
populations, increases in waste production, growing energy demands, and land
development—are all contributing to stresses on the earth's natural systems. Protecting
human health and safeguarding the natural environment in the face of these stressors is
a national priority—and a daunting challenge.
To meet this challenge, EPA's Sustainability Research Strategy explores an integrated,
scientific approach to defining and achieving sustainability goals in six key natural
resource systems: energy, air, water, materials, land, and ecosystems.
Given the breadth of existing ORD research activities, this chapter explains the rationale
for the new strategy, concluding that a more crosscutting and system-oriented research
strategy is needed to address existing and emerging environmental problems.
Externalities Affecting the
Environment
Water, air, land, and energy research are interrelated and
affected by a host of externalities related to economic
growth, demographic changes, and energy use. Economic
growth is essential for maintaining social well-being; how
this growth is achieved determines a society's quality of
life. Most countries have clearly learned that sustainable
environmental polices are an essential component of
sound economic growth. Research that supports this goal
is thus an area of national priority.
When EPA was founded in 1970, the U.S. population
was just over 203 million; in 2006 it reached 300 million,
reflecting a 35-year increase of nearly 50 percent.
This growth, however, has not been distributed evenly.
About one-third of the U.S. population resides in the 17
Western states, which include seven of the nation's 10
fastest growing states. Through 2030 the population of
the Southwest is projected to increase as a proportion of
the U.S. population. The population increase has already
greatly affected the allocation and use of resources.
Approximately one acre of land becomes urbanized or
otherwise developed for each additional U.S. inhabitant.
Many Western and Southwestern states with rapidly
expanding population are also experiencing urban
expansion, increasing energy demand, and diminishing
water resources.8 The U.S. population is also aging,
thereby creating new needs for health and human
services. These changes require a heightened awareness
of potential future challenges, especially increasing
demand for water and energy in much of the nation.
World population and economic growth will expand rapidly
during the coming decades. Global population is expected
to increase by nearly 40 percent by 2050. By 2030 more
than 60 percent of the world's population will live in
cities, many in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, where the
urban populations will grow from 1.9 billion people to 3.9
billion people. Economic growth in the "BRIO" countries
(Brazil, Russia, India, and China) will significantly impact
future global and trans-boundary environmental issues.
Over the next 30 years, while the U.S. per capita GDP is
expected to increase by 60 percent, the per capita GDP
in China and India is projected to increase nearly tenfold.9
Together these changes will place considerable stress on
the earth's resources and on humanity's ability to maintain
or improve environmental quality. Unless steps are taken
to address the consequences of growing populations and
economies, the resilience of the global ecosystem will be
undermined. The challenge is to prevent or minimize the
potential negative consequences.
Population data is taken from Mark T. Anderson and Lloyd H. Woosley,
Jr., Water Availability in the Western United States. U.S. Geological
Survey Circular 1261. Washington: USGS, 2005. http://pubs.usgs.
gov/circ/2005/circ!261
9 Dominic Wilson and Roopa Purushothaman, Dreaming with BRICS:
The Path to2050. Goldman Sachs Global Economics Paper No. 99.
October 2003. www.gs.com/insight/research/reports/report6.html
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Table 2.1. Proposed Sustainable Outcome Measures10
Natural Resource Systems
Energy
Air
Water
Materials
Land
Ecosystems
Sustainable Outcomes
Generate clean energy and use it efficiently.
Sustain clean and healthy air.
Sustain water resources of quality and availability for desired uses.
Use materials carefully and shift to environmentally preferable materials.
Support ecologically sensitive land management and development.
Protect and restore ecosystem functions, goods, and services.
Achieving Sustainability
This challenge means that achieving sustainable
environmental outcomes must be a long-term national
environmental goal. This is a key goal of the new EPA
report, Everyday Choices: Opportunities for Environmental
Stewardship, in which senior EPA managers identify
sustainable outcomes in six resource systems relevant
to the Agency's mission. The report is the first explicit
statement of EPA senior leadership focused on
recommendations for sustainability outcomes that the
nation should seek. While much more discussion and
debate will be needed to refine these goals, the report's
linkage of stewardship with sustainable outcomes has set
a direction for future policy development and research.
The sustainable outcomes outlined in the report are
listed in Table 2.1.
The possibility of achieving these outcomes will be
greatly affected by the trends presented in Table 2.2. For
example, growing population and GDP will significantly
impact the six resource systems. Population increases
will affect how and where land is developed and thus the
viability of ecosystems. Population growth has historically
led to increased use of energy, water, and materials—
and increased production of waste, leading to greater
pollution of air, water, and land, with associated negative
consequences for ecosystems and human health.
Economic growth has usually required greater quantities
of energy, materials, and water from expanded agriculture
and industry, leading to more waste, toxics, and pollution
of air and water. The land and ecosystems change as
materials are extracted, goods produced, infrastructure
built, and wastes disposed of.
EPA's 2003 and 2007 draft reports on the environment
outlined U.S. successes in environmental protection and
identified many remaining challenges and data gaps.
Table 2.2 lists examples of trends identified in this report
for each of the six resource areas, revealing a few of the
many potential stresses stemming from the expected U.S.
population and economic growth. Other potential impacts
of stressors on the environment have been identified
through a survey of EPA senior program officers and from
external future studies.11
10 Everyday Choices: Opportunities for Environmental Stewardship,
Innovation Action Council Report to the Administrator, November
2005. www.epa.gov/epainnov/pdf/rpt2admin.pdf
11 www.epa.gov/indicators
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Table 2.2. Potential Consequences of Growing U.S. Population and GDP
Natural Resource Systems
Current Trends
Consequences Projected
Over 20 Years
Energy
In the last 30 years energy consumption
has increased by 42%.
Between 1982 and 2001, NOx emissions
rose by 9%, primarily from increased
diesel fuel use.
Demand for petroleum, natural gas, and
coal each will increase by 25-40%.
Passenger miles driven and number of
road vehicles will increase by 30-40%.
002 emissions will grow by 28%. 13
Air
133 million people live in areas with air
quality not meeting NAAQ standards
(indoor air pollution is associated with
asthma in children).
Increased transportation demand will
increase NAAQS exceedances; between
23 million and 33 million additional
housing units will be needed.
Water
408 billion gallons of water per day
are withdrawn.
Excess nitrogen and phosphorus have
degraded aquatic life in 2.5 million acres
of lakes and 84,000 miles of rivers and
streams.
In some areas, existing water supplies
will be inadequate to meet demands for
people, cities, farms, and the natural
systems and biota. 14
Reduced water availability is projected to
impede electric power plant growth. 15
Materials
MSW over the last decade MSW has
leveled at 4.5 Ibs/person/day.
Waste systems are managing growing
quantities of toxic chemicals.
Under "business as usual" scenarios, a
24% projected increase in population wi
result in a comparable increase in total
waste generation.
Land
The pace of land development between
1992 and 1997 was more than 1.5 times
the rate of the previous 10 years.
About 10% of forested land is expected
to be converted to urban and developed
use. 16
Ecosystems
Coastal wetland area has decreased by
8% since the 1950s.
One third of native species are at risk.
Flux of nitrogen to coastal ecosystems
will increase by 10-20% worldwide.
Species extinction rates are projected to
be ten times higher than current rate. 17
12 Extracted from the 2003 Draft Report on the Environment Technical Document. Washington:
EPA, 2003. www.epa.gov/indicators/roe/html/tsd/tsdTOC.htm
13 Department of Energy. Annual Energy Outlook 2004. DOE/EIA-0383(2004). January 2004. www.econstats.com/EIA/AE02004.pdf
14 Department of the Interior, "Water 2025: Preventing Crises and Conflict in the West." www.doi.gov/water2025
15 Electric Power Research Institute, 2001. www.epri.com
16 Climate Change Science Program, 2003
17 United Nations, Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. Washington: Island Press, 2005. www.millenniumassessment.org/en/index.aspx
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Table 2.3. Linkages Among Resource Systems
Potential Response to the Stressed Resource System
Resources Under Stress
Increased
pollutants
Increased
demand
Increased
extraction
Extraction
impacts
Extraction
impacts
Energy
(increased use)
Increased
energy for
cleanup
Pollutant
deposition
from air
Increased
demand,
Degradation
Increased
negative
impacts
Waste
disposal
Air
(increased pollutants)
Increased
energy for
cleanup
Transfer of
pollutants
from water
Increased
demand,
Degradation
Increased
negative
impacts
Waste
disposal
Water
(increased pollutants)
Increased
demand
(processin
energy)
Increased
demand,
Increased
pollutants
Extraction
impacts,
Waste
disposal
Increased
negative
impacts
Increased
pollutants
Material
(increased use)
Increased
pollutants
Runoff
Reduction
of
resources
Increased
demand
Increased
pollutants
Reduction
of resource
Land
(increased development)
Reduced
natural
processin
capacity
Reduced
natural
processin
capacity
Increased
energy for
restoration
Reduced
renewable
resources
Ecosystems
(decreased availability)
-------
Even as population and GDP impact a particular resource
system, that system in turn interacts with other areas in
complex, dynamic, and interrelated ways. For example,
since 1971 each 1 percent increase in worldwide GDP
has resulted in a 0.64 percent increase in energy use.
Most of the energy has been produced from fossil
fuels, so the increased energy use has led to greater
emissions of air pollutants from the combustion of these
fuels. Nearly half of U.S. water withdrawals are used for
cooling power plants and water is also used to scrub air
pollutants from flue gas; so rising energy use increases
both demand for and pollution of water. Extraction of
fossil fuels from the earth requires use of more materials,
changes the surrounding land, and produces more
wastes (i.e. unwanted materials). Finally, increased energy
use impacts ecosystems through such factors as silt
runoff from energy extraction activities and the decline
in water quality caused by runoff from mining facilities.
Such response impacts are shown in the first row of
Table 2.3. Interactions like these demonstrate forcefully
that a systems approach offers the best strategy for
understanding environmental impacts and for designing
cost-effective and sustainable policy responses.
Sewerage provides another example of interaction
among resource areas. As shown in Table 2.3, polluted
sewer water requires energy for cleanup; air pollutants
of methane and nitrogen compounds are produced, and
solid waste is generated and typically sent to landfills.
Finally, sewerage overflows can impact ecosystems. These
examples illustrate how a change in one resource area
can negatively reverberate through other areas.
The Need for a Systems Approach
Ensuring continued improvement in environmental
quality and in the protection of human health under these
increasing stresses requires new approaches. Fortunately,
this is not without precedent, as approaches to
environmental protection have evolved over the decades
to meet emerging challenges and the advance of science.
In its early years, EPA developed end-of-pipe strategies
that targeted emissions of pollutants from, for example,
smokestacks and sewer lines. As these strategies
matured, new problems were recognized, and were met
accordingly with new upstream approaches, such as
waste minimization and pollution prevention.
As additional environmental stressors were recognized,
the evaluation and choice of pollution control and
mitigation options required greater understanding of the
overall context of problems. This led to the development
of life cycle assessments, which demonstrated that
the vast majority of environmental problems are not
contained within a single resource area or within a single
product's life cycle, but extend across multiple areas
and timeframes. It is now clear that a more integrated
approach to environmental protection is needed.
As environmental protection has become more complex,
the Agency has evolved, moving from point-source
pollution controls associated with particular industries
to larger problems of regional emissions, such as
those associated with agricultural operations, urban
transportation, and emerging contaminants. Successfully
meeting all of these challenges—significant increases in
stressors, impacts across resource areas, emissions from
diffuse sources, and emerging contaminants—will require
a continued evolution in how environmental protection
approaches sustainability.
Is the problem of sustainability urgent? Does it address
the national interest? There is no doubt that improving
the health and well-being of people today and in the
future, while growing the economy and protecting
natural resources, is a national priority. Prudent scientific
management would suggest launching a program aimed
at better understanding the linkages among the six
resource systems and developing effective means to
disseminate and apply the research results.
-------
-------
Chapter 3. Definition and Scope
ORD focuses its sustainability research portfolio on capturing and quantifying systems
dynamics, assessing and managing variability, and understanding resilience of
systems to stresses and disturbances, both expected and unexpected. Sustainability
research is an essential foundation that incorporates new research approaches with
the established foundation of ORD's existing research focused on individual media
(land, air, and water).
Sustainability research will focus on six broad crosscutting themes that are
coordinated with ORD's economic and behavioral science research and global
monitoring programs.
Toward Sustainable Development
The concept of sustainable development marries two
important insights: (1) environmental protection does
not preclude economic development; and (2) economic
development should be ecologically viable.18 Sustainable
development also addresses the question of trade-offs
between the welfare of people today and the welfare of
people in the future. In the words of the 1987 report
Our Common Future—better known as the Brundtland
Report—development is sustainable when it "meets the
needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs."19
Sustainable development fosters policies that integrate
environmental, economic, and social values in decision
making. The National Environmental Protection Act
(NEPA)—drafted in 1969 before EPA was established—
provides that the federal government, in partnership
with the states, should "use all practicable means and
measures... to create and maintain conditions under
which man and nature can exist in productive harmony,
and fulfill the social, economic, and other requirements
of present and future generations of Americans." This
NEPA provision is implemented in today's federal policies
and actions that promote stewardship and collaborative
problem solving. Subsequent legislation and executive
orders have directed federal agencies to pursue sustainable
management of federal facilities and to measure and report
on economic, environmental, and social responsibilities of
their operations.20 On January 24, 2007, President Bush
signed Executive Order 13423, "Strengthening Federal
Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management,"
which sets goals in the areas of energy efficiency,
acquisitions, renewable energy, toxics reductions, recycling,
sustainable buildings, electronics stewardship, vehicle
fleets, and water conservation. The order directs heads
of federal agencies to implement sustainable practices in
these areas, echoing the NEPA goals expressed in 1969
by specifying that "sustainable"means" "creating] and
maintaining] conditions, under which humans and nature
can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the
social, economic, and other requirements of present and
future generations of Americans."21 The Government
Accountability Office has also recently assessed the
role that federal agencies are playing in complementing
U.S. business goals of promoting global corporate social
responsibility.22
18 Dan Esty, "A Term's Limits." Foreign Policy. September/October 2001,
pg. 74-75.
19 World Commission on Environment and Development, Our Common
Future. London: Oxford University Press, 1987.
20 Emil J. Dzuray, et al., "Achieving Sustainability of Government
Operations," LMI Research Institute Report IR 521 Rl. September
2005
21 www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/01/20070124-2.html
22 Government Accountability Office. Globalization: Numerous Federal
Activities Complement U.S. Business Global Corporate Social
Responsibility Efforts. GAO-05—744. Washington: August 2005.
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Environmental Sustainability
Sustainability Research
EPA has moved steadily over the past 36 years to ensure
that its policies and programs are responsive to changing
environmental stresses. U.S. environmental policies
have evolved from reliance on laws and regulations
requiring only compliance, to new emphasis on policies
and incentives that encourage industry to go beyond
compliance. Growing use of market-based economic
instruments, voluntary programs, public reporting by
industry, and creative public-private partnerships are
bringing a new era of environmental management. Former
Administrator William K. Riley, however, noted,
I don't think we will be able to say, in the popular
phrase of the moment, that we have attained a
sustainable level of development until we function in
harmony with these ecosystems, and learn to keep
them productive... We are not, nor ought to be,
fundamentally about reducing this effluent or that
emission, but rather about protecting the totality of
the environment.23
The Brundtland Report recognized that environmental
protection is different from, but related to, sustainable
development: "Environmental protection and sustainable
development must be an integral part of the mandates of
all agencies of government, of international organizations,
and of major private-sector institutes."24 Sustainable
environmental policies are critical for achieving
sustainable development. EPA and ORD are in position
to lead those policies by developing a strong research
foundation that contributes to policies supporting
sustainable development.
This Strategy will promote environmental Sustainability
by seeking outcomes that protect and enhance the
resilience of natural systems to environmental stress and
that reduce the industrial and urban burdens on the
environment.
The research strategy's definition of Sustainability
research can be clarified through an analogy with non-
traditional research being conducted in the investment
and insurance communities. Traditionally, these sectors
allocated resources and managed risk with a principle
focus on short-term performance and economic
measures, ignoring a host of external social and
environmental factors. Today they have a growing interest
in the impact of extra-financial issues on long-term risk
and investment. For example, Swiss Re, the leading
reinsurance firm, has declared that "unsustainable
development increasingly needs to be understood as
having the potential to substantially change the risk
landscape," and has launched an extensive research
program on the early detection and assessment of
environmental and health risks.25
In the investment world, asset owners and managers
have formed the Enhanced Analytics Initiative, an
international consortium aimed at encouraging better
investment research, especially research focused on
"... the alignment of management and board with long-
term company value, the quality of human resources
management, risks associated with governance structure,
the environment, branding, corporate ethics and
stakeholder relations."26
23 William K Reilly. Oral History Interview, "Ecosystem Management." EPA
202-K-95-002. September 1995. www.epa.gov/history/publications/
reilly/21.htm
24 World Commission on Environment and Development, pg. 311.
25 Swiss Re, Sustainability Report 2004. Zurich: Swiss Re, 2005 (p. 9).
Swiss Re has built an extensive research program around detection
and assessment of risks. Its SONAR research project (Systematic
Observations of Notions Associated with Risk) is an extensive data
analysis and systems study that can detect risk signals too weak to
show up on the radar screen of a wider audience. See 2004 Report,
page 9. www.swissre.com/INTERNET/pwsfilpr.nsf/vwFilebylDKEYLu/
MSTN-6DFKHP/$FILE/Sustainability_Rep_04.pdf
26 The Initiative currently represents companies with managing assets
of more than US$1 trillion (See www.enhancedanalytics.com/Fiesta/
EDITORIAL/20060630/CommPresse/PR15_lnvestecjoinsEAI_190506.
pdf). Quote is from David Blood and Al Gore, "It is Essential that
Investors Look to the Long Term," www. ft.com, July 6, 2005;
Financial Times, July 7, 2005. www.generationim.com/media/
pdf-ft-david-blood-al-gore-07-07-05.pdf.
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The insurance and investment sectors are both promoting
"better research for better investment decisions"—an
approach based on future projections, capturing system
dynamics and points of leverage, and assessing and
managing variability and uncertainty. EPA can learn
and benefit from such forward-looking, system-oriented
research that broadens the application of risk analysis to
reflect a wider range of environmental and social issues.
ORD's Sustainability Research Strategy mirrors the
expanded research goals of cutting-edge insurance and
investment firms, because sustainability research similarly
seeks "to promote more informed and sustainable
decisions." Like the financial sectors, ORD must project
the impact of future economic and demographic changes
on natural and man-made systems to help decision
makers attain more sustainable outcomes.27 Research in
the realms of insurance, investment, and environmental
protection aims to connect the dots to better understand
how systems work and how they are affected by change.
ORD sustainability research aims to capture system
dynamics, manage variability and uncertainty, and
understand system resilience to foreseen and unforeseen
stresses. Improved scientific understanding must be
translated into useable outcomes. To do this, EPA and
its partners will develop integrating decision support
tools (i.e. models, methodologies, and technologies) that
produce the data and understanding to help decision
makers shift toward practices promoting environmental
sustainability, and ultimately, sustainable development.
Emphasizing a systems approach to achieving sustainable
environmental management, we focus on six broad
research themes.
• Renewable Resource Protection
• Non-Renewable Resource Conservation
• Long-Term Chemical and Biological Impacts
• Human-Built Systems and Land Use
• Economics and Human Behavior
• Information and Decision Making
"Shaping our Environmental Future: Foresight in the Office of
Research and Development." Washington: EPA, 2007.
www.epa.gov/osp/efuture.htm
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-------
Chapter 4. Six Research Themes
To promote the integration of research across disciplines and existing ORD research
programs, and to underscore the importance of a systems approach to future
planning, this chapter serves three important functions:
• It identifies priority research topics related to the sustainable outcomes
presented in Table 2.1 and the six research themes described in Chapter Four.
• It identifies existing ORD and EPA research programs that relate to the
research questions (Table 4.1).
• It describes how this Research Strategy and the focus on sustainable
environmental outcomes advance ongoing EPA efforts.
Achieving any one of EPA's proposed sustainable outcome
measures (shown in Table 2.1) will be a formidable
challenge, for there are no technological "quick fixes"
offering simple solutions to any of these outcomes.
Instead, research across physical science, economics,
social science, and other disciplines must be combined
in meaningful ways. In turn, the resulting science must
be made available to decision makers and integrated into
effective public policy.
By itself, ORD can address only a small part of the overall
research required to advance sustainability, but it can
partner with program and regional offices and other
federal and state agencies and can use its research
results, methods, and tools to assist clients both inside
and outside EPA in pursuing sustainable outcomes.
-------
Table 4.1. Sustainability Research Themes Addressed by Multi-Year Plans
• - Some Association • • - Strong Association
National Program
Director (NPD) Area
Air
Global Change &
Mercury
Water Quality
Drinking Water
Human Health
Ecological Risk
Pesticides, Toxics, &
ECDs
(not an NPD area)
Contaminated Sites/
Resource Conservation
Multi-Year Plan
Air Toxics
Particulate Matter
Tropospheric Ozone
Global Change
Mercury
Water Quality
Drinking Water
Human Health
Ecological Research
Endocrine Disrupters
Safe Pesticides
Toxics
Computational Toxicology
Contaminated Sites
Hazardous Waste
Economics and Decision
Sciences
Renewable Resources
•
• •
• •
Non-Renewable Resources
•
•
•
•
•
Chemical & Biological
Impacts
• •
•
• •
•
• •
• •
• •
• •
• •
Human-Built Environment
•
•
•
• •
• •
Economics & Behavior
•
• •
Information & Decisions
•
•
•
•
• •
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Table 4.2 shows the extent of existing ORD multi-year
plans. The following sections discuss how these programs
relate to each other and to the sustainability research
questions. An example of the possible integration (and
leveraging of resources) among existing ORD research
strategies—the coordination of the Sustainability Research
Strategy and the Economics and Decision Sciences
Strategy—is illustrated in Figure 4.1 near the end of this
chapter.
1. Natural Resource Protection
(Air, Water, Ecosystems)
The health and well-being of all societies depends on
ecosystems and the services they provide. Natural
resources are an essential support for a nation's
economy and quality of life. Where natural systems are
undermined, the economic and social well-being of
people is threatened. This is true at local levels, where
the expansion of urbanized areas is undermining the
ecological integrity of ecosystems by bringing about
declines in biological diversity, degradation of water
quality, and loss of other ecological services. It is also true
at regional levels, where unsustainable industry and urban
development are threatening the long-term health of great
water bodies like the Chesapeake Bay and the Great
Lakes. And it is certainly true on a global scale, where
widespread ecosystem loss may affect global atmospheric
processes and human health.
The natural resource basis is a complex and dynamic
system of plants, animals, and the physical environment
that interact with each another. Lessons learned over
the years on different approaches and techniques for
managing natural resource systems, at both small and
large scales, demonstrate the need to better understand
the resilience of a natural system to "tolerate disturbances
while retaining its structure and function."28 Achieving
sustainability in managing natural systems therefore
requires a better understanding of the complexity of these
systems, including their critical thresholds, resilience,
and adaptability.
In a sustainable world, society greatly benefits from
ecosystem services at all levels, from local flood control
to global climate protection. A critical test of society's
ability to sustainably manage its natural resource base is
fast approaching. The president's "Twenty by Ten" goal
is to reduce gasoline usage by 20 percent over the next
ten years, with 15 percent of the reduction achieved
through use of renewable or alternative fuels and 5
percent from vehicle efficiency improvements.29 A longer-
term research and technology goal is to make cellulosic
ethanol cost-competitive with corn-based ethanol by
2012 and to replace at least 30 percent of the 2004 level
of gasoline demand by 2030.30 These transitions will
require large supplies of sustainable feedstock, major
feedstock and conversion technology advances, large-
scale integrated biorefinery demonstrations, and massive
new infrastructure development that will affect land use
and ecosystems. Given these policy directions, it will be
important for EPA and ORD to assess how to produce,
harvest, and deliver current biomass, or an estimated 1
billion dry tons of cellulosic biomass, in an economically
and environmentally sustainable way.
Joseph Fiksel, "Designing Resilient, Sustainable Systems,"
Environmental Science & Technology. 37 (December 2003),
5330-5339.
29 Regarding the 15 percent from renewable or alternative fuels, the
35 billion gallon would be required if all the fuel were ethanol.
However, replacement and alternative fuels are expected to include
ethanol and biodiesel, as well as fossil based alternatives such as
coal-to-liquids, gas-to-liquids etc, and also include domestic
production as well as imports.
30 See: www.whitehouse.gov/stateoftheunion/2007/initiatives/energy.html
and Breaking the Biological Barriers to Cellulosic Ethanol:
A Joint Research Agenda. Washington: DOE /SC-0095, 2006
-------
None of these challenges are new to EPA, which has
made healthy communities and ecosystems one of its
five key long-term goals. Existing EPA programs extend
from protecting ecosystems from risks posed by the
release of harmful substances, to expanding and restoring
ecosystems. Filling gaps in current EPA and federal
agency programs, the Sustainability Research Strategy
aims to sharpen the focus on achieving sustainable
management of renewable resources by setting three
goals: (1) defining clear measures of sustainable
renewable systems; (2) improving understanding of
ecosystem processes and their impacts on human health;
and (3) developing and applying advanced systems
models and tools to assist decision makers.
Efforts to achieve the first goal are tied to building
consensus within EPA on terms and definitions. ORD is
leading an EPA-wide effort to more clearly define outcome
goals and measures. Efforts to achieve the second goal
depend on greater coordination of existing efforts across
ORD, EPA program and regional offices, and universities.
Efforts to achieve the third goal depend on expanded
in-house ORD research and collaboration with ORD
customers and stakeholders.
Current ORD systems research aims to address complex,
long-term environmental problems in ways that go
beyond traditional compliance and pollution prevention
approaches to those that focus on sustainable outcomes.
This effort builds on a growing body of academic research
that has demonstrated how the integrated assessment
of a sustainable system cannot be accomplished by
simply linking together a collection of domain-specific
models. Research on the bio-complexity in large lake
systems shows that new modeling approaches are
needed.31 Frontier interdisciplinary research in EPA's
Science to Achieve Results (STAR) program is exploring
the relationship among anthropogenic stressors within
ecosystems, changes in host or vector biodiversity, and
infectious disease transmission.32
This new research focuses on understanding the
environmental and social factors that contribute to
biodiversity change, the population dynamics of animal
reservoirs and vectors of disease, biological mechanisms
that influence transmission of diseases to humans, and
the processes by which infectious diseases emerge and
spread. Research on the links between anthropogenic
stressors, biodiversity, and infectious disease can have
an important impact on our view of biodiversity, the
services provided by natural ecosystems, and how we
manage these resources to protect human health
and the environment.
PRIORITY RESEARCH TOPICS
• Demonstrating and quantifying the value of
ecosystem services in environmental protection and
human health (informing decision makers).
• Understanding long-term chemical and biological
interactions and cycles among air, land, and water
resources and their impact on biodiversity (systems
analysis).
• Exploring interactions among natural resource
systems that may lead to unrecognized side effects of
management initiatives, such as loss of soil resilience
due to over-harvesting of biomass (systems analysis).
• Modeling linkages between human-built and natural
resource systems in terms of material and energy
flows (systems analysis).
• Understanding the resilience and adaptability of
ecosystems to change (resilience and vulnerability).
• Improving understanding and quantification of
natural carrying capacity under various environmental
conditions and human activity patterns (forecasting).
• Developing early warning signs of critical system
overloads beyond natural variability (forecasting).
• Identifying trends that have been and are expected to
continue affecting ecological processes that sustain
ecosystems (forecasting).
• Developing future regional scenarios and models
integrating land, water, and ecosystems to assess
impact on ecosystem services (forecasting).
31 See Conference Report on "Toward Sustainable Systems." Ohio State
University, March 2-3, 2006.
32 See http://es.epa.gov/ncer/rfa/2007/2007_biodiversity_health.html
-------
2. Non-Renewable Resource
Conservation (Energy and Materials)
Each phase of non-renewable energy production
(exploration, extraction, refining, transporting, and storing)
and manufacturing affects the quality of air, the quality
and availability of water, global climate, short-and long-
term use of land, and resiliency of ecosystems. For these
resources and processes, sustainability requires greater
focus on conservation and enhanced use of renewable
energy, greater emphasis on managing materials
rather than disposing of waste products, and finding
substitutes for toxic and dangerous materials. The historic
consequences of unsustainable non-renewable resource
management are evident in landscape modification,
growth of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, and
climate change. Fossil fuel use, with its potential effects
on climate change and environmental and human
health, constitutes a vital long-term global sustainability
issue. EPA's role in addressing climate change is
prescribed by the interagency U.S. Global Change
Research Program.33 Complementing this interagency
program, the Sustainability Research Strategy will
promote more sustainable management of nonrewable
resource operations and enhance a shift to greater use of
renewable resources.
A new vision of how to sustainably manage nonrenewable
resources is needed. The 1997 National Academy
of Engineering report, The Industrial Implication for
Environmental Design and Management, suggests that
the path to sustainability "involves the creative design
of products, processes, systems and organizations, and
the implementation of smart management strategies
that effectively harness technologies and ideas to
avoid environmental problems before they arise." In
Grand Challenges in Environmental Sciences (2001),
the National Academy of Sciences recommended,
"develop[ing] a quantitative understanding of the global
budget of materials widely used by humanity and how the
life cycles of these materials... may be modified."34
These concerns prompted the Office of Solid Waste
proposal to shift its emphasis from managing waste to
managing materials, and the Office of Pesticides and
Toxics' efforts to reduce toxic chemical use through green
chemistry and other new technologies. Looking ahead,
regulatory actions may further enhance a movement
toward sustainable resource management. Several
directives of the European Union that target reductions
of hazardous materials and toxics and promote recycling
may serve to promote additional research in use of
alternative material, green chemistry, and life cycle
analysis.35
Consequently this research strategy will initially focus
on core research methodologies, models, technology,
and technological processes that can help to assess the
impacts of energy and material use on the environment
and to identify low-impact and other sustainable
approaches to renewable resource management.
PRIORITY RESEARCH TOPICS
Core functions:
• How can life cycle assessment be made more
efficient, reliable, and comprehensive so that it will
more effectively inform design decisions that lead
to reducing or eliminating the use of non-renewable
resources?
• What innovative technologies or processes can be
developed to improve the efficiency of non-renewable
resource consumption (e.g., closed-loop recycling
or energy efficiency in manufacturing and consumer
products)?
33 EPA's research role in the U.S. Global Change Research Program is to
assess the potential consequences of climate change for air and water
quality, ecosystems, and human health. This program seeks to improve
the scientific basis for evaluating the risks and opportunities presented
by global change in the context of other stressors. A suite of EPA
voluntary programs such as Climate Leaders develop industry strategies
aimed at reducing the overall emissions of greenhouse gases.
34 EPA Science Advisory Board, Commentary on Industrial Ecology,
2002. www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/eecm02002.pdf. Also SAB Review of
Science and Research Budgetsfor FY 2007, March 30, 2006.
www.e pa .gov/sa b/pdf/sa b-adv-06-003. pdf
35 The Directives are Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive
(RoHS), Waste Electical and Electronic Directive (WEEE), and Directive
on Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals (REACH)
-------
• For different sectors, what re-engineering processes
can be designed to manage production and supply
chains, reducing or eliminating the use of fossil fuels
and other non-renewable resources?
• How can material flow analysis and related methods
provide better insight into opportunities for reducing
or eliminating the use of non-renewable resources?
• What tools can be used to operationalize the concept
of industrial ecology, enabling systems-based
understanding of energy and material flows?
Material Balance:
• What are the patterns and driving forces of societal
use of non-renewable resources?
• How can global scenarios of future industrial
development and associated environmental
implications be developed?
• In what materials, products, places, and time scales
can we expect significant change in material and
energy use or their impacts?
Energy:
• What opportunities exist to replace non-renewable
with renewable feedstocks and materials in an
environmentally beneficial manner?
• How can we ensure that societal shifts in material
use—such as from petroleum to renewable
feedstocks for energy and materials—do not lead to
unforeseen and unsustainable consequences?
• What tools are needed to develop, test, and measure
the life cycle of a full suite of energy conversion
technologies (using renewable and non-renewable
energy sources)?
3. Long-Term Chemical and Biological
Impacts (Using Non-Toxic Materials
Sustainably and Protecting Human
Health)
The intergenerational dimension of sustainability means
that society must be particularly mindful of the long-
term threat posed by chemical and biological impacts on
the environment. Protecting environmental and human
health from chemical toxicity has long been central
to EPA's mission. The inability of the environment to
assimilate certain chemical compounds over time has
serious implications for sustainability. A chemical pollutant
released to the environment at a rate greater than the
environment's ability to recycle, absorb, or render it
harmless is considered to be persistent. Other chemical
compounds have a tendency to concentrate in the tissues
of living organisms in the process of bioaccumulation.
Chemicals that are either persistent or bioaccumulative
increase the potential for adverse effects on human
health or the environment, or both, because they can
result in high levels of exposure. Chemicals that are both
persistent and bioaccumulative result in the highest levels
of exposure and thus present the greatest challenge to
sustainability. Achieving sustainable outcomes will rely
on prudent material use and shifting to environmentally
preferable materials in order to protect human health
by assessing and eliminating the long-term impacts of
harmful chemical and biological materials.
Research on long-term chemical and biological impacts
(complementing research on resource conservation)
addresses two major areas: (1) assessing chemical
and biological impacts; and (2) substituting benign
chemicals for toxic chemicals through green chemistry,
nanotechnology, genomics, and other new technologies.
Achieving sustainable outcomes will be aided by the
enhanced ability offered by these technologies to detect
and measure chemicals in humans and animals and to
provide new ways of designing and manipulating
new materials.
ORD's work in computation toxicology—using the latest
advances in mathematical and computer modeling and
-------
genomics to prioritize, screen, and evaluate chemicals
and predict potential toxicities—offers great potential
for developing more sustainable products.36 ORD and
other EPA researchers are also assessing the application
of nanotechnology for developing more efficient and
sustainable products. In a recent white paper assessing
the risks and benefits associated with nanotechnology,
EPA scientists recommended that the Agency "engage
resources and expertise to support approaches that
promote pollution prevention, sustainable resource
use, and good product stewardship in the production
and use of nanomaterials."37 Important new research
efforts in ORD and in EPA program and regional offices
are evaluating the green production of nanomaterials,
including a life cycle assessment of nanomaterial
production, and are developing decision support tools for
bench chemists to evaluate the environmental dimensions
of new chemicals and production processes.
Key sustainability research goals thus include further
developing new technologies that reduce or replace
the use of toxic chemicals and measuring the potential
environmental effect of these new technologies. The
research topics listed below build on ORD's development
of research aimed at creating new catalysts to significantly
improve the environmental effects of chemical
manufacturing, innovative reactors and intensification
techniques, and novel oxidation technologies that will
allow the pulp and paper industry to meet new emission
regulations.
PRIORITY RESEARCH TOPICS
• Develop and apply innovative chemical
transformations utilizing green and sustainable
chemistry and engineering.
• Improve the yield, safety, and specificity of chemical
processes by identifying appropriate solvents,
controlling thermal conditions and purity, and
recovering process catalysts or byproducts.
• Formulate products that reduce waste and that are
environmentally benign.
environmental impacts of products generated from
different processing routes and conditions.
• Develop improved or accelerated methods for
understanding the toxicology, kinetics, fate, and
persistence of chemical substances.
• Develop and implement models for the efficient
application of life cycle analysis methods to new
products and technologies including nanomaterials,
green chemistry, and engineering.
• Develop and implement systems-level methodologies
and technologies for applying material flow analysis to
complex industrial networks.
• Develop improved methods for systems analysis of
material flows that reflect the differences in health
and environmental impacts of different substances.
4. Human-Built Systems and
Land Use
In the past, little or no concern was given to how human-
built systems might seriously impair or destroy the natural
infrastructure and "ecosystem services" provided by the
infrastructure, such as the ability to absorb and break
down pollutants, cleanse air and water, and prevent
flood and storm damage. However, the growth of urban
populations over the last century has provided evidence
that human-built systems can cause significant harm to
ecosystems and to their ability to provide these critical
services. Building on undeveloped land destroys and
fragments habitat, displacing or eliminating wildlife
communities.
See ORD, "A Framework for Computational Toxicology."
EPA 600/R-03/065 November 2003.
37 See www.epa.gov/osa/nanotech.htm
Develop life cycle tools to compare the total
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The construction of impervious surfaces such as roads
and rooftops leads to the degradation of water quality
by increasing runoff volume, stream sedimentation and
water acidity, altering regular stream flow and watershed
hydrology, and reducing groundwater recharge. A one-
acre parking lot produces a runoff volume almost 16
times as great as would an undeveloped meadow of the
same size. Achieving urban sustainability is clearly a
challenge being addressed by many programs of EPA and
other federal agencies. In this research strategy, research
on urban sustainability and land use focuses on three
key areas: building design and efficiency, urban land
revitalization, and sustainable management of
urban systems.
Within urban communities, green building design is a
crucial factor for sustainability since buildings account for
65 percent of electricity consumption, 36 percent of total
energy use, and 30 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.
According to recent studies, in 2030 about half of the
buildings in which Americans live, work, and shop will
have been built after 2000. In 2030, there will be 106.8
billion square feet of new development, about 46 percent
more built space than existed in 2000—a remarkable
amount of construction to occur within 30 years. About
97.3 billion square feet of existing space will be replaced.
New and replacement-related development will amount
to 204.1 billion square feet, equal to almost 90 percent of
the built space that existed in 2000. All of this amounts
to about $30 trillion in total new development (including
infrastructure) that will occur between 2000 and 2030.38
Research in indoor environmental management underway
in ORD's National Risk Management Research Laboratory
is already well positioned to help shape the design of
future indoor engineering systems.
Research related to Built Environment and Land
Use, while primarily directed toward sustainable land
management, also serves to integrate nearly all of the
sustainability goals discussed in Chapter 2. The operation
of numerous and diverse human-built systems (e.g.,
buildings, cities, water distribution, energy, agriculture,
and transportation) is fundamentally dependent on
the health of the natural systems that provide critical
ecosystem services.
While broad in content, this theme focuses on land
renewal and restoration, decision support tools for
urban land development, and life cycle assessments
for land use and building design. Research under this
theme complements research described previously
under Natural Resource Protection. Key elements of the
implementing Science and Technology for Sustainability
Multi-Year Plan (MYP) will focus on environmental impact
modeling, including development of new impact models
to characterize land use and smog formation, and on
collaborative partnerships with many government and
non-government entities to directly apply innovative
systems-based approaches to urban and tribal planning.
Direct ORD-supported research can address these
immediate research questions:
• What tools can decision makers use to assess the
potential impacts of land use, landscaping, and
building design decisions on community well-being
and environmental quality?
• What levels and types of human activities can be
conducted within a given spatial area (such as
a watershed or ecosystem) without critically and
adversely altering biogeochemical cycles and
ecosystem functioning?
• What sustainability criteria should be developed
to guide urban land development and future
revitalization efforts?
• What core set of principles can best be used to
guide the design, construction, and management
of human systems (such as land use, buildings,
and transportation systems) in a manner that
protects natural systems (such as habitats) and their
properties (such as biodiversity) and functions?
Arthur C. Nelson, "Toward a New Metropolis: The Opportunity to
Rebuild America." Washington: Breakings Institution Metropolitan
Policy Program Survey Series, 2004. See www.brookings.edu/metro/
pubs/20041213_rebuildamerica.htm; and Arthur C. Nelson, 2006,
"America Circa 2030: The Boom to Come," Architect Magazine
(October 15, 2006): www.architectmagazine.com/industry-news.
asp?sectionlD=1006&articlelD=385542
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• How do systems of land use, transportation, trade,
and commerce contribute to the spread of invasive
species and exotic pathogens? What actions can EPA
take to manage this process?
• What applications of new and emerging technologies
can promote efficiencies in building design and
restoration of contaminated sites?
• What are the tradeoffs between resilience of the
built environment (e.g., capacity to survive natural
disasters) and ecological resilience?
The growing enthusiasm for sustainability at state
and local levels presents both new challenges and
opportunities for ORD research, which has the technical,
monitoring, and analytic capability to help decision
makers at all levels of government choose courses of
action that will lead to achieving sustainable outcomes.39
For example, ORD has been working with the German
Federal Ministry for Education and Research since
1990 on models of land restoration and development.
Work under this bilateral agreement is now moving
toward development of sustainability criteria for
revitalization activities, and has resulted in the Sustainable
Management Approaches and Revitalization Tools-
electronic (SMARTe) program. SMARTe, which is now
in beta testing, is an open-source, Web-based decision
support system for developing and evaluating future reuse
scenarios for potentially contaminated land.40 SMARTe
includes guidance and analysis tools for all aspects
of the revitalization process, including planning and
environmental, economic, and social concerns.
The emphasis in this research strategy on developing
decision support tools and helping decision makers reach
wise decisions, challenges our scientists and engineers
to work directly with key customers and stakeholders
who can most benefit from ORD research capabilities. In
many ways, ORD's ability to identify research to inform
stewardship solutions is intimately tied to partnering
and collaborating with state, local, and tribal decision
makers. An example is the Sustainable Environment for
Quality of Life (SEQL) program, in which ORD is a key
player, developing scientific models such as the Regional
Vulnerability Assessment (ReVA) to support sustainable
land development. ORD's research supports quantification
of potential and actual impacts, including cross-sectoral
and cross-jurisdictional analyses and analyses of "what-if"
scenarios.
SEQL and similar projects are successful because of the
available suite of decision support tools and the direct
participation by ORD scientists in community meetings
and policy planning. This direct involvement is essential
for applying ORD research to direct use. The BOSC review
of the Ecological Research Program noted the successful
use of ORD decision support tools, emphasizing that
further applications "will require commitment of resources
to technology transfer through both in-person and online
training."41
5. Economics and Human Behavior
The sustainable management of natural and man-made
systems is partly a question of choice and behavior. For
this reason, economics and the behavioral sciences are
key elements in EPA's overall approach to implementing
the goals of Everyday Choices and achieving sustainable
outcomes. The Office of Management and Budget
(OMB) is requiring more and better economic analyses
as essential components of the policy process used in
EPA program and regional offices and in other federal
regulatory agencies.
See "Regional Summaries of State and Tribal Issues and Priorities for
the 2006-2011 Strategic Plan Revision." www.epa.gov/ocfopage/
plan/regions/i ndex. htm
40 See www.smarte.org/smarte/home/index.xml
41 Board of Scientific Counselors, Review of Ecological Research Program
Review. August 2005, pg. 18. www.epa.gov/osp/bosc/pdf/
eco0508rpt.pdf
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External reviews by the SAB and the National
Academy of Sciences have shaped much of EPA's
economic and behavioral research. For example, many
recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences
report commissioned by EPA and the National Science
Foundation, Decision-Making for the Environment:
Social and Behavioral Science Research Priorities, have
been incorporated into ORD's Environmental Economics
Research Strategy (EERS), published in 2005. Economists
are beginning to address the question of environmental
sustainability and human carrying capacity as central
factors in economic development.42 Economists and
conservationists are also exploring ways to value
ecosystem services and develop economic incentives
for sustainable behavior. This is an important area for
research since markets for ecosystem services do not
generally exist. For example, owners of ecologically
valuable land can generate more revenue from traditional
land development than by providing ecological services.
ORD-funded extramural research is also underway to
understand why individuals, firms, and institutions behave
as they do; what motivates them to change their behavior;
and how government regulations, public information,
corporate reporting, and public pressures interact to
generate public policy.
The Sustainability Research Strategy (SRS) and the EERS
research strategies are complementary in approach and
significantly contribute to EPA's focus on stewardship
and sustainability. The SRS presents a framework that
highlights research areas of importance to support a
forward-looking, integrated, and preventive approach
to environmental protection. It guides the integration of
relevant research across ORD and other offices, as well
as connections outside of EPA. On the other hand, the
EERS presents a focused analysis of Agency research
priorities in Economics and Decision Sciences. EERS
research priorities dovetail nicely with the SRS framework
(see Chapter 6) and collectively can be used to address a
number of important questions:
• What factors increase or reduce motivation for
sustainable behavior among individuals, firms, and
organizations? How can we better integrate economic
and ecological models to inform environmentally
sustainable decisions? What is the relationship
between environmental sustainability indicators and
measures of economic value?
• What are non-market ecosystem services, what is
their value, and what ongoing factors are affecting
their supply? To what extent can human-produced
capital substitute for natural capital?
• How can economic instruments (e.g., trading
schemes, auctions, and taxes) be devised that
effectively incorporate society's concerns for
sustainability in resource allocation decisions?
• What should be the role of intergenerational
discounting in benefit-cost analysis?
• How can ecological resilience and the potential for
major unforeseen events be incorporated in the
selection and assessment of policy interventions?
For rapporteur's summary and presenters' precis papers of the
EPA-sponsored forum, "Sustainability, Weil-Being, and Environment
Protection: What's an Agency to Do?" see www.epa.gov/
sustainability/econforum
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6. Information and Decision Making
The goal of developing sustainability metrics builds on
the research already conducted in support of EPA's Draft
Report on the Environment (RoE). ORD researchers
have played a significant role in identifying appropriate
indicators and providing quality control in their
development. Currently, the RoE provides snapshots of
the existing environmental state. Metrics are defined in
relation to clearly stated questions such as, "What are
the conditions and current trends of surface waters?"
and "What are the trends in the ecological processes that
sustain the nation's ecological systems?" As EPA moves
toward identifying a set of clearly articulated questions
related to sustainable outcomes—such as, "How
sustainable are the nation's water supplies?"—research
can focus on identifying appropriate indicators and
ensuring their quality.
The establishment of an information infrastructure is a
necessary step on the path toward sustainability. This
includes the development of sustainability metrics and
environmental monitoring. Our strategy is therefore
closely applied with the Global Earth Observation
Systems of Systems (GEOSS) program. The GEOSS
vision is of a future in which decisions and actions are
informed by coordinated, comprehensive, and sustained
earth observations and information. GEOSS will "take
the pulse of the planet" by compiling a system of all
relevant databases (or systems), thus revolutionizing
our understanding of how the earth works. Over time,
GEOSS will contribute greatly to sustainability by providing
important scientific information for sound policy and
decision making. EPA is contributing to GEOSS through
its leadership in both the international Group on Earth
Observations and the U.S. Group on Earth Observations
and has launched the FY2006 Advanced Monitoring
Initiative (AMI).
One of the keys to promoting sustainability is defining
and communicating a clear understanding of proposed
outcomes. In Everyday Choices, EPA senior managers
identified sustainable outcomes in six resource areas
relevant to EPA's mission (Table 4.1). The sustainability
goals in energy, water, air, land, ecosystems, and materials
provide an important starting point for discussion of
appropriate sustainability goals and how they should be
measured. A clear next step is to define these goals and
metrics in sharper detail.
This strategy aims to establish a new set of scientifically
based sustainability indicators that are readily
comprehensible at multiple scales, relevant to decision
makers, and easily accessible to the public.
ORD-supported research •
research questions:
address these
• What are appropriate sustainability goals for energy,
water, air, land, materials, and ecosystems?
• What are the most appropriate trends, indicators,
and metrics to measure society's progress towards
reaching sustainable outcomes?
• What data are needed to construct sustainability
indicators and metrics and how can the data be
effectively and
efficiently collected?
These questions will be addressed in two ways. First,
we will review metrics currently in use to determine
where gaps exist. A number of fairly simple sustainability
indicators currently exist, and while these measures may
inform the public on the general notion of sustainability,
they often lack scientific vigor. If sustainability is to play a
significant role in future environmental policy debates, the
process of establishing benchmark values and measuring
progress must be vastly improved. The second track,
in collaboration with EPA partners and customers, will
involve research to identify new indicators and metrics and
apply them to problems in specific geographic regions,
ecosystems, and watersheds. This work is expected to
result in a new set of well-defined metrics, protocols, and
software tools that can be used by decision makers. This
direction of research will be a major element of ORD's new
Science and Technology for Sustainability MYP.
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Chapter 5. Research Objectives
Our research strategy has five objectives:
• Systems Understanding. Understand the interconnections, resilience, and
vulnerabilities over time of natural systems, industrial systems, the built
environment, and human society.
• Decision-Support Tools. Design and develop scientific tools and models to assist
decision makers.
• Technologies. Identify and develop inherently benign and less resource-intensive
materials, energy sources, processes, products, and systems, particularly for
emerging technologies.
• Collaborative Decision Making. Develop an understanding of motivations for
decision making and develop approaches to collaborative problem solving.
• Metrics and Indicators. Develop metrics and indicators to measure and track
progress toward sustainability goals, to send early warning of potential problems
to decision makers, and to highlight opportunities for improvement.
The logic diagram of Figure 5.1 on the following page
illustrates how these five research objectives relate to
customers and collaborators, as well as to outcomes:
(1) Systems Understanding informs the development of
research in (2) Decision Support Tools, (3) Technologies,
and (4) Collaborative Decision Making. This research
informs policies and programs implemented by Customers
and Collaborators, who can use relevant (5a) Metrics
and Indicators to inform their plans and decisions and
Imeasure progress toward their sustainability goals.
A second category of larger-scale (5b) Metrics and
Indicators can help in measuring and assessing overall
progress in Resource Sustainability Outcomes and
Long-Term Outcomes in environmental and human
health. The larger-scale metrics and indicators also feed
back to enable adaptive understanding and research
needs in Systems, Decisions, Technologies,
and Collaborative Decision-making.
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Figure 5.1. Logic Diagram Illustrating Research Approaches
Systems
Understanding
Resilience
Vulnerabilities
Interconnectedness
Scale
Trends and
Transformations
Links between
Natural and Built
Environment
Uncertainty
Decision Support
Tools
Technologies
Collaborative
Decision-Making
Metrics and
Indicators
Metrics and 1
Indicators 1
Customers and
Collaborators
Business and
Industry
Communities
Government
Individuals
d L
Resource
Sustainability
Outcomes
Water
Land
>
Air
Energy
Materials
Ecosystems
r 1
Long-Term
Outcomes
Protection of
Environmental
and Human
Health
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Table 5.1. Research Topics Addressing Sustainability Themes and Objectives
H
Renewable
Natural
Resource
Systems
Non-Renewable
Natural
Resource
Systems
Long-Term
Chemical
and Biological
Impacts
Human-Built
Systems
Economics
and Human
Behavior
Information and
Decision Making
System
Understanding
Ecosystem
resilience;
Limits on
resource
extraction rates
Understanding
interactions
between
human-built
systems and
natural cycles
Limits;
Measures of
resilience
Decision
Support Tools
LCA; MFA; ISAs
LCA; MFA; ISAs
Chemistry
design tools;
Transport mod-
els
Design
principles
Agent-based
models
Technologies
Green
engineering
Green
engineering
Green chemistry
Green
buildings;
Emerging
technologies
LCA
Collaborative
Decision Making
ISA, Risk
assessment
models
Incentives and
trading schemes
Understanding
value of
information
Metrics and
Indicators
Ecosystem
resilience;
Resource
extraction rates
Material
intensity
Environmental
accumulation of
chemicals
Industrial
sustainability
indicators
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Table 5.1 also relates the research objectives to the six
research themes (defined in Chapter 4). For example, life
cycle assessment (LCA) can inform understanding of a
product's consumption of renewable and non-renewable
resources and associated emissions over the product's
life cycle. Material flow analysis (MFA) and integrated
systems analysis (ISA) can be used to explore the possible
implications of economy-wide patterns of consumption
of renewable or non-renewable resources. ISA can also
be used as a communication tool to enable collaborative
decision making in the context of human-built systems.
There are many relevant metrics and indicators in the
theme areas, ranging from indicators of ecosystem
resilience to sustainability indicators used by industry. The
following sections further describe the various research
objectives.
• managing variability and uncertainty,
• capturing the various perspectives and desired
sustainability outcomes in important domains (e.g.,
ecological, economic, technological, legal, and
organizational), and
• understanding the vulnerability or resilience of the
system relative to both foreseen and unforeseen
stressors and change.
A systems view can also strategically inform both research
and implementation. It can identify barriers, point out
gaps or redundancy in activity, and inform prioritization
of existing or potential research and implementation in
technology, decision support tools, and collaborative
decision making.
Systems Understanding
An underlying understanding of complex environmental-
societal systems and the attributes and conditions that
make them sustainable is the foundation of sustainability
research. Going beyond a traditional, single-media,
pollution-control and compliance-enforcement approach,
this research strategy recognizes that no environmental
problems have a single cause. Application of systems
research has the potential to break down longstanding
single-media approaches to environmental management,
an issue of concern to EPA since its inception.43
Following the 2006 Science Advisory Board review
of the Draft Guidance on Environmental Models and
Models Knowledge Base, EPA is committed to enhancing
interagency coordination on modeling issues and fostering
a more integrated approach to modeling in environmental
management.44 Describing, representing, and designing
sustainable systems encompasses several important
aspects:
• addressing scale in time and space,
• capturing the dynamics of the system and of society's
points of leverage or control over those dynamics,
43 When President Nixon proposed the creation of EPA in 1970, he
recognized the interconnected ness of the environment and the
inherent cross-media nature of environmental protection. His plan
to establish EPA noted that, for pollution control purposes, "the
environment must be perceived as a single, interrelated system" (see
www.epa.gov/history/org/origins/reorg.htm). EPA has struggled since
then with how best to deal with the environment as an integrated
system. At the Agency's 15th anniversary in 1985, Administrator
Russell Train expressed his concern with its "compartmentalized
nature" and resulting ineffectiveness in dealing with pollutants,
which "tend to move readily among air, water, and land." Similarly,
Administrator Lee Thomas stressed the need for cross-media
reviews so that "we don't just transfer pollutants from one medium
to another." (See "Views from the Former Administrators," EPA
Journal, November 1985, available atwww.epa.gov/history/topics/
epa/15e.htm.) Administrator William Reilly encouraged cross-media
approaches in the early 1990s by looking holistically at place-based
issues, breaking down media barriers for risk assessment, providing
cross-media training for staff, and conducting joint pilot studies with
industry. Although EPA is today still organized along media lines, it
recognizes the need to adequately address the cross-media nature of
environmental problems. Sustainability concepts will help EPA break
down barriers to its single-media-based program offices and look more
holistically and systematically at integrated environmental challenges.
44 See SAB report at: www.epa.gov/sab/panels/cremgacpanel.html
representing an appropriate level of complexity,
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Figure 5.2. Technology Continuum
Research
(3 years)
Proof of Concept
(1 year)
Development
(2 years)
Verification
(1-2 years)
Commercialization/
Deployment
(2-3 years)
Technologies
Technology and technological systems are central
for achieving sustainable use of renewable and non-
renewable natural resources, as well as for developing
alternative materials, chemicals, processes, and products
that minimize or eliminate long-term chemical and
biological impacts.
The underlying scientific research, development of
designs and applications, technology demonstration,
and technology verification form a 10-year continuum
as illustrated in Figure 5.2. Various advisory bodies
have argued that commercialization and deployment
of sustainable technologies require that the entire
continuum be supported over time. For example, EPA's
National Advisory Committee for Environmental Policy
and Technology Policy (NACEPT) has strongly endorsed
EPA's current technology and verification program and
recommended that EPA "should devote more attention and
resources to those Agency programs that incorporate and
encourage sustainability as one of the goals or criteria for
technology development or implementation assistance."45
The EPA administrator has further charged NACEPT to
examine the issue of sustainability in more detail (in
2006-2007) and to make additional recommendations.
Several areas of technology research are particularly
important. The fields of green chemistry and green
engineering address the design of molecules, products,
processes, and systems that (1) use safer chemicals
and materials; (2) use materials, water, and energy
efficiently; and/or (3) reduce the generation of waste at
the source. Green engineering and green chemistry are
generally applied on a product-by-product or a process-
by-process basis. While some of this technology research
is supported by industry, EPA has an important role in
supporting research that underpins general methodologies
or addresses specific environmental problems or
emerging issues of concern.
45 National Advisory Committee for Environmental Policy and Technology
Policy (NACEPT), Subcommittee on Environmental Technology, EPA
Technology Programs and Infra-Agency Coordination, Washington:
EPA 100-R-06-004, May 2006.
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More traditional technologies can also support progress
towards sustainability. Technologies that provide safe
drinking water and treat waste and storm water are prime
examples. Aging water and wastewater infrastructure,
together with a growing population, require the
development of new technologies to provide cost-effective
conveyance and treatment of drinking, waste, and storm
water. In addition, the tightening of water supplies in
parts of the United States and elsewhere in the world
will require water conservation and reuse technologies to
provide abundant, clean water for human consumption
and the environment. To achieve this, both current and
new technologies should be examined using a systems
approach to assess their multimedia impacts over the long
term to insure that they are compatible with environmental
sustainability.
Technology and technological systems can also be looked
at more broadly in time and space. An economy-wide
understanding of material flow systems, for example,
can illuminate, and hence prioritize, opportunities for
efficient pollution prevention and material use. This could
be particularly important for materials that are potentially
deleterious to the environment, used in high volumes,
or both.
Understanding the economic, informational, cultural,
security-related, and other factors that can influence
the development and adoption of new designs and
technologies can inform research and development.
In some cases these factors also relate to industrial
organizational approaches, such as total quality
management, the adoption of environmental management
systems, or supply-chain management.
Future scenarios can assist in envisioning potential
implications of technological systems that are emerging
or undergoing transformation. Such systems are affected
by emerging technologies (such as nanotechnology),
potential industrial transformations (such as distributed
manufacturing), and changing consumption patterns.
Understanding of changes such as these can inform
research that enables the technological systems to
support sustainability.
Decision Making Tools
Many types of tools and analytical models can inform
decisions that contribute to environmental sustainability.
While the primary stimulus for model development is
to improve scientific understanding within the scientific
community, tools developed from these models can
enhance sustainability in at least two ways: (1) by
providing credible, relevant, and timely research results
that inform EPA policy decisions; and (2) by assisting
individuals, businesses, communities, and government
to better understand the potential implications of their
decisions,46 thus enhancing the likelihood that decisions
they make will be more environmentally sustainable.
Environmental models may be descriptive (describing
knowledge about specific phenomena) or prescriptive
(informing a design or identifying a course of action). They
necessarily rely on data and information related to a wide
variety of human activities:
• transportation, industry, agriculture, construction;
• protection and consumption of resources (water,
energy, materials, ecosystems, land, and air);
• economics and characteristics of human
behavior; and
• natural phenomena such as weather patterns, and
environmental conditions.
46 As an example, EPA has adopted the MARKAL (for MARKet
Allocation) model to assess current and future energy technology
options. This comprehensive energy/economic model simulates a
national, regional, or state-level energy system by representing the
interactions between resource supply, conversion processes (e.g.,
refineries and power plants), end-use technologies (e.g., classes of
light-duty personal vehicles or heat pumps), and demand for energy
services (e.g., projected vehicle miles traveled or space heating). ORD
is using its MARKAL model to help the Air Quality Assessment segment
of EPA's Global Change Research Program develop and analyze
scenarios of technological change in the transportation and electric
power sectors. The research aims to understand how technological
evolution could impact future air emissions and to develop and provide
an in-house energy/technology assessment capacity.
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Important areas for research include the collection and
synthesis of required data and information and the
incorporation into generalized models. ORD will also assist
other collaborators and stakeholders in implementing
models. The following paragraphs explore several types of
analytical models that can lead to tools that are especially
relevant to sustainable decision making.
Scenario models advance the understanding of
environmental conditions over time through integrated
systems analysis. These models allow users to
dynamically explore the connection among choices
over which society has some direct control (such as
practices in transportation, energy, agriculture, and
industry), broad societal trends (such as population and
economic growth), and potential future environmental
conditions.47 These types of tools and models can help
users understand critical thresholds and explore system
response to abrupt change. They can also help diverse
groups communicate about the future they desire and
develop means and strategies to achieve this future.
Geographic-based analytical models, such as landscape
simulators and urban growth simulators, enhance
understanding of environmental stressors and conditions
in space. These models are particularly useful for
understanding the implications of land-use decisions,
such as transportation planning, location of buildings, and
agricultural practices. Geographic-based analytical models
can be integrated with economic models in powerful tools
to inform sustainable development.
Material flow-based models, such as life cycle
assessment and material flow analysis, can link the use
and processing of materials to potential implications for
human health, environmental condition, and resource
sustainability. They can inform improvements in the use
of materials and design of products and also highlight
opportunities for focused policy initiatives. In this regard,
new methods that connect environmental impact analyses
to material flow analysis would be especially useful.48
Material flow-based tools can also be tied to life cycle
cost analysis or economic input-output analysis so that
environmental issues and costs can be seen in one view.49
Agent-based models offer insight into the implications of
how the actions of individuals add up to organizational
or multi-organizational behavior. As overall organizational
behavior may contribute to or detract from resource
sustainability, the models can illuminate policy
opportunities to further motivate stewardship behaviors by
individuals, communities, industry, and government.
The several varieties of models can be used in
combination to develop powerful tools. All of the models
can also be used in the context of uncertainty, such as
through Monte Carlo simulations.
Assessing the impacts of future scenarios on
environmental outcomes is a key element of model
development.50
Community Scale Air Quality Modeling (CMAQ) and Stream Water
Quality Model (QUAL2K), both developed at ORD's National
Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL), are good examples of the
scenario modeling efforts that may assist in evaluating the impact of
development patterns and industrial practices on air and water quality.
48 ORD's National Risk Management Research Laboratory has been
developing a very practical life cycle assessment tool that can
aid scientists in developing more sustainable chemicals. The
GREENSCOPE (Gauging Reaction Effectiveness for the Environmental
Sustainability of Chemistries) indicator model was created to evaluate
and compare the sustainability of chemical processes. If this model
is applied on a large scale, as in the chemical industry, it can achieve
sustainable outcomes.
49 ORD's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response (OSWER) has
recommended that ORD examine proposed new methodologies for
assessing environmental impacts and provide guidance on appropriate
support tools for policy-makers. Although material flow analysis is a
valuable tool, its primary focus is on volumes and weights of materials.
A clearer measure of environmental impact of 3R (Reduce, Reuse,
Recycle) programs is needed.
50 Two widely cited examples that link models and future planning
are the 2002 "Willamette Alternates Future Analysis" available from
the Western Ecology Research Laboratory of ORD's National Health
and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory (www.epa.gov/wed/
pages/researchprojects.htm) and the Sustainable Environment for
Quality of Life Program (SEQL) program. ORD is a key player in SEQL,
developing scientific models such as ReVA to support sustainable
land development. ORD's research supports quantification of potential
and actual impacts, including cross-sectoral, cross-jurisdictional, and
"what-if" analyses. SEQL and similar projects are successful because of
the available suite of decision support tools and the direct participation
by ORD scientists in community meetings and policy planning.
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EPA has begun to improve its modeling capability by
considering scenarios including possible climate change,
which may seriously impact future land use practices.
Under the Integrated Climate and Land Use Scenarios
(ICLUS) project, EPA is developing scenarios for land
use, housing density, and impervious surface cover for
the entire coterminous United States for each decade
through 2100. These scenarios—which will be based
on the social, economic, and demographic storylines of
the Special Report on Emissions Scenarios prepared by
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—aim
to assess the effects of climate and land-use change
across the United States and identify areas where climate-
land-use interactions may exacerbate impacts or create
adaptation opportunities. ICLUS scenarios will also be
included in the forthcoming version of EPA's BASINS
model (to be released in winter 2007), allowing users
to consider the impact of changes in both land use and
climate change on water quality.
Collaborative Decision Making
Developing effective, innovative polices that promote
sustainability depends on having an understanding
of the motivation for decision making by businesses,
communities, government, and individuals. Such
innovative policy approaches include combinations
of incentives, market mechanisms, information and
education, regulation, and collaborative approaches.
In an industrial context, effective and innovative policies
depend on an understanding of the circumstances that
encourage or discourage green product design and green
supply chain management, and also an understanding
of industrial supply-chain leverage points that underlie
potential improvements in sustainability outcomes.
Effective and innovative policies targeting individuals
and households depend on an understanding of the
factors that encourage green consumption, such as
cost, information, convenience, peer pressure, and
regulations. Effective policies supporting sustainable
decision making for communities and local governments
depend on an understanding of drivers and hurdles
relating to the layout of buildings and to the design and
implementation of transportation and energy systems.
Policies and approaches can be improved through better
understanding of how social groups make innovative and
effective decisions.
Because moving towards sustainability often requires
negotiation and cooperation among stakeholders,
collaborative approaches are particularly important.
The related concepts of collaborative problem solving,
cooperative conservation, and stewardship encourage
stakeholders to come together to address common
environmental issues.51
Scientists and scientific research can enhance and
strengthen these collaborative approaches in two ways:
(1) social science research can add to an understanding
of the conditions under which collaborative approaches
are effective; and (2) scientists and engineers can
participate with policy makers and other decision makers
in collaborative processes. These processes can also
influence scientific direction by helping scientists to refine
the scientific questions they ask and to more effectively
communicate their research results.
EPA supports programs designed to encourage
environmental stewardship through collaboration at the
community and regional levels. ORD's Collaborative
Science and Technology Network for Sustainability (CNS)
(described in Chapter 6) is one of several programs that
focus on collaboration and sustainability-related issues.
51 All three concepts rely on strong scientific input to help decision-
making achieve measurable and sustainable outcomes. Former
EPA Administrator Michael Leavitt and current Administrator Steve
Johnson have made collaborating problem solvingan important
element of EPA's governance agenda. Similarly, the concept of
collaborative conservation as outlined in the Executive Order of August
26, 2004 requires EPA and four other agencies to actively engage all
stakeholders when implementing conservation and environmental
projects. Finally, EPA is promoting environmental stewardship—
defined as shared values and responsibilities among stakeholders for
environmental protection.
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Metrics and Indicators
Metrics and indicators enable EPA, other government
agencies, businesses, communities, and individuals to
understand the nature and degree of progress being
made toward environmental sustainability. Metrics and
indicators enable us to measure and track progress
toward societal sustainability goals, send early warning
of potential problems to decision makers, and highlight
opportunities for improvement at local, regional, and
global scales. Effective metrics and indicators require
collecting, synthesizing, and communicating appropriate
data and information—which requires understanding both
what to measure and how to measure it.
Understanding what to measure draws on an analysis
of the flows, stressors, and changes over which decision
makers have control. These flows, stressors, and
changes can also be linked to resilience, vulnerability,
warning signals, and limits to resource sustainability.
Understanding how to measure can require research
in sensors and sensor systems, statistical approaches
to guide data collection and preliminary analysis, data
mining, and other information technology approaches.
Metrics and indicators are applicable at different scales.
At the smallest scale are indicators with a feedback rate
that can enable real-time adjustment of consumption,
such as of electricity, gasoline, or water for a household or
industrial facility. At the largest scale, indicators describe
the condition of the national or global environment. A
system of connected indicators that collectively describe
the condition of the overall system at a local, regional, or
global scale can inform effective decisions and strategies
for moving toward sustainability.
To begin to develop this multi-scaled system of connected
indicators, this research strategy tentatively adopts the six
proposed resource sustainability outcomes identified and
defined by senior EPA managers in Everyday Choices:
Opportunities for Environmental Stewardship and listed in
Chapter 2 of this document:
• Energy: Generate clean energy and use it efficiently.
• Air: Sustain clean and healthy air.
• Water: Sustain water resources of quality and
availability for desired use.
• Land: Support ecologically sensitive land
management and development.
• Materials: Use materials carefully and shift to
environmentally preferable materials.
• Ecosystems: Protect and restore ecosystems
functions, goods, and services.52
These outcomes are a starting point for discussing and
refining a set of sustainability outcomes and organizing
sustainability indicators. ORD is leading a cross-Agency
process that aims to refine and sharpen these desired
outcomes at multiple scales and to assess whether
currently available data and indicators are scientifically
valid, useful, and sufficient.
The indicators will build on and connect to the Draft
Report on the Environment, which employed indicators
that are fundamental measures of environmental
conditions. The indicators being developed seek to go
beyond the Draft RoEindicators in four ways:
• An expansion from media and ecosystems, to include
resources such as materials and energy, contributes
to an increased understanding of the interactions
between society and the environment.
• An increased focus on causal connections and
correlations among indicators will enable better
understanding of systems and will highlight
opportunities for improvement.
• A significant focus will be given to indicators that
can inform decision making, particularly at local and
regional scales.
• The developed indicators may expand beyond the
environment to social and economic dimensions.
52 www.epa.gov/epainnov/pdf/rpt2admin.pdf. The outcomes are
described more fully in Appendix D of the Technical Report for
Everyday Choices at www.epa.gov/innovation/pdf/techrpt.pdf
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Chapter 6. Roadmap for Implementation
This research strategy will be implemented in several steps:
• Demonstrate the value of sustainability research by identifying key priority
national issues where application of sustainability approaches can be most
effective in promoting sound and sustainable economic growth.
• Transition the current Pollution Prevention and New Technologies Research
Program into the Science and Technology for Sustainability (STS)
Research Program.
• Coordinate and integrate research across ORD that builds a critical knowledge
base for sustainability, such as by identifying synergies, gaps to be filled, and
high-priority emerging areas among existing research strategies.
• Initiate and strengthen collaborations and partnerships—with EPA program
and regional offices, other federal agencies, state and local governments,
communities, industry, nonprofit organizations, universities, and international
partners—that address critical sustainability issues and stimulate broader
progress towards sustainability in both research and implementation.
ORD Organization and Multi-Year Plans
While the sustainability research focus is new for EPA, it
complements ORD's traditional focus on risk assessment
and risk management. ORD organizes its research into
a number of media and cross-media MYPs, as shown in
Table 6.1. MYPs identify long-term goals (LTGs), annual
performance goals (APGs), and associated annual
performance measures (APMs) for a 5-year period. MYPs
are intended to be living documents and are updated
as needed to reflect the current state of the science,
resource availability, and Agency priorities. In ORD, MYPs
are administered by national program directors (NPDs)
who serve as ORD scientific leads for each subject area.
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Table 6.1. ORD Multi-Year Research Plans Organized by EPA Strategic Goals
EPA Strategic Goals
Goal 1: Air
Goal 2: Water
Goal 3: Land
Goal 4: Communities and Ecosystems
Goal 5: Compliance and Environmental Stewardship
ORD Multi-Year Research Plans
Clean Air
Drinking Water
Water Quality
Land Preservation and Restoration
Ecological Research
Human Health
Human Health Risk Assessment
Global Change
Mercury
Endocrine Disrupters
Safe Pesticides/Safe Products
Science and Technology for Sustainability
Economics and Decision Science
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This research strategy is designed to guide all ORD
research programs and MYPs toward achieving
measurable sustainable outcomes. Building on the vision
of environmental stewardship, this strategy will engage
in research activities that will study the sustainability of
systems (e.g., ecological, technological, and human-
built) from a life cycle perspective. The results of this
effort can be adopted by EPA stakeholders and partners:
(1) individuals (via consumer choices), (2) communities
(via ecosystem protection and infrastructure planning
and management), (3) government (via facility planning
and management, technology demonstrations, policies
and regulations), and (4) companies (via product
design, supply chain management, facility design,
and management). ORD leadership on sustainability
complements and supports shifts by EPA program offices
toward material management and urban revitalization
(Office of Solid Waster and Emergency Response), green
chemistry (Office of Prevention, Pesticides, and Toxic
Substances), low-impact urban development (Office of
Policy, Economics, and Innovation), and sustainable water
infrastructure and ecosystem and watershed management
(Office of Water).
Setting Priorities: Addressing
National Issues
Addressing research prioritization within a broad subject
area such as sustainability is challenging. Because this
research strategy lays out a new research approach
for ORD, prioritization is especially difficult. In order to
give ORD research planners in the various MYPs more
flexibility and autonomy in selecting priority research
areas, this strategy identifies guiding factors for selecting
research priorities, rather than directly identifying the
priority areas. The individual MYPs and their NPDs
will more specifically identify their priority sustainability
research areas.
The report of the augmented SAB committee reviewing
this research strategy made several recommendations on
focus and priority:
Recognizing that the Agency is poised to assume
a global leadership role in sustainability research,
the committee strongly recommends that, in light
of ORD's limited budget, the following parallel
activities be conducted immediately:
1. Conduct core research on sustainability
focusing on the development of defensible
sustainability metrics, and
2. Implement a small number of Agency-
sponsored technology demonstration projects
that provide ORD with the opportunity
to achieve significant visibility within the
sustainability research arena.
It is important that these demonstration projects
move away from waste/end-of-pipe approaches
towards a broader, system-based perspective.53
Five factors can guide selection of topics and design of
programs under the MYPs:
• High impact. The MYPs must pursue research with
high scientific impact that addresses important
national issues relevant to achieving sustainable
outcomes. The development of knowledge in the
theme areas discussed in Chapters 3 and 4 must
enable the long-term and large-scale sustainability
outcomes of the resource systems discussed in
Chapter 2. Investing early to avoid or prevent
problems is preferred.
The SAB Committee proposed examples: "Examples of such projects
might include an assessment from a sustainability perspective of:
(1) biofuels policies and options, which are topical and encompass
a broad range of issues and potential impacts on emissions of
greenhouse gases, agriculture, dependence on imports of fossil fuels,
etc. and may imply a variety of economic incentives; (2) a study of the
hypoxic environment in the IGulf of Mexico or the Chesapeake Bay,
and (3) wastewater practices and infrastructure needs in regions and
cities with accelerated population growth."
www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/sab-07-007.pdf
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• True to EPA's intramural and extramural research
capabilities. ORD intramural research capabilities
serve a dual purpose of directly meeting program and
regional office research needs and building capability
for solving longer-term problems. Intramural
programs can also serve as focal points for scientific
and technical assistance centers to assist a variety
of government and non-government stakeholders.
ORD extramural research programs, such as the
Science To Achieve Results (STAR) research grant
program, can be used to explore new topical areas
or research approaches and also to catalyze change
in the broader national research communities. All of
these capabilities can and should be drawn upon in
an effective MYP.
• True to EPA's role. ORD should focus sustainability
research in areas that are central to EPA's mission,
while collaborating with other agencies and
organizations in areas where missions intersect.
For example, EPA has a central research role of
informing the long-term protection of water quality
in watersheds, and it can collaborate with the
Department of Energy to advance understanding of
the environmental implications of emerging energy
technologies. An effective MYP will address both
types of research.
• Leveraging results. Research that ultimately
influences design, decision making, or policies
leading to resource sustainability on a sufficiently
large scale is preferred. Leverage can occur through
partnering in initial research or through transfer
and diffusion of knowledge, methodologies, and
approaches.
• In a systems context. Research should be within a
systems context. This is true for research leading to
systems understanding but also for research leading,
for example, to a decision-making tool that considers
multimedia interactions within a geographic area, or
to a technology that enables reduction of life cycle
energy use for a class of products (see Figure 5.1).
Balancing Research Needs
In general, research needs far exceed available resources.
Declining federal budgets for research and development
require ORD to address conflicting needs and priorities
and to establish a balance across research portfolios.
Each MYP should consider each of the following criteria in
its research portfolio:
• As frequently emphasized by EPA's SAB, there
should be a balance between known and emerging
issues and problems. For example, because it is well
known that energy and the environment will continue
to be interconnected and linked to sustainability, it
is important that ORD continue to support research
at the nexus of energy and the environment.
Nanotechnology, with its environmental implications
and applications, is an example of an issue that EPA
and ORD correctly identified as an emerging issue
several years ago.
• A balance among short- and long-term projects is
also necessary. Investing in shorter-term projects
permits more immediate demonstration of results,
while wisely selected longer-term projects can
represent valuable investments for the future.
-------
A balance is required between projects that are
central to EPA's domain (such as watershed
protection) and those that reside at the boundaries,
such as the interplay between agriculture and
the health of aquatic ecosystems. In the case of
issues near the boundaries of EPA's responsibilities,
collaboration with other government agencies or
private-sector organizations is particularly important.
A balance is needed between research that supports
decision making within EPA program and regional
offices and research that supports decision making in
other local, state, or federal government organizations
and in industry.
Finally, there should be a balance between projects
that directly solve problems and those that aim to
stimulate others by catalyzing or leading them. An
example of the latter is investing in new branches
of academic disciplines, such as investing in green
chemistry through an extramural research program.
The Sustainability Research Roadmap
1. TRANSITION FROM POLLUTION PREVENTION
TO SUSTAINABILITY
The first element in ORD's roadmap toward sustainability
is the transition of the existing Pollution Prevention and
New Technology MYP to a new Science and Technology
for Sustainability (STS) MYP. The restructured program
gives greater emphasis to key elements of sustainability
research, including green chemistry and green
engineering, systems studies, life cycle assessment, and
technology verification.
The long-term goals (LTGs) of the new STS MYP are
outcome-oriented, providing technical support to broader
regional and national sustainability policies and initiatives
(Figure 6.1).
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Figure 6.1. Long-Term Goals of Science and Technology for Sustainability MYP
Conducting
qualitative
assessments of
current trends
and future
scenarios
LTG 1: Decision makers adopt
ORD-identified and developed
metrics to quantitatively
assess environmental systems
for sustainability
LTG 2: Decision makers adopt
ORD-developed decision sup-
port tools and methodologies to
promote environmental steward-
ship and sustainable environ-
mental management practices
LTG 3: Decision makers adopt
innovative technologies
developed or verified by ORD to
solve environmental problems,
contributing to sustainable
outcomes
Provide support
to regional
and national
sustainability
policies and
initiatives
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To accomplish these goals, regular and continuous
assessment of environmental trends is needed, as well
as thoughtful consideration of likely alternative future
scenarios. Together, these considerations will inform the
development of sustainability metrics (LTG 1) that will not
only provide baseline information on the sustainability
of systems, but will also allow the measurement and
tracking of progress in achieving sustainable outcomes.
Information gathered during the assessment of conditions
and the development of metrics will provide researchers
with information critical for developing and implementing
decision-support tools (LTG 2) and innovative technologies
(LTG 3) that will promote sustainable outcomes.
Supporting the central theme of helping decision makers
make better and more sustainable decisions, the STS
includes two grant programs aimed at stimulating
technology development and putting existing sustainability
ideas into practice.
The People, Prosperity, and Planet (P3) student
sustainability design competition inspires and educates
the next generation to research, design, and develop
solutions to sustainability challenges in areas such as
agriculture, materials and chemicals, energy, information
technology, water, and the built environment. P3 students
and their faculty advisors quantify the benefits of their
projects in the environmental, economic, and social
dimensions and advisors integrate the projects into their
educational syllabi. Through the P3 program, students
learn to work in a multidisciplinary environment and
to make collaborative, interdisciplinary decisions. By
integrating sustainability concepts into higher education,
P3 is helping to create a future work force with an
awareness of the impact of its work on the environment,
economy, and society.
The Collaborative Science and Technology Network
for Sustainability (CNS) program supports consortia of
government and non-government organizations on high-
impact regional projects that explore and provide learning
opportunities for new approaches to environmental
protection that are systems-oriented, forward-looking, and
preventive. The CNS program is described in more detail
later in this section.
2. COORDINATING AND INTEGRATING PRIORITY
RESEARCH ACROSS ORD AND EPA
The next element of the Sustainability Research Roadmap
is coordinating and connecting existing ORD research
programs. The resulting research portfolio is more
integrated, will inform policy and decision making, and
will illuminate further research priorities across ORD and
the rest of EPA. The first step in this process is identifying
the synergies and potential coordination among the other
research strategies and MYPs (shown in Table 4.2) that
will enhance EPA's research contribution to sustainability.
A model of synergies between the Sustainability Research
Strategy (SRS) and the Environmental Economics
Research Strategy (EERS) is shown in Figure 6.2.
The EERS presents a focused analysis of Agency research
priorities in economics and decision sciences, which are
supported through the Economics and Decision Sciences
(EDS) extramural research program. As shown, the
identified EERS research priorities dovetail nicely with the
SRS integrated framework as outlined in Chapter 4.
The general intersection of behavioral science research
and sustainability gives rise to the last two of the six SRS
themes described in Chapter 4: Economics and Human
Behavior and Information and Decision Making. These
themes include five high-priority EDS research topics
presented in the EERS consultation process: Health
Benefits Valuation, Ecological Benefits Valuation, Market
Mechanisms and Incentives, Environmental Behavior and
Decision Making, and Benefits of Information Disclosure.
These five EERS topics will in turn provide critical input
into the SRS research objectives described in Chapter
5. The penultimate goal of this research coordination is
to provide the behavioral science research necessary
for developing environmental policies that support
sustainability outcomes and are cost-efficient over the
long term.
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Figure 6.2. Integrating the Environmental Economics Research Strategy (EERS)
and Sustainability Research Strategy (SRS)
Behavioral Sciences Research and Sustainability
How individual, firm and institutional behavior enables and/or prevents sustainable outcomes
1
SRS Themes
Economics and Human Behavior
1
EERS Topics
SRS Objectives
Health Benefits Valuation: Value
of mortality and morbidity risks
associated with pollution
Ecological Benfits Valuation:
Ecosystem services value
Market Mechanisms and Incentives:
Effectiveness and potential of
trading programs
I
1. Economic Instruments: Trading
schemes and taxes
2. Systems understanding through
integrated ecological-economic
models
3. Economic Sustainability metrics for
individuals, business, policy makers to:
• Make sustainable
consumption decisions
• Determine the business case
for Sustainability
• Regulatory analysis
(cost-benefit,
cost-effectiveness analysis)
|
\/
1
Information and Decision-Making
1
Environmental Behavior and
Decision-Making: How consumers
and producers meet their
environmental obligations under
mandatory and voluntary initiatives
Benefits of Environmental Information
Disclosure: How information disclosure
improves efficiency of decision-making
I
1. Decision-support tools to help
policy maker, corporate officials,
engineers, local/regional planners
identify and implement
sustainable options
2. Collaborative decision-making
|
\/
Cost-efficient environmental policies and outcomes for U.S. business and consumers
-------
The behavioral science and sustainability programs
cooperated to organize a December 2005 workshop that
examined economic aspects of sustainability, and plan to
cooperate in developing future CNS, Market Mechanisms,
and Environmental Behavior solicitations. In addition, the
programs will coordinate with each other in synthesizing
and communicating research results to support regional
decision making as part of this collaborative element of
the roadmap. Finally, the EDS program will contribute
knowledge and insight on organizational behavior in
the private sector that will inform EPA interaction with
businesses on sustainability, part of this roadmap
element.
These examples illustrate collaboration that can be
applied to other research strategies as well. The
coordination and integration across research strategies
will enable ORD and the rest of the Agency to identify
knowledge gaps and to more effectively identify emerging
priorities. This process will be ongoing, proceeding from
the prioritization factors discussed earlier in this chapter.
3. INITIATING AND STRENGTHENING
COLLABORATIONS AND PARTNERSHIPS
The third element in ORD's roadmap toward sustainability
involves teamwork with a wide range of collaborators
and partners: EPA program and regional offices, states,
local governments; other federal agencies, universities,
the business communities, and international agencies
and organizations. After some general considerations,
this section will explore each of these areas for ORD
collaboration.
ORD is in a unique position to lead in sustainability
research and its connection to policy and decision
making. As a science-based organization within a
regulatory agency, ORD can provide leadership in the
following ways: (1) provide integrated multimedia scientific
information reflecting considerations beyond single media
for more sustainable policies; (2) provide strong input into
Agency indicators of environmental sustainability; and
(3) collaborate with universities, nonprofit organizations,
businesses, and research organizations in other countries,
to better understand sustainability and to identify
knowledge gaps and emerging priorities.
A draft report to assist meeting deliberations for the SAB
review of this research strategy called for EPA leadership
in sustainability:
There is a need for, and EPA should provide,
leadership both internal to the Agency and
external among the federal agency family and
other organizations. ... EPA has an opportunity
to coordinate and lead in the definition of
environmental sustainability and in the use of
related research products that will influence how
other federal agencies and organizations move
forward with their sustainability programs.54
54 www.epa.gov/sab/pdf/sustainability_for_chartered_
board Ja n_18_07. pdf
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In implementing this research strategy, external
collaboration and partnering with stakeholders and
customers will be a key element of ORD's management
approaches.
As a science-based organization, ORD faces the
critical challenge of finding effective ways to deliver its
research products to decision makers and to work with
them to translate research into practical outcomes.
ORD initiated its Collaborative Science and Technology
Network for Sustainability (CNS) program on the premise
that sustainable outcomes would best be achieved
by collaborative problem solving in which scientists
and decision makers together assess and understand
implications of policy choices. In achieving sustainability,
ORD scientists must strive to be both good scientists and
good communicators.
3.a. Collaboration with EPA Program and Regional
Offices, States, and Local Governments
Program Offices-. ORD research has traditionally served
to address specific issues raised by EPA program offices.
ORD NPDs are responsible for coordinating with program
offices to identify critical research gaps. EPA program
offices have identified a number of sustainability-related
research questions that are reflected in existing MYPs and
in the new Science and Technology for Sustainability MYP.
Many of these program office activities reflect applications
of sustainability research supported by ORD and defined
in this strategy. These activities include a focus on
systems or multimedia approaches, sustainable design,
system resilience, and collaborative and community-
based problem solving.
The challenge ahead is to coordinate research that
may involve several program offices and NPDs. One
example illustrates how the common goal of sustainability
is reflected in program offices and MYPs around the
research theme of urban sustainability (human-built
systems and land use). Table 6.2 identifies a number of
key Agency programs related to the common goal
of a sustainable built environment.
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Table 6.2. EPA Programs Related to the Built Environment
Media, EPA Programs, and Program Offices55
Land: Smart Growth (OPEI)
Land: SMARTe (ORD)
Land: Brownfield Revitalization (OSWER)
Land: Environmentally Responsible
Redevelopment and Reuse (ER3) (OECA)
Water: Sustainable Water Infrastructure (OW)
Water: WaterSense (OW)
Water: National Pollution Discharge
Elimination System (OW)
Energy Use: Energy Star (OAR)
Air: Air Toxics Strategy (OAR)
Air: Community-Based Air Quality
Programs (OAR)
Indoor Air: Indoor Environment
Management Research (ORD)
Climate: Climate Impact Assessment
Research (ORD)
Program Objectives
Help design low-impact and green communities through sharing
best practices and promoting 10 development principles.
With Web-based decision-support tool, help developers evaluate
future reuse options for a site or area.
Revitalize contaminated sites to be economically productive.
Use enforcement and incentives to promote sustainable
development of contaminated sites.
Better manage utilities, full-cost pricing, efficient water use, and
watershed approaches.
Help conserve water for future generations by providing
information on products and programs that save water without
sacrificing performance.
Control water pollution by green infrastructure and regulating point
sources that discharge pollutants into waters of the United States.
Evaluate and test energy efficiency of products in more than 50
categories; provide information on green building design and
energy efficiency.
Identify and monitor urban air toxics from stationary, mobile, and
indoor sources.
Support air toxics projects in about 30 communities across the
nation, helping inform and empower citizens to make local
decisions concerning the health of their communities.
Develop better understanding of the relationship among indoor
air quality and emissions sources, heating, ventilating, and
air-conditioning systems, and air-cleaning devices.
Integrate remote and ground-based data and dozens of models to
assess potential impacts of climate change.
55 OPEI: Office of Policy, Economics, and Innovation; ORD: Office of Research and Development; OSWER: Office of Solid Waste and Emergency
Response; OECA: Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assistance; OW: Office of Water; OAR: Office of Air and Radiation.
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Achieving sustainability in the built environment is clearly
a national challenge that is being addressed by many EPA
programs that cut across program offices and strategic
goals. These programs include building design and
energy efficiency, urban land revitalization, smart growth,
management of urban systems and water infrastructure,
and improving air quality. ORD's challenge is to help
define the underlying research needed to support these
programs and work to provide the integration across
program offices and MYPs.
ORD has also begun working with program and regional
offices to identify indicators that define and measure
trends related to the sustainability outcomes identified in
Chapter 2. The emergence of the focus on sustainability
outcomes reflects the evolution of thought in EPA on how
best to address mission responsibilities. This new effort is
linked to EPA's Report on the Environment and its Draft
Strategic Plan 2007-2012.
Regional Offices: Because ORD is committed to working
closely with EPA regional offices, ORD has created the
positions of regional science liaisons in each region.
Many regional offices have identified sustainability-related
issues as major priorities. The existing Regional Applied
Research Effort (RARE) program provides the regions
with near-term research on priority region-specific science
needs, and improves collaboration among regions and
ORD laboratories and centers. Each year, ORD provides
funding for each region to develop a research topic, which
is then submitted to a specific ORD laboratory or center
as an extramural research proposal. Once approved,
the research is conducted as a joint effort, with ORD
researchers and regional staff working together to meet
region-specific needs.
RARE provides a means to address a number of
sustainability issues. Past RARE research topics have
touched upon all aspects of environmental sciences, from
human health concerns to ecological effects of various
pollutants. The RARE program also supports Regional
Science Topic Workshops, which aim to improve cross-
Agency understanding of science issues and develop
a network of EPA scientists working on selected topics.
These programs provide sound foundations for those who
will continue to exchange information on science topics
as the Agency moves forward in planning education,
research, and risk management programs.
Several national issues relevant to all EPA regions offer
special potential for ORD cooperation with regional
offices. Two of the most often cited national issues that
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affect regions in different ways are energy generation
and use, and ecosystem management. National attention
to issues like geochemical life cycles (e.g., nitrates)
involves complex interactions across regions. ORD's
implementation of the Sustainability Research Strategy
points to a need for stronger coordination across EPA
regions on key national issues.
State and Local Governments-. ORD recognizes that many
critical decisions on sustainability—such as urban growth
and development, ecosystem protection, water and energy
use, and human health—are made at state and local
levels. In addressing these areas, decision makers must
anticipate potential social and environmental conditions
(future scenarios) and work to integrate media (air, water,
and land) impacts through a systems approach.
To better understand such high-priority regional
sustainability issues, ORD and the Office of Policy,
Economics, and Innovation (OPEI) have initiated outreach
to state, local, and tribal governments. This interaction
will enable ORD to contribute to the identification and
scientific understanding of the longer-term societal
issues that will likely affect EPA's mission responsibilities
at regional and national levels. ORD will also be able to
contribute possible solutions and management options
in the form of technologies, decision-making tools, and
collaborative problem solving.
The CNS program is a significant part of ORD's strategy
to support the application of science to local and regional
decision making in pursuit of sustainability. Table 6.3
shows the projects and collaborators funded through the
first CNS solicitation.
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Table 6.3. Projects and Partners of the Collaborative Science and Technology Network for
Sustainability
Project
Moving Toward Sustainable
Manufacturing Through Efficient
Materials and Energy Use
Multi-Objective Decision Model for
Urban Water Use: Planning for a
Regional Water Reuse Ordinance
Ecological Sustainability in Rapidly
Urbanizing Watersheds: Evaluating
Strategies Designed to Mitigate
Impacts on Stream Ecosystems
Using Market Forces to Implement
Sustainable Stormwater Management
Sustainable Sandhills: Development a
Plan for Regional Sustainability
Sustainability of Land Use in
Puerto Rico
Transforming Office Parks Into
Transit Villages
Industrial Ecology, Pollution Prevention
and the New York/New Jersey Harbor
Harnessing the Hydrologic
Disturbance Regime: Sustaining
Multiple Benefits in Large River
Floodplains in the Pacific Northwest
Bringing Global Thinking to Local Sus-
tainability Efforts: A Collaborative Project
for the Boston Metropolitan Region
Integrating Water Supply
Management and Ecological
Flow Water Requirements
Cuyahoga Sustainability Network
Framework for Sustainable
Watershed Management
Grantee
Northeast Waste
Management Officials'
Association
Illinois Institute of
Technology
University of Maryland
- College Park
City of Portland,
Energy Office
Sustainable Sandhills
Universidad
Metropolitana
The San Francisco
Foundation Community
Initiative Funds
New York Academy of
Sciences
Oregon State University
Tellus Institute
The Nature
Conservancy
University of Maryland
Baltimore County
Delaware River Basin
Commission
Partners and Collaborators
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
State of Illinois, City of Chicago, Fox Metro Water
Reclamation District
Montgomery County, U.S. Geologic Survey
Portland State University, University of Oregon,
Willamette Partnership
State of North Carolina, Sandhills Area Land Trust,
Base Closure and Realignment Regional Task Force,
Southeast Regional Partnership for Planning and
Sustainability, National Association of Counties
Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, US Forest Service,
Puerto Rico Planning Society
Hacienda Business Parks Owners Association,
Cambridge Systematics, Inc., Oracle
Rutgers University, Manhattan College, General
Electric, State of New Jersey, State of New York,
Columbia University, Port Authority of New York and
New Jersey, New York City, Natural Resources Defense
Council, Hudson River Foundation
University of Oregon, Willamette Partnership, State
of Oregon, City of Eugene, City of Corvallis, City of
Albany, U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service, National Marine Fisheries Service
(Boston) Metropolitan Area Planning Council,
The Boston Foundation, Commonwealth of
Massachusetts
Tellus Institute, Tufts University, State of Connecticut
Cleveland State University, University of Iowa, Kent State
University, Chagrin River Watershed Partners, Euclid
Creek Watershed Council, West Creek
Preservation Committee
Monroe County, State of Pennsylvania, U.S.
Geological Survey, Brodhead Watershed Association
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CNS grantees draw on decision-making tools derived
from analytical models and on collaborative approaches
to practical problem solving that support progress at
a regional scale toward the sustainability outcomes
identified in Chapter 2.
The CNS-supported Sustainable Sandhills project in North
Carolina is a model of such integrated decision making for
sustainable outcomes. A non-profit institution (Sustainable
Sandhills) is serving as a convener for the U.S. Army,
the state of North Carolina, and dozens of local and state
communities. EPA's Region 4 is collaborating with ORD
ecologists and state of North Carolina scientists to develop
a set of analytical decision support tools derived from
geographic information linked to ecological models and
future scenarios. The goal is an effective regional plan that
meets long-term community goals and is cost-effective,
environmentally sound, and sustainable.
The Sustainable Sandhills example reflects a general
strategy of integrating and synthesizing knowledge
generated across various research programs inside and
outside of EPA to more effectively address sustainability-
related questions at the regional level. This example
illustrates how regional projects can serve as integrating
mechanisms for ORD research strategies. Sustainable
Sandhills and other regional projects may assist ORD in
identifying additional important core research questions
and prioritizing needs in the development of fundamental
research methods.
Lessons learned from the CNS program will be shared
with regions and communities that work with EPA
through other programs, such as Community Action for
a Renewed Environment (CARE), Environmental Justice
Collaborative Grants, Targeted Watershed Grants, and
Brownfields Technical Assistance.
3.b. Interagency Collaboration
While EPA is the lead federal agency in environmental
compliance and enforcement, its overall and
environmental research budgets are small relative to the
federal government as a whole. In energy, transportation,
agricultural management, and other areas, EPA supports
and complements other federal lead agencies. A national
goal of sustainable development can only be achieved
through integrated and coherent polices across federal
agencies.
In implementing this research strategy, ORD will build
on existing partnerships and seek new collaborations
with other federal agencies.56 In 2004, ORD partnered
with the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive
(OFEE) to organize a sustainability workshop among
federal agencies. The workshop revealed a wealth of
federal activities but a paucity of coordination and policy
coherence among the activities. This led to the creation
of a Stewardship and Sustainability Council organized by
OFEE and EPA. ORD intends to continue working with
OFEE to coordinate and integrate sustainability efforts
with other federal agencies and to pursue interagency
collaboration that links research and application.
Areas of mission focus and supported research among
federal agencies corresponding to the six sustainability
outcomes from Chapter 2 are shown in Table 6.4, which
highlights opportunities for interagency collaboration and
coordination.
56 The Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), which
coordinates science and technology in federal agencies, has focused
on a number of macro research and technology issues including
industrial innovation, competitiveness, and nanotechnology. Extensive
interagency coordination also focuses on climate change assessment
and research, earth observations and GOESS, and ocean sciences.
Water availability and quality and ecosystem services are emerging
issues under interagency discussion.
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Table 6.4. Opportunities for Research or Program Collaboration across Agencies,
by Sustainability Resource Area
• - Some Opportunity • • - Strong Opportunity
Agency 57
DOD
DOE
DOI
DOT
EPA
NASA
NOAA
NSF
USDA
Air
•
• •
• •
• •
• •
•
Ecosystems
•
• •
• •
• •
Energy
•
• •
•
•
•
Land
• •
• •
• •
• •
•
• •
Materials
•
• •
•
• •
•
Water
• •
• •
• •
• •
•
DOD: Department of Defense; DOE: Department of Energy; DOI: Department of the Interior; DOT: Department of Transportation; NASA: National
Aeronautics and Space Administration; NOAA: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; NSF: National Science Foundation; USDA: U.S.
Department of Agriculture.
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One example of federal interagency cooperation is
the emergence of partnerships on sustainable land
management. USDAand DOI's U.S. Geological Survey
each support research related to land management
and development. DOD's Department of the Army is
increasingly focusing on its stewardship of land on and
around military bases. DOI and USDA's Forest Service
are partnering in activities related to healthy forests,
ecological services, and management. New partnerships
are also emerging around the issue of biofuels and
energy conversion. DOE and USDA co-chair the Biomass
Research and Development Board (which also includes
DOI, DOT, EPA, OSTP, and OFEE) mandated by the
Energy Policy Act of 2005. DOE and USDA are also
leading efforts to develop a comprehensive Federal
Biofuels Work Plan that will define an overall interagency
biomass strategy incorporating topics such as feedstock,
conversion technology, biofuel infrastructure, and
communication, education and outreach. Sustainability-
related objectives are emphasized in the Energy Policy
Act, which directs the secretaries of Agriculture and
Energy, in consultation with the EPA administrator and
heads of other appropriate departments and agencies, to
direct research and development toward "a diversity of
sustainable domestic sources of biomass for conversion to
biobased fuels and biobased products" and "to maximize
the environmental, economic, and social benefits of
production of biobased fuels and biobased products on a
large scale through life-cycle economic and environmental
analysis and other means."
3.c. University Collaboration
University communities are embracing sustainability
in facility operations, community development, and
academic programs. With endowments and local funds,
many universities have created new academic centers for
sustainability systems sciences, resilience, green design,
and green chemistry. Many joint programs exist between
business schools and environmental programs.
ORD has developed strong ties with the university
community through its extramural STAR research
grants (including CNS) and fellowship programs. ORD's
P3 student sustainability design competition and its
engineering curriculum benchmarking project are
catalyzing leadership within academia. Going beyond
these grant-related activities, ORD aims to foster closer
ties among universities, ORD laboratories, and other
EPA program and regional offices to boost research
on current environmental problems, potential future
problems, and sustainable solutions. Toward this goal,
ORD began in 2006 to conduct visits to major university
sustainability research centers to discuss coordination
and collaboration on emerging research issues. ORD aims
to partner with many more academic centers to ensure
that scientific advances are translated into practical
management approaches. By interacting with universities
and investing in research and education, EPA can support
the development and refinement of academic fields that
contribute to sustainability.58
58 EPA's Smart Growth Program has made the greening of universities
and their surrounding communities a priority issue.
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3.d. Collaboration with the Business Community
Recognizing that business leadership and decisions
taken by industry have a strong influence on progress
towards sustainability, ORD is pursing a two-fold strategy
with private industry: (1) EPA engages in a broad
conversation with the business community to collectively
and strategically identify and address sustainability-
related problems; and (2) Drawing on knowledge gained
from the EDS research program, EPA will analyze and
document the business case for sustainability, bringing
a better understanding of short-and long-term business
motivation to inform EPA programs.59
3.e. International Collaboration60
Five years after the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD), many developed and developing
nations, United Nations agencies, and non-government
organizations are aggressively pursuing sustainable
development objectives. The WSSD launched hundreds
of Partnerships for Sustainability among governments
and non-government organizations to address a broad
range of sustainability issues. Significant science and
technology cooperation and agreements are underway
within the OECD and among the G8 nations. The G8 2003
Science and Technology for Sustainable Development
Action Plan focuses on areas that are central to EPA:
coordination of global observation systems through the
Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS);
cleaner, more efficient, and sustainable energy use;
agricultural productivity and sustainability; and biodiversity
conservation.
Several European Union member countries have also
developed their own sustainability research strategies.
The European Union's newly launched 7th Research
Framework (2007-2013) supports basic research
in several areas related to sustainable development
including sustainable health care, sustainable production
and management of biological resources, sustainable
production and consumption patterns, sustainable
transport and energy systems, sustainable greenhouse
gas reductions, and technology development and
verification.
ORD intends to take advantage of the increasing
global interest in sustainability to pursue international
partnerships to support sustainability research and the
achievement of the Millennium Development Goals. ORD
has begun to expand its collaboration with the European
Commission in areas that support the research identified
in Chapter 4. These areas include environmental and
sustainability indicators, uncertainty in environmental
models, development of decision-support tools and
environmental technologies, nanotechnology uses, and
sustainable chemistry. In October 2006, EPA signed
an agreement for research collaboration with China.
A February 2007 agreement signed by EPA and the
European Union director general for research has
launched a cooperative research and eco-informatics
program that provides a new framework for cooperation
between the EPA and several European Commission
directorates.
59 These ORD activities complement EPA's traditional regulatory
and voluntary programs. The Agency has more than 65 voluntary
programs that encourage business to move beyond complying with
environmental laws to implement sustainable operations. Programs
such as Performance Track operate at the facility level while others,
such as the Sectors Program, work across whole industrial sectors.
EPA's Climate Leadership program aims at voluntary reduction of
greenhouse gas emissions. The High Production Volume Challenge
Program aims to provide the public with information on many
high-volume chemicals. These and many other programs are part
of EPA's efforts to advance environmental stewardship and
sustainable outcomes.
60 Links to many of these international programs and research strategies
are available at EPA's Sustainability Web site: www.epa.gov/
sustainability/i nternational.htm
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Implementing the Sustainability
Research Strategy for a Sustainable
Future
Advances in science and technology form a foundation
that can lead to a wide array of opportunities for
advancing toward
a sustainable future:
• Science and technology can enable communities,
nations, and industries to measure, monitor, and
characterize pollutants and environmental conditions.
• Models and data analysis techniques—ranging
from chemical design tools based on computational
toxicology to material flow analysis—can help society
to better understand environmental conditions, their
underlying social and economic causes, and their
effects on human health.
• Technological advances—such as those achieved in
green chemistry and engineering—can enable society
to use resources more efficiently and to prevent or
reduce pollution and the associated risks to human
health and the environment.
• Futures analysis can assist society in better
anticipating and preparing for potential social and
economic changes—such as the predicted industrial
transformation growing out of the convergence of
nanotechnology, biotechnology, and information
technology—and resulting environmental changes.
• Finally, science and technology can help to develop
tools for supporting decision making that advances
the protection of human health and the natural
environment now and for future generations.
In short, this Sustainability Research Strategy serves
our society's environmental needs in ways that also
support our economy and society. The potential long-term
national benefits of pursuing the research identified in the
Sustainability Research Strategy are clear and compelling:
• It will enable communities and regions to
envision, plan, and manage their natural and
built environments so that materials and energy
are conserved and the quality of air and water is
protected while economic and social needs are met.
• It will enable industry and consumers to benefit from
advances in scientific understanding and technology
so that resources are conserved and the environment
and public health are protected while economic and
social objectives are met.
• It will give EPA and the nation more options to
protect human health and the environment for future
generations, informed by an improved understanding
of systems in the natural and built environments.
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For more information on
theORDSustainability
Research Strategy,
please contact:
Sustainability Program
Office of Research and Development
Mail CodeSlOIR
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W.
Washington, D.C 20460
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Environmental Protection
Agency
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