SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH STRATEGY
   U.S. ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
   OFFICE OF RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
         DRAFT: MAY 4, 2006
       PREPARED FOR REVIEW BY THE
    SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD

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Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006

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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
                                  FOREWORD
The Sustainability Research Strategy (SRS) is a framework to tie together the many ORD
Multi-Year Plans (MYP) that contribute to advancing science in support of Sustainability.
It  highlights the  elements of the  revised Pollution  Prevention  MYP, now entitled
"Science and Technology for Sustainability," that will  better focus pollution prevention
and innovative technology on Sustainability.

This  SRS  supports  new  EPA  efforts  to  advance  environmental  stewardship  and
collaborative problem solving as means to achieve measurable, sustainable outcomes.
Preparation of this Strategy is timely, for it coincides with the development of EPA's
2006-2011 Strategic Plan.

In presenting this draft of the Strategy 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).
       Gary Foley          Sally Gutierrez       Alan D. Hecht
       Director, NCER      Director, NRMRL    Director, Sustainable Development

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                  Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
                            TABLE OF CONTENTS

                    Executive Summary	6
Chapter 1            Introduction and Purpose                                11
                    Describes the Strategy's organization and its national benefits
Chapter 2.           Rationale and Problem Definition	16
                    Assesses the impact of selected future stressors and
                    justifies the need for sustainable use of resources
Chapter 3            The Scope of EPA's Sustainability Effort                  22
                    Defines an EPA context for Sustainability
Chapter 4.           The Six Challenges of Environmental Sustainability	25
                    Defines six Sustainability research themes
Chapter 5.           Research Objectives	49
                    Describes how ORD will organize its research activities
Chapter 6            Strategy Implementation                                 61
                    Describes ORD's roadmap for implementing the
                    Sustainability research program
                    Appendix	


                    Acronyms	80


                    End Notes	81

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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
                             EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The mission of EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) is to conduct leading-
edge research and foster the sound use of science and technology to fulfill the Agency's
mission of  protecting human health and  the  environment. ORD research is  often
characterized as a mix of core research that seeks to advance fundamental understanding
and problem-driven or customer-focused research that focuses on specific environmental
problems.  Sustainability research encompasses both core and problem-oriented research:
it  aims both to understand biochemical, physical,  and  chemical  interactions and  to
develop effective models and tools  that enable  decision-makers to achieve sustainable
outcomes.

The Sustainability Research Strategy has many roots. The Strategy reflects the new roles
and responsibilities recognized by Congress in 1998:

       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 (emphasis added). We believe this role for science will
       take  on increasing importance, particularly as we face difficult decisions
       related  to the environment.

Building on this central thesis of supporting effective decisions and recognizing the
emerging  importance  of achieving  sustainable outcomes,  ORD  management has
identified  two objectives for  this  Research Strategy:  (1) developing a cross-cutting
Sustainability research plan to tie together the many ORD Multi-Year Plans (MYP) that
are component parts of Sustainability; and (2) developing a revised MYP for  Pollution
Prevention (P2), entitled "Science and Technology for Sustainability," that will identify
new  annual  and long-term goals to better  focus pollution prevention and innovative
technology on  Sustainability, with associated annual performance outcome measures.

The SRS identifies Sustainability research in six areas:

       •  Renewable Resource Systems

       •  Non-Renewable Resource Systems

       •  Long-Term Chemical and Biological Impacts

       •  Human-Built Systems and Land Use

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                  Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
       •   Economics and Human Behavior

       •   Information and Decision-Making.

The development of this Strategy supports EPA's recent initiative to advance stewardship
at all  levels  of society.  In  Everyday  Choices:  Opportunities  for Environmental
Stewardship,  a report prepared at the request of the  EPA Administrator, senior EPA
managers identified proposed sustainable outcomes in the six natural resource systems in
the table below. To further support this EPA-wide goal of promoting stewardship, ORD
Assistant Administrator and EPA Science Advisor George Gray has made the goal of
"identifying research to  inform stewardship solutions" one of his priority objectives.
Several existing ORD  programs-Economics and Decision Sciences (EDS),  Climate
Change Science Program (CCSP) and the Global  Earth Observing Systems of Systems
(GEOSS)—support the stewardship objectives. The new Sustainability Research Strategy
builds on these existing programs.
  Sustainability Outcome Measures Proposed by EPA Innovation Action Council
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 environmental preferable
materials.
Support ecologically sensitive land management and development.
Protect and restore ecosystem functions, goods and services.
Input to the design of this Strategy has been derived from both internal and external
activities:
       •   Consultation with Regional and Program Offices on the types of research that
          are of greatest benefit to their programs,

       •   Recommendations of the EPA Innovation Action Council on stewardship and
          achieving sustainable outcomes,

       •   NCER and  NRMRL reviews of the state of Sustainability science and
          identification of the best opportunities for advancing research at EPA,

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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
       •  Recommendations of the EPA  Science Advisory Board and the Board of
          Scientific Counselors,

       •  Review of the research literature on sustainability and determination of key
          research areas and questions,

       •  Consultations with other Federal agencies to assess how ORD and EPA can
          make the best contribution relative to other research institutions working in
          the area;

       •  Consultation with outside experts, including EPA-sponsored workshops, and

       •  Review and  consultation with other national governments and the European
          Commission.

The  Strategy  identifies how ORD will organize  itself to identify research to inform
stewardship solutions in several ways:

       •  Improve  Systems Understanding. Better understand the interconnections,
          resilience, and vulnerabilities over time of natural systems, industrial systems,
          the built environment, and human society.

       •  Develop Decision-Support Tools:  Design and  develop  scientific tools  and
          models to assist decision-makers.

       •  Advance  Technologies: Identify  and  develop  inherently benign and  less
          resource-intensive  materials,  energy  sources,  processes,  products,   and
          systems, particularly for emerging technologies.

       •  Promote  Collaborative  Decision-Making:  Develop  an understanding of
          motivations  for decision-making  and develop  approaches  to  collaborative
          problem solving.

       •  Develop Metrics  and Indicators: Develop instruments to measure and track
          progress toward sustainability goals, send early warning of potential problems
          to decision-makers, and highlight opportunities for improvement.

In organizing this  new research  focus,  ORD  begins with  a solid  foundation for
sustainability  research.  Existing research  plans  all contain elements of programs  and
activities that could address the research questions defined in the Strategy. A key goal of
the Strategy is to provide guidance for the future direction of these research programs so
that they can be more  supportive of a sustainability  approach. Achieving this goal  will
require criteria for setting priorities and achieving a delicate balance between traditional
risk-based  approaches and  sustainability  approaches, as well  as  between immediate
Program Office research needs and complex longer-term issues.

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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
The  ORD  management roadmap  to  implement this Sustainability Research Strategy
includes several steps:

       •   Transitioning the current pollution prevention and new technologies research
          program (including both research and new applied programs) into a Science
          and  Technology for Sustainability Research Program.  ORD  has  begun
          preparing a new multi-year plan with clearly defined objectives, budgets, and
          outcome measures.

       •   Coordinating with other multi-year plans.  ORD will review how the goals of
          Sustainability can be met through existing MYPs  and national strategies as
          well as how these MYPs can evolve to align more directly with Sustainability
          goals and objectives.

       •   Collaborating and partnering with EPA Program and Regional Offices as well
          as other  government organizations, communities, nonprofit  organizations,
          universities, and businesses. ORD will  work  with Program  and Regional
          Offices to support implementation of their respective Sustainability strategies
          and will coordinate research with other Federal agencies.

       •   Identifying and pursuing future research  opportunities. ORD will work with
          Program  and  Regional  Offices,  other  government agencies,  and  the
          international community to organize workshops and research partnerships.

Measuring the success of this Strategy and the companion research plan emphasizes the
application and use of ORD scientific data for decision-making, as outlined in Goal V of
the EPA Draft 2006-2011 Strategic Plan,1.Objective  5.4 of Goal V ("Enhance  Society's
Capacity for Sustainability through Science and Research") mandates the new emphasis
for ORD research: ...

       Conduct leading-edge,  sound scientific research on pollution prevention,
       new technology  development,  socioeconomic, 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.

This success  of this Strategy will  be measured by the degree to which  it meets these
goals:

       •   The research and  educational community will apply ORD  research results,
          products,  and services  to  enhance the scientific  and technology base and
          catalyze innovation of alternative processes, tools, technologies and systems
          for advanced environmental protection.

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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
       •  The regulated community will apply ORD research products and services to
          implement  more  efficient  and  sustainable   practices,   materials  and
          technologies in improved environmental performance.

       •  Decision-  and  policy-makers  will use  ORD   products  and  services  to
          implement improved and  scientifically  sound  management  decisions and
          policies and practices for sustainable resource management.

Finally, the potential long-term national benefits from pursuing the  lines of research
identified in the Sustainability Research Strategy are clear and compelling:

       •  It will enable communities to envision, plan, develop, manage, and restore
          their infrastructure and space so that community health, quality of life, and air
          and water quality are protected and materials and energy are conserved,  while
          economic and social objectives are met.

       •  It will enable industry and consumers to benefit  from advances in scientific
          understanding and technology by supporting the  design and manufacture  of
          materials and products over multiple life cycles so that the environment and
          public health are protected and resources are conserved while economic and
          social objectives are met.

       •  It will give EPA and the nation, informed by an  improved understanding  of
          systems in the natural  and built environment, more options for protecting
          human health and the environment for future generations.
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                  CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION AND PURPOSE
As  noted by EPA Administrator  Steve Johnson, EPA's 35-year history shows steady
progression  of programs and policies from "pollution control to pollution prevention to
sustainability."2 Underlying this evolution in policy and programs is the recognition that
it is safer and more cost-effective to prevent rather than clean up pollution, and that
natural resources are the very capital on which an economy grows. The future health and
well-being of all societies depend on the wise and sustainable use of natural resources.

Decisions affecting how  finite   and renewable  resources  are  used,   how urban
environments are  planned and developed  and how industrial products are produced are
shared by all levels of government, the private sector, and across all elements and levels
of society. Achieving sustainable outcomes is thus a shared responsibility.

The mission of EPA's Office of Research and Development (ORD) is to conduct cutting-
edge research and foster the use of sound  science and technology to fulfill the Agency's
mission  to  protect  human  health  and  the  environment. ORD research  is  often
characterized as a mix of core research that  seeks to advance fundamental understanding
of key biological, chemical and physical processes that underlie environmental systems
and problem-driven research that focuses on specific environmental  problems  or
customer needs. Sustainability research encompasses both  core and  problem-oriented
research aiming first at understanding biochemical,  physical and chemical interactions
through a systems approach and second at developing effective models,  tools, and metrics
that enable decision-makers to achieve sustainable outcomes.3

The philosophy underlying the Sustainability Research Strategy has  many roots. The
Strategy recognizes new Federal roles and responsibilities identified by Congress in 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,  particularly as we face  difficult decisions  related to  the
       environment.4

These functions have been incorporated into  many existing ORD strategies and programs.
In 2005 ORD's Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC) in reviewing both the Ecological
Research Program and  Global Change Research has emphasized need for activities that
lead to "wise decision-making" and that are "demand-driven and participatory." 5
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Building on this central thesis of supporting effective decisions and  recognizing the
emerging importance of achieving sustainable outcomes, ORD management identified
two objectives for this Research Strategy: (1) to develop a cross-cutting sustainability
research plan that will tie together the many ORD Multi-Year Plans  (MYP) that are
component parts of sustainability;  and (2)  to develop a  revised MYP for  Pollution
Prevention  (P2), entitled  "Science and Technology for Sustainability," that will identify
new annual and  long-term goals to better focus pollution prevention and innovative
technology on sustainability, with associated annual performance outcome measures.

The development of this Strategy supports the stewardship and sustainable goals defined
in a recent report prepared by EPA senior managers at the request of the EPA
Administrator. As discussed in the next chapter, this report for the first time identifies a
set of sustainable outcomes for key areas of EPA's mission responsibility. ORD faces the
challenges of how best to organize a program to identify research that can inform
stewardship solutions at multiple scales.

The SRS identifies sustainability research themes in six areas:

       •  Renewable Resource Systems

       •  Non-Renewable Resource Systems

       •  Long-Term Chemical and Biological Impacts

       •  Human-Built Systems and Land Use

       •  Economics and Human Behavior

       •  Information and Decision-Making.

The Strategy describes a  potential future integration among existing ORD research areas
and outlines a process for setting priorities among National Program Directors and within
ORD  research strategies. It stresses an integrated approach to  research and application
that will address potential future environmental problems.

Input to the Strategy was  derived from a number of internal and external activities:

       •  Consultation with Regional and Program Offices on the type of research that
          is of greatest benefit to their programs,

       •  Recommendations of the EPA Innovation Action Council on  stewardship and
          achieving sustainable outcomes,

       •  NCER and NRMRL  review of  the state  of sustainability  science  and
          identification of the best opportunities for advancing research at EPA,
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
       •  Past recommendations of the EPA Science Advisory Board (SAB) and Board
          of Scientific Counselors (BOSC).

       •  Review  of the  sustainability research literature  and determination of key
          research areas and questions,

       •  Consultations with other Federal agencies and assessment of where ORD and
          EPA can make the best contribution relative to other  research institutions
          doing work in the area,

       •  Consultation with outside experts, including EPA-sponsored workshops, and

       •  Review  and consultation  with other national  governments,  the  European
          Commission, and multilateral organizations.

A new Science  and Technology for Sustainability (STS) Multi-Year Plan accompanies
the SRS  as a proposed replacement to the existing  Pollution Prevention  and New
Technology (P2NT) research program. As described in  the STS research plan, this new
program builds on a strong foundation and successes of the P2NT effort.

Criteria for measuring the success of this Strategy and  the companion ORD MYPs  are
outlined in Goal V of the Draft 2006-11 EPA Strategic Plan. (See box: "Goal V ...")
                 Goal V of the Draft 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, socioeconomic, 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, socioeconomic,
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 program in
Goal 5, as well as EPA partners and stakeholders.
This Strategy recognizes that achieving sustainable  outcomes is fundamentally about
making wise decision-making. The success of this Strategy can be measured by degree to
which:

       •   The research and educational community will apply ORD research, products,
          and services  to  enhance the scientific and  technology base and catalyze
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
          innovation of  alternative  processes,  tools, technologies and  systems for
          advanced environmental protection.

       •  The regulated community will apply ORD research products and services to
          implement  more  efficient   and  sustainable   practices,  materials   and
          technologies in improved environmental performance.

       •  Decision and policy-makers will use ORD products and services to implement
          improved and  scientifically sound management decisions and  policies and
          practices for sustainable resource management.

This SRS document begins by forecasting the needs of future generations  for clean air
and water, energy, materials and land use, and then considers those future needs in light
of population increases and current  trends in consumption of natural resources and
degradation  of natural systems (Chapter 2.) A discussion of the likely impact of future
trends  on these six systems argues  cogently that  a  systems approach offers  the  best
strategy for  understanding environmental impacts and  for designing cost-effective and
sustainable policy responses. This proposed research complements the  traditional  EPA
risk  assessment/risk management (RA/RM) paradigm  by extending those concepts to
minimizing risks for future generations.

Chapter 3 proposes a framework of Sustainability for EPA and identifies six integrating
research themes.  Chapter  4  reviews  these research themes and relates them to EPA's
proposed  Sustainability  outcome goals. Chapter 5  discusses the approaches needed to
address the research questions. One of the most important  items to be utilized will be the
development of  metrics  or  indicators  that  can  be used to track progress  towards
sustainable outcomes. This important work will complement EPA's Draft Report on the
Environment6 Developing a set of appropriate metrics to gauge our society's  progress
towards Sustainability is an important and necessary research challenge. This chapter also
presents a discussion of other scientific approaches and the importance  of collaborative
efforts that will be used to  address the research questions.

The roadmap for implementing this SRS is presented in Chapter 6. This chapter describes
how the research programs within EPA need to evolve in  order to meet the future needs
of environmental protection and to achieve sustainable environmental protection.

What are the long-term national benefits of pursuing  this line of research? Successful
implementation  of this Strategy  will allow  decision-makers  inside  and outside of
government  to advance these goals:

       •  Improve understanding of earth systems to better protect human health, better
          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
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         Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
community  health,  quality  of life,  and  air, water, and land  quality are
protected for the future;

Design,  manufacture, and manage  chemicals  and  materials  so that the
environment and public health are protected and  resources  are conserved
while advancing global competitiveness and societal  objectives; and

Determine whether these  objectives  are being  efficiently and effectively
achieved by measuring and monitoring the identified indicators.
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                    Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
              CHAPTER 2. RATIONALE AND PROBLEM DEFINITION
Economic  growth is essential for maintaining  social well-being.  How this growth is
achieved determines a society's quality of life. Figures 2.1 and 2.2 show both projected
world population and economic growth expanding rapidly  during  the coming decades.
Global population is expected to increase by over 50 percent by 2050.
                      Figure 2.1 World Population Projections
        • North America
        D Oceania
        Q Europe
        • Latin America
        DChina & India
        • Other Asia
        D Africa
      2000    2005    2010     2015    2020    2025    2030     2035    2040    2045    2050
                                From "World Population Prospects", United Nations secretariat, http://esa.un.org/unpp
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
                      Figure 2.2. World Relative GDP Growth
 o
 o
 o
 CM
    2.5 -
 0-
 a
 o
 01

 Is
 3
 3
 o
1.5 -
    0.5 -
     2000
       -Africa
       -Other Asia
       China & India
       -Latin America
       Europe
       -Oceania
       -North America
                 2005         2010         2015         2020          2025         2030

                 From "World Energy Outlook 2002", International Energy Agency, http://www.worldenergyoutlook.org
When EPA was founded in 1970, the U.S. population was just over 203 million; in 2006
it is 281  million, reflecting  a 35-year increase approaching 40  percent. This growth
however has not been distributed evenly. According to the U.S.  Census, about one-third
or 91.5 million of the 281 million people in the U.S. reside in the  17 Western  states,
which  include seven  of the nation's  10  fastest  growing  states.  Through 2030  the
population of the Southwest is also projected to increase as a proportion of the U.S.
population.  The  population  increase has  greatly  affected the allocation and use of
resources as approximately one acre of land currently 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, increased
energy demand, and diminishing water resources.7 The U.S. population is  also  aging,
thereby creating  new  needs for health and  human services. These changes impel  a
heightened awareness  of potential future problems, especially demand for water  and
energy in much of the nation.

The global challenge of growth is also becoming apparent. Over the next 30 years, while
the U.S.  GDP is expected to double, the GDP  in China  and  India  is projected to
quadruple. Economic growth in the  "BRIC" countries (Brazil, Russia, India  and China)
will without doubt significantly impact future global and trans-boundary environmental
issues.8 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
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
of the global ecosystem will be undermined. The challenge is to prevent or minimize the
potential negative consequences.

This challenge requires that achieving sustainable environmental outcomes become a
long-term  national  environmental  goal.  In  Everyday  Choices:  Opportunities for
Environmental Stewardship, senior EPA managers identified sustainable outcomes in six
resources areas relevant to the Agency's mission; this report is the first explicit statement
of EPA senior leadership focused on recommendations for sustainability  outcomes that
the nation should seek. The initial proposed sustainability outcomes provide an important
starting point for EPA discussion  of exactly what  can and  should be  measurable
sustainable outcomes. For example, the goal related to ecosystems refers to "functions,
goods and services," but not necessarily to ecosystem protection in general. While much
more discussion and debate will be needed to refine these goals, the Everyday Choices
report's linkage of  stewardship  with sustainable outcomes is  important in setting a
direction for future policy development and research.
               Table 2.1. Proposed Sustainable Outcome Measures
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.
Source Everyday Choices: Opportunities for Environmental Stewardship, Innovation Action Council Report
to the Administrator, November 2005. www.epa.gov/innovation

Achieving these outcomes will also be greatly affected by the trends presented in Table
2.2. For example, the stressors of growing population and GDP will significantly impact
these six resource areas.  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 the production of more waste, leading
to more  pollution of air, water,  and land, with associated negative consequences  for
human health and ecosystems. Economic growth has usually required greater quantities
of energy, materials, and water from expanded agriculture and industry, leading to more
waste, toxics, and air pollution of air and water. The land and thus ecosystems change as
materials are extracted, goods produced, infrastructure built, and wastes disposed of.
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EP'A's Draft Report on the Environment, released in 2003, outlined past U.S. successes in
environmental protection and identified many of the remaining challenges and data gaps.
Table  2.2 lists a few examples  of trends identified in this  report for each  of the six
resource areas, revealing a few of the many potential stresses to the resource areas from
expected  U.S. population  and economic growth. Other  future  potential impacts of
stressors on the  environment  have been assembled through a survey  of EPA senior
Program Officers and from external future studies.
      Table 2.2. Potential Consequences of Growing U.S. Population and GDP
  Resource
     Current Trends1
 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%. CO2
emissions will grow by 28%.2
  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.3
                            Between 23 and 33 million additional housing
                            units will be needed.3
  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 an
                            biota.4
                            Reduced water availability is projected to
                            impede electric power plant growth.5
  Materials
                 Per-capita MSW over the last
                 decade has leveled at 4.5
                 Ibs/person/day.
                 Waste systems are managing
                 growing quantities of toxic
                 chemicals.
                            Under business as usual scenario, a 24%
                            projected increase in population will result in a
                            comparable increase in total waste
                            generation.3
  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.6
  Ecosystems
Coastal wetland area has
decreased by 8% since the
1950s.
One third of native species
are at risk.
Worldwide, flux of nitrogen to coastal
ecosystems will increase by 10-20%; species
extinction rates are projected to be ten times
higher than current rate.7
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1 Extracted from the 2003 Draft Report on the Environment Technical Document. 2 Department of Energy
Annual Energy Outlook, 2004.3 Extrapolated from trends.4 Department of the Interior, Water 2025.5 Electric
Power Research Institute, 2001.
Ecosystem Assessment, 2005.
Climate Change Science Program, 2003.  United Nations, Millennium
Even as population and GDP impact a particular resource area, that area in turn interacts
with other areas. For example, since 1971  each 1% increase in worldwide GDP has
resulted in a  0.64% increase  in  use of energy usage. 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 increased energy use  increases both demand for and pollution of water. The
extraction of  fossil  fuels from the  earth  requires  more use of materials, changes the
surrounding  land,  and  produces more  wastes (i.e. unwanted "materials"). Finally,
increased energy use impacts ecosystems through, for example, silt  run-off from energy
extraction activities and diminished 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.
                    Table 2.3. Linkages among Resource Areas
Resources
under Stress

Energy
(increased
use)
Air
(increased
pollutants)
Water
(increased
pollutants)
Material
(increased
use)

Land
(increased
development)
Ecosystems
(decreased
availability)
Potential Response to the Stressed Resource Area

Energy



Increased
energy for
clean-up
Increased
energy for
clean-up
Increased
demand
(processing
energy)
Increased
demand

Increased
energy for
restoration
Air
Increased
pollutants




Transfer of
pollutants
from water
Increased
pollutants


Increased
pollutants

Reduced
natural
processing
capacity
Water
Increased
demand

Pollutant
deposition
from air



Increased
demand,
Increased
pollutants
Increased
pollutants,
Run-off
Reduced
natural
processing
capacity
Materials
Increased
extraction

Increased
demand,
Degradation
Increased
demand,
Degradation




Reduction
of resources

Reduced
renewable
resources
Land
Extraction
impacts

Waste
disposal

Waste
disposal

Extraction
impacts,
Waste
disposal



Erosion


Ecosystems
Extraction
impacts

Increased
negative
Impacts
Increased
negative
impacts
Increased
negative
impacts

Reduction of
resource




                                         20

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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
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.

Ensuring continued improvement in environmental  quality and in protection of human
health under these increasing stresses requires a changed approach. In the early years of
environmental protection, end-of-pipe control strategies targeted pollutant emissions. As
these strategies matured, new  problems were recognized  and met by new approaches,
such as waste minimization and pollution prevention, which have in effect pushed the
"control"  upstream.  As  additional  environmental  stressors became  recognized,  the
evaluation and choice among mitigation options required an understanding of the context
of the problem and thus life cycle assessments were undertaken. As we have learned that
environmental problems are rarely contained within a single resource area or within a
single product's lifecycle, but rather extend across areas and timeframes, it has become
clear that a more integrated approach to environmental protection is called for.

Issues of environmental protection have become more complex as we have moved from
the  earlier point-source pollution control associated with  particular industries to larger
problems of regional emissions, such as those associated  with agricultural operations and
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  an evolution in how
environmental protection approaches Sustainability.

Is the problem of Sustainability urgent? Does it address 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
of the linkages among the six  resource areas defined above, and aimed at developing
effective means to disseminate and apply the research results.
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
        CHAPTER 3. THE SCOPE OF EPA's SUSTAINABILITY EFFORT
This chapter proposes  a  framing  of Sustainability for EPA and summarizes from the
literature a set of broad research themes.

Since the World Commission on Environment and Development issued its 1987 report,
Our Common Future, the term "sustainability" has managed to become both a rallying
point and a source of controversy.9 This  document, better known as the Brundtland
Report, specified that development is considered sustainable when it "meets the needs of
the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs." By  the time of the 1992  United Nations  Conference on  Environment  and
Development (the "Rio Earth Summit"), there was a growing consensus that the concept
of  sustainability  encompasses  interrelated ideas drawn  from  economic, social  and
environmental realms.  These areas  are commonly referred to  as the "three  pillars of
sustainability."

The concept of sustainability acknowledges humanity's material needs while recognizing
that earth's natural systems are increasingly stressed  to meet those needs. Sustainability
thus fundamentally involves creating options and making decisions that will support both
today's  society   and future generations  with  increased  prosperity.  The path  to
sustainability necessarily  involves  the adoption of a long-term, system-wide view of the
environment. For EPA, the  question becomes: "How can  EPA best use its scientific,
technical and policy resources to  support options and decisions that are economically
sound, benefit society, and strengthen rather than stress natural  systems?"

The concept of sustainability is by no means new  to U.S. policy and the EPA. The
National  Environmental Protection Act—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." Beginning before the 1992
Rio Earth Summit, EPA Program Offices and external advisory boards  issued a series of
reports encouraging Agency  managers to move toward a longer-term focus and  a more
integrated approach to  environmental management.  10 EPA's Science Advisory  Board
(SAB) has also been consistent in making recommendations  that are reflected in three
principle themes of this Strategy:  science for decision-making, integration of programs,
and long-term view. A  review of SAB repots  relevant to  the Strategy  is given in
Appendix 1.

Together, these reports begin to specify the basic elements  of a Sustainability Research
Strategy that will enhance the Agency's efforts to achieve future environmental outcomes
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
while growing the economy and improving quality of life. These enhancements can come
about in five principle ways:

       •   Promoting a longer-term view of environmental and human health protection:
          Environmental and human health protection will be strengthened by a clearer
          vision of the future, including potential environmental problems and human
          health risks, potential solutions, and effective roles for EPA and its partners.

       •   Measuring outcomes: Tracking results will inform improvement over time
          and ensure that financial resources are being expended effectively.

       •   Integrating environmental  and  human health  protection  with natural
          resources  issues: A more holistic  view of natural  resource management
          recognizes  the   important   links  between  resource  use,   environmental
          protection, and human exposure.

       •   Collaborative  problem   solving:   Collaborative  problem  solving  and
          cooperative conservation are central to promoting better solutions to problems
          at the interface between the environment and society.

       •   Stimulating innovation:  The goal  of sustainable development can  be a
          stimulus for science and technology innovation.

Successful Sustainability research will ultimately inform environmental and human health
protection. From a  programmatic perspective, EPA's most important contribution may be
to provide resources  to help make  Sustainability operational at  all levels of decision-
making (individual, local, industrial, state, national, etc.) This approach is consistent with
the Everyday Choices report and with C.S. Rollings'  definition:

       [S]ustainability is  the  capacity  to  create, test, and  maintain  adaptive
       capability.  Development  is the  process  of  creating,  testing,  and
       maintaining opportunity. The phase that combines the two, "sustainable
       development," thus refers to the goal of fostering adaptive  capabilities and
       creating opportunities.

Making Sustainability operational is also  consistent with the research recommendations of
the Board of Scientific Counselors (BOSC). In its review of the Global Change Research
Program  (GCRP), the Board emphasized that the contribution of the program "now and
for the future should be on decision  support—improving the ability of those who control
actions to make wiser choices in the face of global  change through provision of useful
research and others activities ..." u

This objective of Sustainability is also coherent with  EPA's goal of accelerating progress
on environmental and human health  protection, while enhancing economic opportunity.12
In its role as a regulatory agency, EPA focuses on  meeting today's environmental and
human health needs in the most scientifically sound and cost-effective manner possible.
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006


Effective regulatory decisions must be based on actions that integrate decisions across
social, economic, and environmental dimensions.  Sustainability  research contributes to
regulatory development by  adding to the  scientific understanding of the interaction
among environmental stressors, human exposure,  and the six  media areas  identified in
Chapter 2.

The concept of environmental Sustainability builds upon the foundation of environmental
and human health protection that EPA has advanced since its inception. The Agency's
traditional mission of protecting the environment  and human  health appropriately  calls
for meeting its  legislative mandates  through programs  that regulate  the sources  of
particular environmental  problems.   Expanding  the   discussion  to   environmental
Sustainability not only enhances ongoing protection efforts, but adds a new dimension to
the Agency's  approach. It demands that we consider new challenges  and innovative
solutions, rethinking  current and  anticipated problems  in their  relationship  to the
changing human and environmental systems

So, how should EPA approach environmental Sustainability? How should EPA organize
research on environmental  Sustainability  and address  the  goals of  achieving the
sustainable outcomes identified in  the Everyday Choices report?  From an extensive
review  of relevant  literature  and  experience,  six  broad themes of  environmental
Sustainability research emerge:

       •  Renewable Resource Systems

       •  Non-Renewable Resource Systems

       •  Long-Term Chemical and Biological Impacts

       •  Human-Built Systems and Land Use

       •  Economics and Human Behavior

       •  Information and Decision-Making.

These  six research themes relate to, and impact directly on,  EPA's  ability to achieve
sustainable environmental  outcomes related  to the media or resource areas  identified in
Chapter 2 (energy, air, water, materials, land, and ecosystems). For example, achieving
sustainable clean air  will depend  upon research that enhances our understanding in
several of these six themes, such as more efficient use of non-renewable resources (e.g.,
clean technology for coal extraction and use),  adoption  of renewable  resources (e.g.,
biotechnology), and improved understanding of economics and human behavior (e.g.,
market  incentives  and consumer preferences).  Thus the study of a given media  or
resource area must involve several areas of research. A more general discussion of the six
research themes is presented in the following chapter.
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
                       CHAPTER 4. RESEARCH THEMES
This chapter describes the six research themes that are foundations for achieving the
Sustainability outcomes identified in Chapter 2. The first four themes concern the earth as
a natural  system; the last  two concern human motivation and behavior. The chapter
demonstrates  how  the  Sustainability  Research  Strategy  (SRS)  can  contribute  to
addressing each of these research  themes. For  each theme, the link  to  Sustainability
outcomes is described, a broad problem statement is given, and existing and proposed
ORD research questions are identified.

The six research themes will be implemented in two  ways: (1) research identified in the
Science and  Technology for Sustainability (STS) MYP; and (2)  research carried out
through coordination of existing research programs. ORD can address only a small part
of the  overall research  required to advance  Sustainability, but it can partner  with the
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. ORD Assistant Administrator George Gray has set a clear
long-term focus for ORD: to identify research to  inform stewardship solutions that can
be implemented from the individual to the national scale.
1. Natural Resource Protection (Air, Water, Ecosystems)

Link to Sustainability Outcomes
The protection of renewable natural resource systems poses challenges and opportunities
for Sustainability. This applies to both types of the biosphere's natural resource systems
that provide products and services to industrial  and societal systems. Renewable resource
stocks (e.g., fisheries, forests)  are replenished  over  time  provided that the rate  of
exploitation does not exhaust the existing  stock.  Non-renewable  environmental media,
including air, water, and  land, are finite and cannot ordinarily be depleted,  but their
quality is subject to degradation. For example, land area may be left unexploited, used for
agriculture, degraded through soil erosion, or rendered sterile by commercial or industrial
use.13

Natural resource systems influence each of the six Sustainability  outcomes (Chapter 2,
table 2.1) While natural resources are linked most  strongly to ecosystem services, habitat
protection, water availability and use, and natural  land management, they are also linked
to the provision of renewable materials and the generation of alternative forms of energy,
including bio-based fuels and wind power (see the following section on non-renewable
resources).
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006


General Problem Statement and Needs
Chapter 2 discussed the stress from development and population growth affecting natural
resources as changes in land use and in the extent and distribution of ecological systems
impact  ecological  processes  within and  among  geographic  areas.  For  example,
urbanization  is undermining the  ecological integrity of ecosystems by bringing about
declines in biological diversity, degradation of water quality, and loss of other ecological
services. Dispersion of pollutants  and fragmentation of natural  landscapes resulting from
population growth and economic  development are similarly threatening ecosystems and
ecosystem services.

Increased demands on  aging economic infrastructure, population shifts, and agricultural
practices, and possibly  changing  climate regimes, are affecting  U.S. water quality and
availability. The U.S. Geological Service (USGS) has recently  concluded for the western
states that: "The challenge today is to sustain water availability perpetually, not only for
human use, but to sustain  ecosystems and critical habitats for flora and fauna."14 ORD
and  EPA's  Office  of Water have initiated  new  efforts  to  address aging  water
infrastructure. Research to define future strategies for sustainable water use needs to be
developed.

Natural resource systems  provide the ecosystem services that sustain and protect  life,
provide animal habitat, and afford aesthetic beauty and recreational opportunities.  The
quality  and value of these services directly depend on how society manages its natural
and  manmade systems, but according  to  the  limited  available data, the  biosphere's
carrying capacity is under decline. The United Nations-sponsored Millennium Ecosystem
Assessment., drawing on data gathered between 2001 and 2005 by  more than 2000 authors
and reviewers worldwide,  focused on the linkages between ecosystems and human well-
being and in particular on ecosystem services:

       [There is] established but incomplete evidence that changes being made in
       ecosystems are increasing the likelihood of nonlinear changes in
       ecosystems (including accelerating, abrupt and potentially  irreversible
       changes) that have  important consequences for human well-being.
       Examples of such changes include disease emergence, abrupt alteration in
       water quality, the creation of dead zones in coastal waters, the collapse of
       fisheries, and shifts in regional climates.

        ... approximately 60% of the ecosystem services examined are being
       degraded or used unsustainably, including fresh water, captured fisheries,
       air and water purification, and the regulation of regional and local climate,
       natural hazards and pests.15

Human  activities  that  aim   to  control  natural  systems  often  yield  unintended
consequences. Lessons learned over the years on different approaches and techniques for
managing natural resources systems, at both small and large scales, demonstrate the need
to better  understand natural processes  and more effectively use natural systems for
economic and social wellbeing. The impacts of Hurricane Katrina underscore the need
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
for a systems approach to ecosystem management. Gulf Coast reconstruction has already
been identified as a major  opportunity to restore natural resources and benefit from
natural processes to restore renewable natural resources and add to the level of protection
for the built environment.16

EPA and ORD Work to Build On
Many existing activities of ORD and EPA Program and Regional Offices are focused on
addressing problems that affect natural resource protection. ORD's Environmental
Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP), for example, is advancing science needed
to describe the condition of our nation's ecological resources. Research to better enable
productive stewardship of ecosystems is a new long-term goal within ORD's Ecological
Research Program. This research is based on the premise that individuals and society are
better equipped to practice stewardship when they understand the ecological implications
of their actions, have the ability to envision alternative futures, and have reliable
information to make informed decisions. A key recommendation of the recent BOSC
Review of the Ecosystem Research Program was its call for "quantifying and
demonstrating future scenarios with varying levels of ecosystem services (that) will
provide the scientific foundation needed to make informed decisions."17

ORD efforts to provide scientifically sound indicators in the 2003 Draft Report on the
Environment (RoE) focused on establishing clear trend data across all natural and man-
made systems. The draft RoE for 2007 greatly expands the number of proposed
indicators, covering many aspects of renewable and non-renewal systems. An assessment
in the 2007 draft RoE of the extent of indicators related to renewable resources notes that
a "major limitation of the environmental indicators presented here is that they provide
very little insight into ecological processes across the nation."  Primary production, one of
the most basic processes, is captured to some degree in the Regional Indicator for the
southeast U.S. but is only indirectly reflected in the indicator of carbon storage.
Environmental indicators are lacking for primary production in aquatic systems, nutrient
cycling, secondary production, and reproduction and growth rate of populations. "This is
a key gap in understanding trends in ecological processes." 18

Next Steps for ORD through This Strategy
The Sustainability Research Strategy sharpens the focus on achieving sustainable
management  of renewable resources by aiming at three goals:  (1) defining clear measures
of sustainable renewable systems, (2) improving understanding of ecosystem processes,
and (3) developing and applying advanced systems models to assist decision-makers.

Efforts to achieve the first goal above must be tied to building  consensus within EPA on
definitions and terms. Hence ORD is proposing to lead an EPA-wide effort to define
clear outcome goals and measures. Efforts to achieve the second goal depend on greater
coordination of existing efforts across ORD and Program and Regional Offices. Efforts to
achieve goal three depend on expanded in-house ORD research and on collaboration with
ORD customers and stakeholders.
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
In a step toward developing a definition of sustainable natural systems, EPA sponsored a
2005 workshop bringing together economists and other social scientists with physical
scientists.19 Participants in this workshop debated the definitions of sustainability related
to renewable resources and discussed how sustainability could be achieved. For example,
economist  Herman Daly  argued that the  biosphere or natural  capital sustains the
economy, which in turn supports  quality of life (e.g. health, security, and the "pursuit of
happiness"). He  further explained that  the biosphere  is the  total natural  system of
biogeochemical cycles powered by the sun. The  economy,  on the other hand,  is the
subsystem dominated by transformations of matter and energy to a higher value state to
serve human purposes.

This vision  of  sustaining the biosphere or natural  capital is a common thread in many
definitions  of sustainability. The  problem is that the  current scale and  quality of these
transformations interfere significantly with the biosphere, reducing its capacity to sustain
the economy and potentially limiting the ability of future generations to meet their own
needs.  This raises difficult questions, including the meaning of "sustaining the human
economy."  Should sustaining imply a  given level of throughput of matter and energy,
GDP, utility or welfare, total capital  stock, or natural capital  stock? Or does it mean
sustaining a given rate  of growth of any  one of these indicators? While workshop
participants  generally recognized  the need to sustain the biosphere, humans  historically
have not always done well in this regard—as  attested in Tared Diamond's  compelling
review of ancient and modern societies whose depletion of natural resources  have led to
their own destruction.20

An example of  modeling work aimed at the second and third goals defined above—
improving the understanding of ecosystem processes and developing and applying
advanced systems models to assist decision-makers—is under development at  ORD's
Corvallis Laboratory. This strongly customer-driven.research is seeking to develop a
method for determining the implications of alternative future scenarios, including
environmental effects such as changes in urbanization, agriculture, forestry, and physical
regimes. In Washington, Oregon and Idaho, local communities, state officials, and the
office of EPA Region 10 have identified sustainability as a key long-term objective. The
current population of 15 million in this region is expected to rise to 35 million by 2050
and to 65 million by 2100, bringing increases in the stressors on regional water supplies
and ecosystems.21 Many stakeholders in this region  are seeking the best scientific
guidance to help plan future development. This is a  clear case in which an ORD support
tool can help decision-makers achieve sustainable development.

Specific Research Questions to Address:
The UN's Millennium Ecosystem  Assessment and other reports on the health of natural
systems22, as well as previous BOSC and SAB recommendations, suggest the need for
research supporting a better understanding of several topics related to natural resource
protection:

       •  Specific sustainability outcome goals and measures for natural resource
          systems,23
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
       •  Interactions between natural resource systems that may lead to unrecognized
          side effects of management initiatives (e.g., loss of soil resilience due to
          biomass over-harvesting),

       •  Improved understanding and quantification of natural carrying capacity under
          various environmental conditions and human activity patterns,

       •  Dynamic modeling of linkages among anthropogenic and natural resource
          systems in terms of material and energy flows,
       •  Trends that have been affecting and are likely to continue to affect the
          ecological processes that sustain ecosystems,

       •  Future regional scenarios and integrated (land, water ecosystem) models to
          assess impact on ecosystems and ecosystem services,

       •  Long-term chemical  and biological interactions and cycles between air, land,
          and water resources and their impact on biodiversity,

       •  The resilience and adaptability of ecosystems to change,

       •  Early warning signs of critical system overloads beyond natural variability,
          and

       •  Demonstration and quantification of the value of ecosystem services.

Longer-term and shared questions
In addition and in the longer term, ORD can work with Program and Regional Offices
and other agencies to address  a broader set of questions:

       •  What is the optimal rate and spatial scale of resource extraction and ecosystem
          service utilization to ensure a natural  system's capacity for renewal?
          Conversely, what rates of resource extraction and service utilization are likely
          to undermine a natural system's regenerative capability? What conditions
          underlie the resilience of a natural system to different stressors?

       •  What management strategies can enhance a natural system's capacity for
          renewal? How can a  growing economy and a growing population coexist with
          a natural system's  capacity for renewal? What management strategies can
          restore a degraded natural system's regenerative capabilities?

       •  How does the use of a renewable natural resource good or service impact a
          surrounding ecosystem? What policies, laws, and economic incentives can
          help to keep the use of such natural resource goods and services within
          optimal rates while maintaining or enhancing the surrounding environment?
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                    Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
   Renewable Natural Resource Systems: Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
The United Nations-sponsored Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (MEA), which was carried
out between 2001 and 2005, represents the scientific assessments of more than 2000 authors
and reviewers  worldwide. The  Assessment  assessed  the  consequences  of  ecosystem
changes for human well-being and established a scientific basis for actions needed to enhance
the conservation and sustainable use of ecosystems. The MEA focused on the linkages (see
figure  below) between ecosystems  and human  well-being and  in particular  on  ecosystem
services.  Experts engaged in this  assessment concluded that  "approximately 60% of the
ecosystem  services examined  are  being degraded or used  unsustainably,  including fresh
water, captured fisheries,  air  and water purification, and the regulation of regional and local
climate, natural hazards and pests. Experts also noted that there is "established  but incomplete
evidence  that changes being  made  in ecosystems  are increasing the likelihood of non-linear
changes  in ecosystems (including accelerating, abrupt and  potentially irreversible changes)
that have important consequences for human well-being.  Examples of such changes  include
disease emergence, abrupt alteration in water quality, the creation of dead zones in  coastal
waters, the collapse of fisheries and shifts in regional climates." MEA conclusions reinforce the
focus  adopted  in  this  ORD  strategy  (Chapter  5)  on  systems research  and  improving
understanding of the resilience of ecosystems.
                  Figure 4.1. Ecosystems Services and Weil-Being
         ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

                      Provisioning
                       FOOD
                       FRESH WATER
                       WOOD AND FIBER
                       FUEL
    Supporting
     NUTRIENT CYCLING
     SOIL FORMATION
     PRIMARY PRODUCTION
   Regulating
    CLIMATE REGULATION
    FLOOD REGULATION
    DISEASE REGULATION
    WATER PURIFICATION
                      Cultural
                       AESTHETIC
                       SPIRITUAL
                       EDUCATIONAL
                       RECREATIONAL
        LIFE ON EARTH - BIODIVERSITY
                                   CONSTITUENTS OFWELL-BEING


                                 Security
                                  PERSONAL SAFETY
                                  SECURE RESOURCE ACCESS
                                  SECURITY FROM DISASTERS
Basic material
for good life
 ADEQUATE LIVELIHOODS
 SUFFICIENT NUTRITIOUS FOOD
 SHELTER
 ACCESS TO GOODS


Health
 STRENGTH
 FEELING WELL
 ACCESS TO CLEAN AJ R
 AND WATER
  Freedom
  of choice
  and action

OPPORTUNITY TO BE
 ABLE TO ACHIEVE
WHAT AN INDIVIDUAL
  VALUES DOING
   AND BEING
                                                    Good social relations
                                                     SOCIAL COHESION
                                                     MUTUAL RESPECT
                                                     ABILITY TO HELP OTHERS
                                                                 Scu rce: Mllennium Ecosystem Assessmenl
       COLOR
Potential for mediation by
socioeconomic factors

      Lew

^^B  Medium
       WIDTH
Intensity of linkages between ecosystem
services and human well-being

.	  Weak
      Medium

      &1rong
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
2. Non-renewable Resource Conservation (Energy and Materials)

Link to Sustainability Outcomes
Non-renewable resource stocks (e.g., petroleum) are finite; once they are exhausted they
cannot be replenished rapidly, and need to be replaced by other forms of natural capital.
This creates a tension between use of non-renewable resources  and harvesting of the
renewable resources discussed in the previous section.

Non-renewable  natural resource  conservation  relates  most  strongly  to energy  and
materials outcomes; however,  during the life cycles of energy and material use there are
impacts upon human  health  and other Sustainability outcomes.  Each phase  of non-
renewable energy production (exploration, extraction, refining, transporting, and storing)
and consumption affects the quality of air, the quality and availability of water, global
climate, short- and long-term use of land, resiliency of ecosystems, and future availability
of non-renewable energy  and materials. Similarly, the product life cycles for  non-
renewable material extraction  and waste disposal relate to land. Other stages of material
lifecycles (material and product manufacturing, use, and recycling or disposal) affect air,
water, land, and ecosystem Sustainability. Issues related to green  chemistry and toxicity
and health impacts are discussed in the next section on Chemical and Biological Impacts.

General Problem Statement and Needs
There are a number of Sustainability challenges associated with the use of non-renewable
resources. First,  society could entirely  deplete the supply of resources that are currently
scarce; or the cost and/or environmental impact of extracting the relatively inaccessible
resources could become prohibitive. Second, overall lifecycle emissions into the air,
water, and land of particular resources  and/or their waste byproducts could lead to long-
term environmental stressors. Both of these cases apply to the problem of global warming
caused by emissions from fossil fuel combustion—which has been  called  the "capstone
environmental issue" of our generation. Climate change has implications  for ecosystem
services and human health as it affects economic activity and many important underlying
environmental conditions (e.g., air quality,  adequate water  supplies,  and biodiversity).
Any effort to cope with these implications  must be closely aligned with society's goals
with regard to Sustainability.

Sustainable  use  of non-renewable resources  can be addressed  by applying  new
technologies,  achieving  greater efficiencies in  energy production and  use, more
efficiently safely using materials, reducing waste, recycling non-renewable resources,
substituting renewable resources for non-renewable resources (e.g., biomass to  energy),
or dematerialization.

Numerous policy directives and reports have  recommended research  in these fields. In
Grand Challenges in Environmental Sciences (2001), the National Academy  of Sciences
(NAS) recommended "developing] a quantitative understanding of the global budget of
materials widely used by humanity  and how the life cycles of these materials ...  may be
modified." In Materials Count: The Case for Material Flows Analysis (2004), the NAS
called for research in recommended material  flows that "explores tools and analytical

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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
approaches to studying stocks and flows that vary over space and time, that treats
multiple organizational levels, and that explores the complexities  of cycles linked by
nature, by technology, or by a combination of the two." In a review of industrial ecology,
EPA's Science Advisory Board (SAB) identified the need for research supporting a better
understanding in several vital areas:

       •  The potential for and limitations of dematerialization,

       •  Substitution of scarce or hazardous materials with those that are plentiful and
          benign,

       •  Recycling and reuse, and

       •  Substitution of services for products.24

EPA and ORD Work to Build On
This research supports a greater emphasis on material management and  life cycle
assessment by  EPA's Program  and Regional  Offices. The Resource  Conservation
Challenge (RCC) developed by EPA's Office of Solid Waste  and Emergency Response
(OSWER) embraces the concepts of conserving and recovering waste, thus prolonging
and  expanding  the use  of finite non-renewable  resources.25  RCC has emphasized
preventing and minimizing waste through changes in processes and human behavior, as
well as optimizing waste as a  material resource through recycling, reuse,  and, as a last
resort, waste-to-energy conversion. Research related to the technical  feasibility, cost, and
environmental assessments of such technologies would be critical for these technologies
to take hold.  Improving industrial processes and encouraging green design that moves
away from using non-renewable resources will also be important to achieving sustainable
outcomes.

In its review of the ORD's proposed 2007 budget, the SAB (March 30, 2006) specifically
commented on the RCC  and its links to sustainability: "The Board believes that it is
possible to articulate Sustainability-RCC research, budgets, strategies and plans in a way
that shows their relationships, and their individual focus, e.g., the RCC might provide the
basis for the kinds of research needed as drawn from connections with EPA's partners,
and  the Sustainability Research might focus on using  the best and most appropriate
research tools."

The breadth of energy, material, and biomass issues impacts many existing ORD, EPA
and interagency programs. For example, EPA's Global Change Research Program
(GCRP) contributes to assessing 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. Using the results of these evaluations, EPA is  investigating
options for enhancing resiliency in order to change and improve society's ability to
respond to these risks and opportunities.
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Current ORD efforts under the Science and Technology for Sustainability (STS) research
program (formerly the Pollution Prevention Program) are focusing on life cycle methods
and material flow analysis which contribute to a more effective understanding of resource
and energy accounting, innovative technologies for conversions from biomass to energy,
and modeling of energy options and impacts on regional air emissions. The P3 (People,
Planet, Prosperity) student design competition (described in Chapter 6) is aimed at
stimulating new technology and innovation on college campuses.

The Technology for a Sustainable Environment (TSE) extramural grant program—
operated jointly by EPA and NSF for a decade—supported innovative academic research
that developed alternative energy and materials from renewable feedstocks,
manufacturing processes using less energy and material input, and innovative uses of
waste and recycled materials as substitutes for virgin non-renewable materials.

ORD is also supporting research addressing the implications of the wide-scale use of
non-renewable materials. For example, ORD's MARKAL (MARKet Allocation) model
has been adopted and used by  the New England states to provide analyses needed to
make energy/technology decisions to assess current and future energy technology (see
box).

Next Steps for ORD  through This Strategy
The Sustainability Research Strategy supports a new focus on energy-materials-
environment research and connections with other ORD research strategies and MYPs.
This element of the ORD Research Strategy has a clear focus in the new STS MYP.
Other research elements will be pursed through partnerships with EPA Program and
Regional Offices and with other Federal agencies.

The Long-Term Goals identified in the STS MYP will provide a core framework for
achieving sustainable outcomes in non-renewable resources. This will include focused
research on Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Material Flow Analysis (MFA) to
evaluate environmental releases from industrial systems; application of numerous energy-
related models that will assess the regional impacts on air emissions of many fuel-mix
energy options; and  new industrial methods and alternate chemicals and industrial
practices (as described for Green Chemistry and Engineering in the next section),
particularly the substitution  of renewable for non-renewable energy and materials.
Specifically, this work will focus on the following research questions:

       •  What innovative technologies can be developed to improve the efficiency of
          non-renewable resource consumption (e.g., closed-loop recycling)?

       •  What are suitable metrics for capturing the broad, life cycle impacts and
          benefits of non-renewable resource conservation?

       •  For different sectors, what re-engineering processes can be designed to
          manage production and supply chains in a more sustainable manner?
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
       •  What opportunities exist to replace non-renewable with renewable feedstocks
          and materials in an environmentally beneficial manner? Conversely, 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?

       •  How can life cycle assessment be made more efficient, reliable, and
          comprehensive so that it will more effectively inform design decisions that
          lead to sustainable products?

       •  How can organizations access leverage points in materials, energy-use cycles
          so that the environmental benefits of such practices as pollution prevention,
          green chemistry, green engineering, environmental management accounting,
          and life cycle management are experienced on a regional or larger scale?

Long-Term and Shared Questions
ORD will also work with partners in other agencies towards addressing broader and long-
term questions. These questions  specifically focus  on a broader understanding  of the
Sustainability implications and opportunities of economy-wide  patterns and evolution in
non-renewable  resource use, as well  as opportunities and challenges posed by emerging
technologies and other societal transformations.

For example, USDA and DOE are pursuing an expanded role for biomass as  a source of
energy to displace 30  percent or more to the country's present petroleum consumption.26
EPA is collaborating with these partners to ensure that resulting agricultural intensity and
other shifts in the economy do not lead to diminished water quality or other unintended
environmental consequences.

EPA also plans to work in a multi-agency group (including NSF, DOE, and DOI/USGS)
that  is  pursuing the development  of material flow tools   and  analyses  to inform
environmental,  natural resource, economic, and security policies.

       •  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?

       •  How can resource  availability or depletion be characterized in a way that takes
          into account the potential for substitution and technological change?

       •  What tools are needed to develop, test, and measure the life cycle of a full
          suite of technologies for biomass-to-energy conversion?
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                  Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
         How can materials flow analysis and related methods provide better insights
         into opportunities for sustainability improvement?

         What tools can be used to operationalize the concept of industrial ecology,
         enabling a systems understanding of energy and material flows?
                  The Transition from Non-Renewable Energy:
      Application of the MARKAL Model to Evaluate Energy Sustainability

In  cooperation with several  stakeholders,  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). An extensive international  research community has used MARKAL to develop
strategies for addressing  acid rain, climate change, and other environmental challenges. The
EPA's national MARKAL model determines the least-cost pattern of technology investment and
utilization  required  to meet  specified  demands while  satisfying model constraints  (e.g.,
emissions caps), and  calculates the resulting criteria pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions
through approximately 2050.

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 technology
evolution could impact  future air emissions and to develop  and   provide  an  in-house
energy/technology assessment capacity.

                           New England MARKAL Project

Recognizing that states  and regional entities need tools  to assess the energy-technology
nexus and  related environmental  policies, EPA has also sponsored development of a  New
England version of its national MARKAL model. This experience has provided  an example of
how the MARKAL model can provide useful analyses and tools to states and  regions that need
to make energy/technology decisions.

Northeast  States  for  Coordinated  Air  Use  Management  (NESCAUM)  is
developing,  hosting,  and running the  model. Each  of the  six  New
England states is each modeled as its own region, with a focus on
air quality and climate issues. EPA has sponsored the NESCAUM
model  development,  but not analysis of  the  model  results.
NESCAUM  is currently  adding  New York,  New  Jersey and
Delaware  to  its  geographic  scope,  and  will later add  Pennsylvania,
Maryland, and the District of Columbia.

The MARKAL model lends itself to the assessment of sustainable energy use. The model, for
instance, can be used to  identify potential  orderly transitions to sustainability  energy pathways
between  now and  mid-century.  The resulting energy technology scenarios can assist  in
examining metrics such as these:

       •   Emission trajectories;
       •   The rate of growth in end-use energy consumption;
       •   The extent of non-renewable energy depletion;
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
        •  Socio-economic impacts (e.g., the cost of energy);
        •  Component technology  readiness,  performance,  and  costs,  as well  as the
           magnitude of uncertainty in each; and
        •  Research, development, and deployment needs.
 When combined with analyses from General Equilibrium Models of the U.S. and global
 economies, the MARKAL results can provide valuable insights about possible energy supply
 trajectories that meet different sustainability goals.
3. Long-Term Chemical  and Biological Impacts (Sustainable Use  of Non-Toxic
Material and Protecting Human Health)

Link to Sustainability Outcomes
The combined goals  of achieving  sustainable outcomes  in  material use, shifting to
environmentally preferable materials, and protecting human health all relate to assessing
and   eliminating  harmful   chemical   and   biological   materials.   Nationally   and
internationally, research  on nanomaterials, green chemistry,  and genomics  are at the
frontiers of science. It is well known that variations in toxicity, reactivity, flammability,
environmental fate, bioaccumulation, and persistence  will alter the ultimate impact of
different substances on the  environment. In addition, the geographic location, flow rate,
and  medium of discharge  can introduce significant  uncertainties with regard to the
environmental impact of such releases.  Continuing  research is needed to  understand the
long-term chemical and biological impacts of the releases.

General Problem Statement and Needs
This theme of long-term  chemical and biological impacts (which complements research
on resource conservation) focuses on two major areas: assessing chemical and biological
impacts and substituting benign chemicals for  toxic chemicals through green chemistry
and new technologies, including nanotechnology.

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 to human health and/or the
environment 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. To achieve a sustainable outcome,  release of
persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic chemicals to the environment must be stopped.

The scope and magnitude of the challenge for sustainable management of chemicals is
illustrated by  data from EPA's High  Volume Production  Program:  "Of  the  3,000
chemicals that the U.S. imports or produces at more than  1 million Ibs/yr, a new EPA
analysis finds that 43% of these high-production-volume chemicals have  no testing data
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
on basic toxicity and only seven percent have a full set of basic test data. This lack of test
data compromises the public's right to know about the chemicals that are found in their
environment, their homes, their workplaces, and the products that they buy. Industry must
do more to ensure that basic information is available on  every high-production chemical
they manufacture."27

The fields of Green Chemistry and Green Engineering are central to reducing chemical
impacts and achieving more sustainable alternatives for non-renewable resource  systems
(see previous section). These fields address the design  of molecules, products, processes,
and  systems  that use safer  chemicals  and materials;  use materials, water, and energy
efficiently; and/or reduce the generation of waste at the source. Green Engineering and
Green Chemistry are generally  played out on a product-by-product  or a process-by-
process basis. Materials flow-based tools such as Life Cycle  Assessment and Materials
Flow Analysis can link the use and processing of materials to potential implications for
resource Sustainability and can inform improvements in the use of materials and design of
products.

In Sustainability  in the Chemical Industry (2006), the  National Academy of Sciences
outlined numerous relevant research challenges for chemistry and chemical engineering
"that will  help  achieve   the  broader  goals  of  Sustainability."  Many of  their
recommendations relate to issues discussed above and in the section on non-renewable
resources (biomass conversions).

EPA and ORD Work to Build On
ORD has  extensive  efforts on  chemical and  biological risk, green  chemistry  and
industrial ecology. In partnership with NSF, ORD managed a decade-long program on
Technology for a Sustainable Environment (TSE).  TSE  supported fundamental  and
applied research leading to the discovery, development,  and evaluation of advanced and
novel environmentally preferable chemicals, materials,  processes, and systems. While
new grants are no longer being funded, the program is continuing to  synthesize and
measure results, preparing for the next generation program.

Specific goals related to reducing chemical and pesticide risks are given in the Draft
2006-2011 EPA Strategic Plan Architecture document.28 Significant efforts are under
way to  reduce uncertainty regarding the effects,  exposure, assessment and management
of endocrine  disrupters, to identify priority health hazards, and to screen new chemicals
for potential toxicity.

ORD's  new  efforts  in  Computational  Toxicology  bring  the  latest  advances  in
mathematical and computer modeling  and biological  sciences to  prioritize,  screen and
evaluate chemicals by enhancing  the  ability  to  predict chemical  toxicities.  ORD's
computation  toxicology work is  at the frontier of genomic  research and  offers great
potential for more sustainable products in the future. 29

Similarly,  ORD  and  EPA  efforts  to  assess  the application of  nanotechnology  to
developing more efficient and sustainable products are also substantial. In a recent Draft
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Nanotechnology White Paper, EPA scientists assessed the risks and benefits associated
with nanotechnology. One key recommendation of the White Paper is that: EPA should
engage  resources and expertise to encourage, support,  and develop  approaches that
promote pollution prevention, sustainable resource use, and good product stewardship in
the production and use of nanomaterials." 30

Next Steps for ORD through This Strategy
What can the sustainability research focus add to these and other existing programs? As
discussed in  the section on non-renewables  the new SRS serves to partner with  the
regulated  community  as  they  seek  to implement more efficient,  sustainable, and
protective practices, materials, and technologies that result in improved environmental
stewardship. A new era of research, often with industrial partners, is  focused on new
industrial  methods,  alternate  chemicals and  industrial  practices,  and on  Life  Cycle
Assessment (LCA)  and Material Flow Analysis  (MFA) to  evaluate environmental
releases from industrial systems. Important new research efforts in existing ORD and
EPA Program and Regional Offices are also underway to evaluate the green production
of nanomaterials, including a life cycle assessment of nanomaterial production, and in
developing decision support  tools for bench chemists  to evaluate the environmental
dimensions of new  chemicals and production pathways.  Examples of potential research
areas include:

       •  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.

       •  Develop   life cycle tools to compare  the total  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 LCA 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.
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
4. Human-built Systems and Land Use (Sustainable  Land  Use  and  the Built
Environment)

Link to Stewardship Sustainability Outcomes
Research related to the 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 humanity with
critical ecosystem services. While broad in content, this theme will focus 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.

General Problem Statement and Needs
In the past, little or no concern was given to the ability of human-built systems to
seriously impair  or destroy the natural infrastructure. However, with the growth of urban
populations over the last century, the evidence  demonstrates that can human-built
systems can cause significant harm to ecosystems and to ecosystems' ability  to provide
critical  services.  As human-built systems  continue to grow at rapid  rates, they  can
threaten the ability of the planet's entire  ecosystem  to function at the  highest, most
resilient level.

Direct environmental impacts  of current development patterns include habitat loss  and
fragmentation  and also  degradation of water resources and water quality. Building on
undeveloped land destroys and fragments habitat and thus displaces or eliminates wildlife
communities. The construction of impervious surfaces such as roads and rooftops leads to
the degradation  of water  quality by increasing runoff volume,  altering regular stream
flow and watershed hydrology,  reducing groundwater recharge, and increasing stream
sedimentation and water acidity. A one-acre parking lot produces a runoff volume almost
16 times as large as that produced by an undeveloped meadow of the same  size.
Development claimed more than half of the wetlands in the lower  48 states between the
late 1700s and the mid-1980s. It is clear that achieving urban Sustainability is a challenge
that crosses many EPA and Federal agency programs.

Yet our understanding of these system-wide impacts remains limited. As a result, it has
become increasingly important  to  gain new knowledge  of the  relationship between
human-built systems and natural systems at all  spatial scales.31 Ultimately, a sustainable
outcome is  one  that seeks to  develop  and maintain human-built  systems so that they
operate in close harmony with the natural systems on which they depend. A key goal is to
develop a deeper understanding of the relationship between human and natural systems.
This  concern  was  posed  in  the  National Research  Council's  2001 report,  Grand
Challenges  in Environmental  Sciences,32 which identified three issues as particularly
relevant to  Sustainability: management of biogeochemical cycles, ecosystem functioning,
and the dynamics of land use.
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
EPA AND ORD Work to Build On
Sustainable land use is a cross-cutting EPA issue. Land restoration and preservation are
key  elements  of  an existing  ORD  research  strategy  that  emphasizes  restoring
contaminated sites,  protecting existing land uses and responding to "short-term problem
driven research areas" (BOSC,  January 2006).33 The current research emphasis clearly
reflects existing  pressures to restore contaminated sites and address urgent agricultural
and  land pollution  issues.  Many current EPA-wide efforts on contaminated  sites are
however being significantly reduced.  While recognizing that "elimination of mature
programs that can be assumed by the private sector or other agencies is justified" (SAB
Draft Review of FY 07 Proposed Budget (March 30, 2006), the SAB expressed concern
about possible loss  of knowledge and skills associated with these programs. In a recent
review of the ORD  land restoration and preservation research program, BOSC identified
areas where "the relevance of the land research program  can be  enhanced,  including
"more strategic,  forward-looking research on emerging issues in anticipating of future
issues and concerns." These combined reviews suggest that a transition period in  land
preservation program is  timely.  Elements of this transformation to  a  forward-looking
vision are already emerging.

ORD research supports  OSWER's Resource  Conservation Challenge (RCC) through
assessing  performance of  waste  minimization  projects,  multimedia modeling,  and
evaluation of beneficial  reuse  of  materials.  As  the principal client of this research,
OSWER is increasing its emphasis to land restoration (and protection) aiming toward
Sustainability outcomes.  Since its inception in  1995, EPA's Brownfields Program has
addressed how  to  restore  to productive use  the more than 450,000  contaminated
brownfield properties  in the U.S.   Cleaning  up and  reinvesting in these properties
promotes Sustainability by boosting local tax bases,  facilitating job growth, utilizing
existing  infrastructure, lessening  development  pressure on  undeveloped  land,  and
improving and protecting the environment.

Land revitalization  is one area where extensive community outreach and partnership is
necessary. ORD's  current research  is attempting to create decision-support tools  to
promote sustainable land development. The Sustainable  Management Approaches and
Revitalization Tools (SMARTe) program, 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.34 SMARTe includes guidance and analysis
tools for all  aspects of the revitalization process including planning and environmental,
economic, and social concerns.  Since  1990, ORD has been working with the German
Federal Ministry for  Education and  Research  on models of land  restoration  and
development. Work under this bilateral agreement is now moving toward development of
Sustainability criteria for revitalization activities.

Significant efforts by EPA and  other Federal agencies are also underway to promote
green building design, land revitalization, and smart growth policies. An online inventory
of many EPA  programs in these  areas  is  available  at www.epa.gov/sustainabillity.
Executive Orders  related to Federal  management  of buildings  can  be  found  at
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                    Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
www.ofee.gov/eo/eo.httn).  ORD  research  on  life  cycle  assessment  has  led  to
development of an assessment model that the U.S. Green Building Council has adapted
(see box below). A significant focus on urban-health issues also exists in many ORD
research strategies.  Other important ORD  and OSWER  efforts  are also underway on
brownfield redevelopment and urban renewal to sustainable redevelopment.
                      Tool for the Reduction and Assessment
               of Chemical and other environmental Impacts (TRACI)

TRACI is an impact assessment tool that quantifies the potential for  environmental impacts in
several categories: stratospheric ozone  depletion, global warming, acidification, eutrophication,
smog formation, human health-cancer, human health-non-cancer, criteria pollutants, ecotoxicity,
and fossil fuel depletion.

The  U.S.  Green  Building  Council,  the  "nation's leading  coalition  of corporations, builders,
universities,  government agencies, and  nonprofit organizations working together to promote
buildings that are  environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy  places to live and work,"
has selected TRACI as the basis of its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
certification.  LEED certification is encouraged or required for certain public construction projects
in California, Maryland, Massachusetts,  New Jersey,  New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and
Washington.

Many  Federal  agencies  and  local governments mandate LEED  certification  for public
construction. LEED  certification currently affects  over 213 million gross square feet of new
construction. By using TRACI in its  LEED certification process, decision-makers can take into
account scientifically-based  environmental  impacts associated with  building renovation and
construction  projects. The result  will  be  a  more  sustainable  built  environment.  (See
www.epa.qov/ORD/NRMRL/std/sab/traci/index.html')
Next Steps for ORD through This Strategy
How can the focus on sustainability research add to ongoing ORD work? Many decisions
with respect to urban development, land use, and provision of public services are made at
state and local levels and in tribal communities. What happens at these levels is thus an
important yardstick for measuring progress on sustainability.

The growing enthusiasm for sustainability at state and local levels is encouraging  and
presents new challenges for research by ORD, 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.35 The sustainability focus and  this
Research  Strategy are directed to 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  Program (SEQL) program, in which ORD is a key player, developing scientific
models  such as 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.
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006


              Sustainable Environment for Quality Of Life (SEQL)

                  Projected 2020 Land Cover, Scenario 2
                                                   SUSlAIHABLt
                                                   fiVV7#OA'M£jVr
                                                   fir QUALITY
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
Key elements of the  implementing Science and Technology for Sustainability (STS)
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 partners to directly  apply
innovative systems-based approaches to urban and tribal  planning. Direct ORD supported
research can address the following 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?

       •   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 enhance building
          design efficiencies 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?
5. Economics  and  Human  Behavior  (Advancing Stewardship, Education,  and
Informed Decision-Making)

Link to Sustainability Outcomes
The  sustainable management of natural and man-made systems is in part 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.

General Problem Statement and Needs
OMB and Congress  are  increasingly requiring  more and better  economic analyses as
necessary components of the policy process used in EPA Program and Regional Offices
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006


and  in  other  Federal  regulatory agencies.  The  pressure  to  improve the  economic
efficiency of  environmental  regulations  is  driven  not  only by  efforts  to  downsize
government, but also by increased global competition. Recognition of the need  for a
diversified policy portfolio, including the use of voluntary  and information disclosure
programs and market mechanisms (especially trading) in place of traditional regulations,
has also been increasing. At the same time, more research is  necessary to understand the
motivations of individuals and firms with respect to preserving environmental quality.
Such an understanding can greatly increase the efficiency and efficacy of next-generation
environmental policies. Economics and Decision Science (EDS) research is essential to
this enterprise.

Economists are beginning to deal with the question of environmental  Sustainability and
human carrying capacity  as a central premise for economic  development.37 Economists
and  conservationists are also  exploring ways to value ecosystem services and develop
economic incentives. This is  an important area for research since "markets" for
ecosystem services  do  not generally exist.  Owners of ecologically valuable land can
generate more revenue  from  traditional  land  development   than  from  generating
ecological services.  ORD funded extramural research is underway in EDS 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 (see box on follow ing page).

EPA and ORD Work to Build On
Much of  EPA's economic and social research  has been  the  subject of review and
assessment by the SAB and National Academy of Sciences  (NAS). The SAB routinely
comments on specific analyses and suggests needs for research that are incorporated into
research planning. EPA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) also commissioned
the NAS report Decision-Making for the  Environment: Social and Behavioral Science
Research Priorities. The  ensuing recommendations have been incorporated into ORD's
Environmental Economics Research Strategy (EERS), which  was published in 2005. The
EERS has five basic research areas:38

       •  Health Benefit Evaluation,

       •  Ecosystem Benefit Evaluation,

       •  Environmental Behavior and Decision-Making,

       •  Market Mechanisms and Incentives, and

       •  Benefits of Environmental Information Disclosure.

Implementation  of  this  research  program  is  coordinated closely  with economists
throughout EPA, including researchers in OPEI's  National  Center for Environmental
Economics, who conduct most of the Agency's internal economics research. Because of
the broad need for better economic analyses, this research has clients in virtually every
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EPA office, including OAR, OW, OSWER, OPPTS, OPEI, OECA, OEI, and the Office
of Children's Health Protection, as well as many Regions. Other Federal, state and local
government agencies,  as well as private organizations, also use the results of EDS
research.

Next Steps for ORD through this Strategy
The SRS and 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, as well as connections inside and outside 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). Collectively, the strategies will address  a set 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  which incorporate as  fully  as possible society's  concerns  for
           sustainability into resource allocation decisions?

       •   What should  be the  role  of  intergenerational  discounting in  benefit-cost
           analysis?

       •   How can ecological resilience and the potential for "surprise" be incorporated
           in the selection and assessment of policy interventions?
                  The Stability of Values for Ecosystem Services:
              Tools for Evaluating the Potential for Benefits Transfers

 This research, funded by an EPA STAR grant at Michigan State University for 2004-200739.
 develops empirical procedures for understanding  how people  in different U.S. regions value
 wetland ecosystem  services. These  procedures are used  to test hypotheses about the
 possibility of successful benefit transfers. The research builds on extensive stated-preference
 research, conducted in Michigan with partial EPA STAR grant funding. The research  used
 cognitive group and individual interviews to identify highly valued wetland ecosystem services,
 developed  a  web-based  stated preference  questionnaire,   and  tested  how  changes in
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
 ecosystem quality influenced respondents' choices and values. Similar methods were used to
 complete a mail survey in Michigan with the same ecosystem choices. The current project
 leverages the previous Michigan  research by testing its transferability and developing cost-
 effective tools for timely assessments of the potential for benefit transfer.

 This research will yield  novel tools for evaluating the prospects of benefits transfer. Focus
 groups are being tested for their ability to identify highly valued ecosystem concepts. Cognitive
 interviews will be explored as a tool  for assessing the  interregional transferability of stated-
 choice instruments. The quantitative research will yield wetland ecosystem values for four U.S.
 regions, with the potential to yield a national benefit transfer function
6. Information and Decision-Making (Monitoring and  Measuring for Sustainable
Outcomes)

Link to Sustainability Outcome
Everyday Choices recognizes that our nation's natural resources are the common property
of all Americans of this and future generations, and that collective action is needed to
ensure that these resources are adequately protected. Decision-makers and the general
public need to know  how key environmental indicators are changing and how critical
thresholds  can be avoided, as well as  the likely consequences of proposed actions and
possible  alternative actions.  Land-based and satellite  monitoring systems and derived
environmental information address the first need; scenario development and a variety of
models and tools address the second.

Key to promoting Sustainability is  a clear understanding of proposed  outcomes. In the
Everyday Choices report, EPA senior managers identified  sustainable outcomes in six
resources areas relevant to EPA's mission (see Chapter 2,  Table 2.1}—the first explicit
statement of EPA senior leadership focused on Sustainability outcomes for the nation.
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.

General Problem Statement and Needs
This last research theme integrates many of the ideas discussed for the previous five
themes. Achieving the sustainable outcomes defined in this Research Strategy is critically
dependent  on a comprehensive information infrastructure including these features:

Systematic monitoring, collecting, and assimilation of data into user-friendly information
systems to  serve the needs of decision-makers, as outlined in the Millennium Ecosystem
Report and the evolving international  Global Earth  Observation Systems of Systems
(GEOSS) program.40 GEOSS' vision is to realize 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
databases (or systems), thus revolutionizing our understanding of how Earth works. Over
time,  GEOSS will contribute greatly to Sustainability by providing important scientific
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
information  for sound policy and decision-making in  every sector of society. EPA is
contributing to GEOSS though its leadership in both the international Group on Earth
Observations (GEO) and the U.S. Group on Earth Observations  (US GEO)  and has
launched a new FY 2006 Advanced Monitoring Initiative (AMI).

Developing decision-support tools designed to help policy-makers, corporate officials,
engineers, and  local and  regional planners to identify and  implement Sustainability
options, such as those identifies in this and other ORD Strategies. ORD has a long history
of developing and applying models and tools to support decision-making; many of these
tools  (such  as ReVA)  have been discussed in previous sections. The Environmental
Science Connector (ESC)—a new ORD gateway to environmental science models, data,
publications and library resources and other tools—is being developed.  The Connector is
designed for all EPA users to share information with EPA scientists and with external
stakeholders. The  ESC  can  support  ORD's  stewardship  plans  by  streamlining
communications and providing access  to a variety of resources and tools. The  portal is
now  being  tested  for launch in  June  2006.  Future milestones include  additional
collaboration tools, including discussion  forums,  project  announcements, and unified
science information search providing the ability  to access and store resources  from
ORD's Environmental  Information  Management  System (EIMS) and with Northern
Light (the new Agency search engine).  .

Developing  clear Sustainability outcome  goals and metrics and indicators,  which are
necessary in order to establish benchmark values and measure progress. As sustainable
choices are  made; the  metrics and  indicators  must be unambiguous and robust,  and
should utilize cost-effective data sources.

Next Steps for ORD through This Strategy
EPA's focus on environmental stewardship toward sustainable outcomes is  a  unifying
theme for ORD.  Several ORD programs—Sustainability,  Economics  and Decision
Sciences (EDS), Climate Change  Sciences Program (CCSP) and GEOSS/AMI—with the
partnerships and innovation within them are building an ORD and EPA foundation for
advancing stewardship.  The strategic plans and implementation plans for these programs
all have a focus on "enabling better decisions," which is the heart of stewardship. Each of
these is  progressing toward building  significant  advancements  into  decision-making:
EDS, a behavioral  science foundation;  Sustainability,  a  system-oriented approach to
complex environmental issues; CCSP,  advancing scientific understanding of the Earth's
systems  and GEOSS/AMI,  real-time observations of the  Earth systems.  Thus the
integrated potential for these programs is to form a substantial  decision-support base for
EPA  as it makes  use of stewardship to augment its other programs and move toward
Sustainability over the next decade.

ORD has a sound foundation  of available models and tools  for  supporting  sound
decision-making. Many of these models are elements of a more comprehensive systems
approach to environmental management. The ability to link biochemical, water, and land
models into comprehensive  integrated models and applying  them to different future
scenarios is a major research challenge.41 ORD has begun to systematically review all its
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
models and tools and to assess their application for advancing sustainability.  The next
steps clearly involve developing  integrated biogeochemical  land and air models tied
closely to user applications.

Building on the support base  for the Draft Report on  the Environment (RoE),  the
sustainability focus  of EPA goals  enables  it to identify  a  new set  of sustainability
indicators.  ORD plays a significant role in identifying and ensuring quality control of
indicators in the RoE. An extensive inter-Office network and process exists to identify
potential indicators and ensure  their reliability. 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?"—then research
can focus on identifying appropriate indicators and ensuring their quality.

The  research foundation and inter-Office support necessary to  identify sustainability
indicators is substantial, and will  accordingly require substantial  human  and budgetary
resources. Work on  defining sustainability  metrics, to  establish the foundation  for the
creation  and development  of new science-based sustainability metrics and indicators,
with an emphasis on the role of applied decision theory, is just beginning.  Several major
questions must be addressed:

       •  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?

This chapter has identified six  system-oriented research themes that are foundations for
achieving sustainable outcomes in energy, water, air, land,  materials, and ecosystem
resources. The  chapter has  identified how  the  Sustainability Research Strategy  (SRS)
builds on existing ORD programs. The STS MYP builds a substantial  decision-support
base for EPA as it uses stewardship to move toward sustainability over the next decade.
The next two chapters identify objectives of the implementation road map for the SRS.
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                     CHAPTER 5. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The key goal of this Strategy is to promote sustainability research that generates a wider
array of options for decision-makers, enhancing their ability to choose courses of action
that will lead to sustainable outcomes. This chapter described five objectives to be sought
in advancing the  sustainability research that  was  outlined in Chapter  4,  including
effectively transferring research findings to decision-makers.

The five objectives represent areas of strong ORD competence, enable synthesis  of a
holistic knowledge foundation for sustainability,  and  complement  one another  in
informing programs and decisions within and outside EPA. These are the 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, send early warning of potential problems
          to decision-makers, and highlight opportunities for improvement.

Figure 5.1 is a logic diagram that illustrates the role  of these research objectives (shaded
in green). The objectives are interrelated but are not parallel. A systems understanding
informs  the  development of  research  in  decision-support  tools,  technologies,  and
collaborative decision-making, which in turn inform policies and programs  implemented
by customers and collaborators (shaded in  yellow),  including  business and industry,
communities, government, and individuals.  At a smaller scale, metrics and indicators
enable customers and collaborators to measure  progress. At a larger scale, metrics and
indicators can be  used  to  assess and measure  overall progress in resource areas and
environmental and human health (shaded in blue). These metrics and indicators also feed
back  to   enable  adaptive  understanding of  systems,  decisions,  technologies,  and
collaborative decision-making.  This logic diagram  is consistent with  a logic diagram
developed by the Innovation Action Council (IAC) for environmental stewardship.42
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                    Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
            Figure 5.1. Logic Diagram Illustrating Research Approaches
     Systems
     Understanding

     Resilience
     Vulnerabilities
     Interconnectedness
     Scale
     Trends 8
     Transformations
     Links between Natural
      8 Built Environment
     Uncertainty
Resource
Sustainability
Outcomes

Water
Land
Air
Energy
Materials
Ecosystems
Table 5.1 provides illustrative examples within the research approaches that address the
Sustainability theme areas identified 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.
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    Table 5.1. Research Objectives Addressing Sustainability Challenge Areas

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
Technologies
Green
Engineering
Green
Engineering
Green
Chemistry
Green
buildings;
Emerging
technologies

LCA
Decision-
Support
Tools
LCA;
MFA;
IS As
LCA;
MFA;
IS As
Chemistry
design
tools;
Transport
models
Design
principles
Agent-
based
models

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


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. Today's understanding informs  the  development  of today's  technologies,
decision-support  tools,  collaborative  decision-making  approaches,  and metrics and
indicators. As our understanding of Sustainability improves, the enhanced knowledge will
inform  the next generation  of technologies,  tools,  and  indicators.  Describing,
representing,  and/or  designing  sustainable  systems  encompasses several  important
aspects:

       •   addressing scale in time and space,
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       •   capturing the dynamics of the system and of society's points of leverage or
           control over those dynamics,

       •   representing an appropriate level of complexity,

       •   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.


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 requires the entire continuum to 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."43 The NACEPT
committee has been further charged by the  EPA Administrator to look at the issue of
sustainability in more detail (in 2006-2007) and to make additional recommendations.
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                        Figure 5.2 Technology Continuum
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 use safer chemicals and materials; use materials, water,  and energy
efficiently; and/or reduce the  generation of waste at the source. Green Engineering and
Green  Chemistry are generally played  out on a product-by-product or a  process-by-
process basis. While some of this work 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.

More traditional technologies can  also  support progress  towards Sustainability.  For
example, technology plays an integral role in supporting water Sustainability by providing
safe  drinking water  and treating wastewater and storm water. The demands of aging
water  and wastewater infrastructure  and a  growing  population require that  new
technologies  be developed to provide  cost-effective conveyance and  treatment of
drinking, waste, and storm  water. With the tightening of water supplies in  parts of the
U.S.  and elsewhere in the world, water conservation and reuse technologies are needed to
provide  water  of  adequate  quantity and quality  for  human  consumption  and the
environment.  Current  and  new technologies  should be  examined using a  systems
approach to assess their multi-media 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 materials flow systems can inform prioritization
of opportunities for efficient  pollution  prevention and  materials use,  particularly for
materials that are potentially deleterious to the environment and/or used at high volumes.
Understanding other factors (economic, informational, cultural and security-related, etc.)
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.
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Future scenarios are helpful  for envisioning  potential implications  of emerging  or
transforming  technological  systems.  Technology  and  technological  systems  and
production  patterns  are   evolving  in  terms   of emerging  technologies  (such  as
nanotechnology), potential societal  industrial  transformations  (such  as  distributed
manufacturing),  evolving  consumption  patterns,  and  evolving  production  locations.
Understanding and  working with these trends and transformations can inform research
that can enable future developments in emerging technology to support a move towards
sustainability.
Decision-Making Tools

Many  types  of tools and  analytical  models  can inform decisions that  contribute to
environmental  sustainability.  In general,  these  tools  and models assist  businesses,
communities, government,  and individuals to understand the  potential  implications of
their  decisions. Models  can be descriptive  (describing  knowledge  about  specific
phenomena) or prescriptive (informing a design or identifying a course of action). The
models are  dependent on  data  and information relating to such human  activities as
transportation,  industry,  agriculture,  construction;  protection  and consumption  of
resources (water,   energy,  materials,  ecosystems,  land,  and  air),  economics  and
characteristics of human behavior; natural phenomena such as weather  patterns;  and
environmental  conditions.  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 using models.

Several types of tools  and analytical models are relevant to sustainability decision-
making:

       Scenario modeling  enables an understanding of environmental conditions over
time through integrated systems analysis. The models allow users to explore in a dynamic
fashion the connection between today's societal choices over which they  may have some
control (such as types of transportation, energy, agriculture, and industry) with societal
trends  (such  as population and  economic  growth) and potential future environmental
conditions. 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 to
communicate about the future that they may desire and to develop means and strategies to
achieve this future.

       Geographic-based analytical models  such as landscape simulators and  urban
growth simulators enable an 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, placement of buildings, and agricultural
practices. When integrated with economic  models, geographic-based analytical models
can be powerful tools to inform development.
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       Materials flow-based tools such as Life Cycle Assessment and Materials 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.
These tools can  also be tied to Life Cycle Cost or Economic Input-Output analyses so
that environmental issues and costs can be seen in one view.44

       Agent-based models enable  insight into the  implications of how the actions of
individuals add  up to  organizational  or multi-organizational behavior.  As  the  overall
organizational behavior may contribute to or detract from  resource  Sustainability, the
models may illuminate policy opportunities to  further motivate stewardship behaviors in
the context of business and industry, communities, and government.

The above models  can be used in combination to develop tools, and all  of the models can
also be used in the  context of uncertainty, such as through Monte Carlo  simulations.
Collaborative Decision-Making

Developing effective innovative polices that promote Sustainability depends on having an
understanding  of the  motivation  for  decision-making by  business  and  industry,
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  innovative  policies
depend  on an understanding of the circumstances that encourage or discourage green
product design and green supply chain management, and also on an understanding of
industrial   supply-chain  leverage  points  that  underlie potential  improvements  in
Sustainability outcomes. Effective policies targeting individuals and households depend
on an understanding of the circumstances (including cost, information, convenience, peer
pressure,  regulation,  etc.)  encouraging  "green"  consumption.  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, as well as
design and selection of more sustainable transportation  and energy systems. In all cases,
policies and approaches can be informed by an understanding of how innovative  and
effective decisions are made in diverse groups.

Because Sustainability necessarily  involves moving towards  a shared desired  future,
collaborative approaches are particularly important  (See  box:  "Collaborative Problem
Solving").  The  related  concepts   of  collaborative  problem  solving,  cooperative
conservation,  and stewardship  encourage  stakeholders to  come together to  address
common environmental  issues.45 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;  (2) scientists and engineers can participate with policy-  and other decision-
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                    Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
makers in collaborative processes. These processes can also influence scientific direction
by helping  scientists to tune the scientific questions they ask and answer and can help
scientists to more effectively communicate their research results.

EPA supports several programs designed to encourage environmental stewardship through
collaboration at  the community  and regional levels. ORD's Collaborative Science  and
Technology Network for  Sustainability (CNS) is one of several programs that focus on
collaboration and sustainability-related issues.  (See box: "Collaborative Problem Solving"
and Table 5.2.)
                            Collaborative Problem Solving:
    Industrial Ecology and Pollution Prevention in the New York-New Jersey Harbor

A  collaborative project in the New York/New Jersey Harbor funded  under the  Collaborative
Science and Technology Network for Sustainability (CNS) draws on scientific analysis, data, and
information to paint an overall systems picture of materials flows in the industrial economy and in
the environment that can highlight opportunities for more effective decision-making. Overseeing
and interacting with this analysis is a Harbor Consortium of industrial representatives, local policy-
makers, and scientists who help  to refine the analysis and identify opportunities  and leverage
points for watershed-wide pollution prevention of high-priority contaminants, including mercury,
cadmium,  PCBs,  dioxin, and PAHs. This  combination  of a  decision-making tool  and  a
collaborative approach has demonstrated success in bringing about principled compromise and
development of less obvious pollution prevention options among a wide range of  stakeholders,
ranging from dentists to automobile recyclers to state regulators.

For example, the analysis of mercury flows into the Harbor highlighted the importance of dental
offices as  a  mercury source, in part due to the high  density of dentists in the  New York
metropolitan area.  The dentists  participating  in the Harbor Consortium  developed pollution-
prevention  course materials  for  continuing-education offerings  by dental schools. The Harbor
Consortium also discovered that  by far the highest total  cadmium waste in the watershed was
disposed batteries, as the recycling  rate for these  batteries was quite low; and  use of these
batteries is rapidly increasing. However, because much of the solid waste from New York City is
disposed of elsewhere, the cadmium in solid waste was posing a low local risk.  Despite the low
current risk, the Harbor Consortium decided to apply a precautionary, neighborly approach and
improve battery-recycling programs in the watershed.

The approach and methodologies  developed through the Harbor project are currently being
synthesized so they can be shared with and transferred  to other watersheds in regions
throughout the country.
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      Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
  Figure 5.2. The Economy, Waste, and the Environment
                                    The Environment
    Waste Output
Production
(Ind./Comm.
 Services)
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                    Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
           Table 5.2. Collaboration and Stewardship: Five EPA Programs

Community Action for a Renewed Environment (CARE). EPA's CARE program, which began
in  2005,  helps to build broad-based local partnerships that reduce risks to communities from
environmental toxics.  With the 2006 CARE solicitation, EPA will award two levels of cooperative
agreements. Level  I cooperative agreements will help establish community-based partnerships
and set priorities for reducing toxic risks in a given community. Level II cooperative agreements
will involve communities that already have broad-based collaborative partnerships, have identified
risk reduction priorities, and are ready to implement risk-reduction strategies.46

Environmental  Justice  Small  Grants Program  (EJSG).  EJSG  promotes  the  use  of
collaborative partnerships in addressing local environmental and/or  public health  issues.  EJSG
will fund  projects at the beginning  phases of the Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-
Solving Model (EJCPS Model). EPA developed the EJCPS Model  to assist disproportionately
affected communities  in  developing proactive,  strategic, and visionary approaches to address
their environmental justice issues and achieve community health and sustainability. EJSG will
fund projects whose primary purposes are: (1) building a collaborative partnership, (2) identifying
the local environmental and/or public health issues to be addressed, and (3) envisioning solutions
and empowering the community through education, training, and outreach.47

Environmental Justice Collaborative  Problem-Solving  Cooperative Agreement  Program
(EJCPS). Applicants to this program are  required to have built a foundation with  the first three
elements of the EJCPS Model. Building on this foundation, applicants are expected to develop
other  model  elements   (e.g., Consensus  Building  and  Dispute Resolution,   Constructive
Engagement with Other Stakeholders). EJCPS  will only fund projects whose primary purpose is
to  address an  existing local environmental and/or  public health issue; a project's  primary focus
cannot be education or training.48

Collaborative  Science and Technology Network for Sustainability (CMS). The  CMS program
encourages  innovative thinking about the practical applications of science  and engineering in
pursuit of sustainability. Grantees bring  together diverse sets  of partners to explore and learn
about new approaches to  environmental protection at a regional scale that are systems-oriented,
forward-looking, and preventive, with links to economic and social dimensions. The collection of
projects informs  practical learning  on analytical tools, collaborative  approaches,  and decision-
making to support progress towards sustainability.49

Tribal  Science Program. Tribal  and subsistence populations may be at especially high risk for
environmentally caused diseases and health  outcomes as a result of their  lifestyles, occupations
and customs, and/or environmental releases that impact tribal lands.  Through this program, EPA
is  supporting scientific research paired with a community-based approach  to build scientific and
practical  understanding of the connection  of  tribal-specific factors to health  risks from  toxic
substances  in the environment. The community-based approach  aims  to help  build  Tribal
capacity for risk assessment and management.50
Metrics and Indicators

Metrics  and  indicators  enable  EPA,  businesses,  communities,  other government
organizations, and individuals to understand the nature and degree of progress being
made towards 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 the local,
regional, and global scale. To have effective metrics  and indicators, it is important to
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effectively collect, synthesize, and communicate the appropriate data and information—
which requires understanding both what to measure and how to measure it.

Understanding what to measure draws on an understanding on 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, and 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
towards 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 a cross-Office  EPA  committee in Everyday Choices: Opportunities for
Environmental Stewardship.51 These  six outcomes are  those listed in Chapter 2  of this
document:

       •   Air: Sustain clean and healthy air.

       •   Ecosystems: Protect and restore ecosystems functions, goods and services.

       •   Energy: Generate clean energy and use it efficiently.

       •   Land: Support ecological sensitive land management and development.

       •   Materials: Use materials carefully and shift to environmental preferable
           materials.

       •   Water:  Sustain water resources of quality and availability for desired use.

These outcomes are a starting point for discussing  and refining a  set  of Sustainability
outcomes  and organizing Sustainability indicators.  ORD plans  to lead a cross-Agency
process to refine  and sharpen these desired outcomes at multiple scales  and  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 condition. The indicators developed here aim to go  beyond those Draft
indicators in four ways:
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         Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
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  a  better  systems  insight  and  highlight  opportunities for
improvement.

A significant focus will  be on 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.
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
                  CHAPTER 6. STRATEGY IMPLEMENTATION
This chapter describes ORD's plan of implementation in response to ORD's management
objectives to develop (1) a cross-cutting sustainability research plan that will tie together
the ORD MYPs which are components for achieving sustainability and (2) a revised P2
MYP—"Science and Technology for Sustainability" (STS)—that will identify new long-
term and annual  goals which, with associated annual performance measures, can better
focus pollution prevention and innovative technology outcomes on sustainability.

The design of this road map recognizes that while EPA and ORD can provide leadership,
they cannot alone address the full spectrum  of sustainability issues. Therefore a key
element  of this  Sustainability  Research  Strategy (SRS)  involves  connection  and
cooperation with other research organizations, as well as connection between research
and its application.

There are four basic implementation steps for implementing this SRS:

       •   Transition the current  pollution  prevention and new technologies  research
          program (both  research  and new applied  programs)  into a  Science  and
          Technology for Sustainability (STS) Research Program  (2006-2007). Toward
          this end,  ORD  has begun  preparing  a new MYP  with  clearly defined
          objectives, budgets, and outcome measures.

       •   Coordinate with other multi-year plans (2006-2007). Toward this end, ORD
          will review how the goals of sustainability can be met through existing MYPs
          and national strategies as well as how these MYPs can evolve to more directly
          align with sustainability goals and objectives. The first formal  coordination
          will be with the Economics and Decision  Sciences (EDS) program in 2006.

       •   Collaborate and partner with EPA Program and Regional Offices and other
          government organizations, communities, nonprofit organizations, universities,
          and industry (2005-2010). Toward this  end, ORD will work with Program
          and  Regional  Offices to  support  implementation   of  their  respective
          sustainability programs and activities, and will coordinate research with other
          Federal agencies.

       •   Identify and pursue future research opportunities (2006-2010).  Toward this
          end, ORD will work with Program and Regional Offices, other government
          agencies,  and the  international  community  to  organize  workshops  and
          research partnerships.
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ORD begins with a  solid foundation for developing sustainability  research. Existing
research strategies and MYPs all contain elements of programs and activities that could
address the research questions outlined in Chapter 4. A key goal of this Research Strategy
is to provide guidance for the future direction of these research programs so that they can
be  more  supportive  of a sustainability  approach. Achieving this  goal will require
identifying priorities  and negotiating a delicate balance between both traditional risk-
based approaches and sustainability approaches,  and also between immediate Program
and Regional Office research  needs and complex longer-term issues.  Current and  future
National Program Directors  will  collectively identify the  priorities  and negotiate the
overall balance of the Agency's sustainability research.

Setting Priorities

Addressing  research prioritization within  a broad subject area such as sustainability is
challenging. Because this Strategy lays  out a  new  approach to research for  ORD,
prioritization is especially difficult. In order to give ORD research planners in the various
MYPs some flexibility and autonomy in selecting priority areas,  this  Strategy identifies
guiding factors for selection  of research  priorities,  rather than directly  identifying the
priority areas. The individual  MYPs and their National Program Directors (NPDs) will
more specifically identify their priority sustainability research areas. Several factors can
guide selection of topics and design of programs:

       •  High impact. The MYPs must address 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  sustainability  outcomes of
          resource systems discussed in Chapter 2 at a sufficiently large scale.

       •  True to EPA 's research capabilities (extramural as well as intramural). ORD
          intramural research capabilities serve a dual purpose of (1) directly meeting
          Program and Regional  Office research needs  and (2)  building capability for
          solving longer-term problems. Intramural programs can also serve as focal
          points for science  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 EPA  can  collaborate with the  Department of Energy on
          understanding   the  environmental   implications   of   emerging  energy
          technologies. An effective MYP will address both types of research.
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       •  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 life cycle energy use
          reduction for a class of products (See Figure 5.7).

Balancing Research Needs

In nearly all areas, 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. It  is up to each MYP to
consider each of the following criteria  in its respective research portfolio:

       •  As frequently emphasized  by EPA's Science Advisory Board (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.
          An example of an issue that was correctly identified as emerging several years
          ago is nanotechnology and its environmental implications and  applications.
          Identifying and exploring  the next emerging issues  will be  challenging but
          important.

       •  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.
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          And 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 Road Map: The Transition from Pollution Prevention to Sustainability

In order to support ORD's move towards Sustainability,  the Pollution Prevention and
New  Technology  (P2NT)  MYP is  transitioning to  a  Science and  Technology  for
Sustainability (STS) MYP.  This  transition draws on a strong historical foundation. For
example, ORD  has supported both intramural and extramural  research for more than a
decade in green chemistry  and green engineering. This  research underlies sustainable
technology. In addition, under the P2NT MYP, ORD has supported both intramural and
extramural research in Life Cycle Assessment and Design for the Environment decision-
making tools.

Several years ago, ORD's P2NT research expanded to include Sustainable Environmental
Systems (SES)—an interdisciplinary research plan drawing on  economics, ecology, law,
and engineering, among other  disciplines. The Environmental Technology Verification
(ETV)  Program,  long a  part  of  P2NT,  has  recently  expanded to  include  an
Environmentally Sustainable Technologies Evaluation (ESTE) program. In addition, two
new applied and educational programs have been  introduced in the past two years that
speak directly to Sustainability:

The Collaborative Science and Technology Network for  Sustainability (CNS) CNS
enables grantees and EPA to collaborate on  regional projects  that explore and  provide
learning opportunities for new  approaches to  environmental protection that are systems-
oriented, forward-looking, preventive, and collaborative. Grantees in this  program draw
on  decision-making tools derived from  analytical models and also on collaborative
approaches to practical problem solving that support progress at a regional scale towards
the Sustainability outcomes identified in Chapter 2.

Figure 6.1  shows  the  collection of projects funded  through  CNS. This collection of
projects will  enable learning about innovative proactive  approaches  to environmental
protection—with consideration for economic and social factors—that can then 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.
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                    Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
         Figure 6.1 Projects Funded for the First Year of the CNS Program
    Sustaining Multiple
    Benefits in Large
    River Floodplains
   Using Market
   Forces to
   Implement
   Sustainable
   Watershed
   Management
Decision Model
for Urban
Water Reuse
Cuyahoga
Sustainability
Network \
Integrating Water
Supply Management
and Ecological
Flow Requirements
\
Efficient Materials
and Energy Use:
Understanding
Economic Benefits
        Transforming
        Office Parks
        into Transit
        Villages
    Bringing Global
    Thinking to Local
    Sustainability
    Efforts for the
    Boston Region
                                                                        P2 and the
                                                                        NY/ NJ Harbor
Ecological Sustainability
in Rapidly Developing
Watersheds
 Sustainable Sandhills:
 A Plan for Regional
 Sustainability
People, Prosperity, and Planet (P3) This student Sustainability design competition
inspires and educates the next generation to research, develop, and design solutions to
Sustainability challenges in topical areas including agriculture, materials and chemicals,
energy, information technology, water, and the built environment. P3 students and their
faculty advisors quantify the benefits of their project in the environmental, economic, and
social dimensions and integrate the P3 projects into their educational curricula. Through
the program, students learn to work in a multi-disciplinary environment and to make
collaborative, interdisciplinary decisions. By integrating Sustainability concepts into
fundamental education, P3 is helping to create a future workforce with an awareness of
the impact of its work on the environment, economy, and society.

In addition to CNS and P3,  the  SRS  MYP is also supporting  a project that aims  to
catalyze  change  within the academic  research  and  educational  communities. The
engineering curriculum benchmarking project  identifies curricula development activities
relating to Sustainability, campus centers or institutes for Sustainability, university-hosted
Sustainability conferences, institutional support for research relating to  Sustainability,
opportunities to  pursue  concentrations  or joint  degrees relating to  Sustainability,
designated  faculty focusing their research and/or teaching on Sustainability, and campus
lectures on Sustainability. Identifying and highlighting these activities will inspire others
to learn from  and improve upon them.

Specific  research  activities  and additional  new  programs   that  derive  from the
Sustainability Research Strategy will be addressed in the new  Science  and Technology
for Sustainability (STS) MYP.  The STS  MYP focuses more  on critical  and  emerging
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
sustainability challenges, particularly those that can be addressed in  partnership with
Program and Regional Offices. For example:

        •   Green Chemistry and Engineering are  supported in the MYP with research
           that underpins general methodologies or specific sustainability challenges of
           concern, such as preventing long-term chemical and biological impacts.

        •   The MYP includes research that supports information and decision-making
           tools, such as Integrated  Systems Analysis (ISA), Life Cycle Assessment
           (LCA) and Materials Flow Analysis (MFA), and the application of these tools
           to emerging issues.

        •   The  MYP  supports  basic systems research that  underlies a more general
           dynamic  multi-scale systems  understanding,  including  the  relationships
           among Renewable Resources, Non-Renewable Resources, and Human-Built
           Systems,  as well as an understanding  of vulnerability  and resilience. This
           research also feeds into the development of future scenarios and decision-
           making tools.

        •   The  MYP supports development multi-scaled sustainability metrics  and
           indicators that assess and measure progress and inform decision-making.

        •   The MYP will include verification of technologies that can contribute to the
           sustainability outcomes identified in Table 2.1.

        •   The MYP will be more focused on integrated approaches that build from the
           development of knowledge through to implementation and application.

The research portfolio described in the STS MYP is balanced according to the guidelines
offered above. Further details can be found in the MYP.
Coordination among Existing Multi-Year Plans

In the long term, understanding  systems and  developing the required  solutions for
sustainability necessitate reaching across traditionally  distinct areas of research,  i.e.,
creating additional connections across ORD's 16 or more  multi-year plans and special
initiatives. Consultations with National Program Directors (NPDs) and others responsible
for the  direction of EPA research programs that began in summer 2005 have  been
enhancing these connections and continue to prioritize  and balance research areas and
research  questions that meet both the long-term objectives of the individual  research
programs and the goals and objectives of sustainability. Table 6.1  illustrates NPD and
MYP topical areas, along with some  of their possible roles in addressing sustainability
challenges. This table  should be seen as a landscape of opportunities for collaboration
across traditionally separate  programs, rather than an  identification of priority areas.
Individual MYPs will identify their own priorities consistent with the direction offered by
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                    Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006


their corresponding Research Strategies as well as the prioritization factors and portfolio
balancing guidelines  offered in this chapter.  Strong roles  in sustainability will also be
played   by  certain  special  initiatives,  such  as  Environmental   Applications  and
Implications of Nanotechnology and the Aging Initiative.

The first formal collaboration with the STS MYP has been initiated by the Economics
and Decision  Sciences (EDS)  program. The SRS and the Environmental Economics
Research Strategy (EERS) are complementary in approach.  The EERS presents a focused
analysis of Agency research priorities in EDS. The identified EERS research priorities
dovetail nicely with the SRS integrated framework  as outlined in Figure 6.2 below. 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—under which fall five  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.  The five EERS topics in turn
will provide critical input into the SRS Research Objectives described in Chapter 5. The
penultimate goal of  this  research  collaboration is to  provide  the  behavioral science
research necessary for  developing  environmental  policies  that support  sustainability
outcomes and are cost-efficient over the long term.

                       Figure 6.2. Integration of EERS and SRS
SRS-
Behavioral Sciences Research and Sustainability
How individual, firm and institutional behavior enables/prevents sustainable outcomes
Chemes
II II
t \
Economics & Human Behavior j Information & Decision-Making

  EERS topics
 • Health Benefits Valuation: value of
 mortality & morbidity risks associated with
 pollution
 • Ecological benefits valuation: eco-
 system services value
 • Market Mechanisms & Incentives:
 effectiveness & potential of trading programs
                      L
                                  IT
• Environmental Behavior and Decision-
making: how consumers & producers meet
their environmental obligations under
mandatory/voluntary initiatives
• Benefits of environmental information
disclosure: how information disclosure
improves efficiency of decision-making
    SRS
  Objectives
1.  Economic Instruments: trading schemes
   & 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 analyses)
    1.   Decision-support tools to help
        policy makers, corporate
        officials, engineers,
        local/regional planners identify
        and implement sustainable
        options
    2.   Collaborative decision-making
 Cost efficient environmental policies & outcomes for US business and consumers
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ORD-Wide Efforts

As National Program Directors (NPDs) identify the ORD's priority research areas, ORD
is gathering data and information to create and cultivate an interactive directory and data
repository for active Sustainability researchers and research activities. This information
clearinghouse will identify sustainability-related research activities and products that are
accessible  to Federal,  state,  and local decision-makers  seeking  more  options  for
advancing  Sustainability.  More importantly, it will facilitate dialog and  collaboration
among  the  Agency and  the nation's  community  of Sustainability practitioners and
researchers  through periodic scientific  conferences  and other means,  leading  to  the
interactions and  exchange  required to  develop  more multidisciplinary and  practical
approaches  to addressing the nation's environmental challenges.  The discussions will
further touch on new skills and expertise that may be required in ORD's intramural or
extramural programs to address Sustainability issues.

ORD is also joining with the Office of the Chief Financial Officer and other stakeholders
in  the Foresight  and  the Future of Environmental  Quality  program.  This  program
identifies major emerging technological, sociological, demographic, and environmental
trends, transformations, and disruptions and examines how awareness of these changes
can inform  strategies for  dealing with long-term  issues. It will serve several additional
purposes:

       •  Building organizational  capability  and raising awareness of ORD's futures
          efforts,

       •  Enhancing understanding by ORD managers and staff of emerging issues and
          future risks and benefits,

       •  Increasing  inter-   and  intra-agency   collaboration   among   customers,
          stakeholders, and partners; and

       •  Communicating any key findings and recommendations.

To  align with the Sustainability Research Strategy, the Foresight  and the Future  of
Environmental Quality program  is  evolving to  further  emphasize connection and
integration  across  futures activities in  ORD  and  to  encourage more scientists and
programs to draw  on futures methods. As a first step, a handbook of futures techniques,
scenarios, and sample applications prepared by ORD will describe the value of futures
thinking and explain specific types of applied futures methods. The handbook will be
provided to NPDs  and later distributed to ORD scientists and engineers.
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Table 6.1. Potential Sustainability Challenge Areas Addressed by Multi-Year Plans

             X - some association        XX - strong association
NPD Area
Air
Global Change &
Mercury
Water Quality
Drinking Water
Human Health
Ecological Risk
Pesticides, Toxics,
and ECDs
Contaminated Sites/
Resource
Conservation
MYP
Air Toxics
Particulate Matter
Tropospheric Ozone
Global Change
Mercury
Water Quality
Drinking Water
Human Health
Ecological Research
Endocrine Disrupters
Safe Pesticides
Toxics
Contaminated Sites
Hazardous Waste
Economics and
Decision Sciences
Renewable
Resources



X

XX


XX






Non-renewable
Resources
X
X
X
X
X










Chemical &
Bio. Impacts




XX
X

XX
X
XX
XX
XX

XX

Human-built
Environment
X
X
X
XX


XX








Economics &
Behavior



X










XX
Information &
Decisions


X
X



X
X





XX
Collaboration and Partnership

Given the relatively low level of resources and the small number of decisions that ORD
directly controls, it is clear that pursuing research in support of Sustainability will be
impossible without strong partnerships in many areas.  This section describes ORD's
strategy for cooperation with partners and stakeholders to implement the Sustainability
strategy.

With EPA Program and Regional Offices
EPA is slowly evolving its governance approaches and research programs to better meet
current program and regional needs and to anticipate future problems. New programs are
emerging that reflect a broadening of the Agency's focus from environmental protection
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to sustainability. Numerous EPA programs are preventive, anticipate future problems,
take a multimedia perspective, and/or draw on non-regulatory policy mechanisms.

       •  Internal efforts in the Office of Solid Waste are shifting its emphasis from
          handling waste to managing materials—supported by research on  material
          flows analysis and life cycle assessment and linked to cross-office efforts in
          Multi-Media Materials Management (M4) and product stewardship.

       •  The Office  of Water's Low Impact Development (LID) program addresses
          low-impact  storm-water  management;  its  National  Estuaries   program
          addresses protection and restoration of estuaries and aquatic ecosystems.

       •  Several  OPPT  programs—such  as Design  for the  Environment,  Green
          Chemistry, Green Engineering, Pollution Prevention, and the Green Suppliers
          Network—are encouraging conservation of materials,  water, and energy and
          the move from toxic to safer chemicals.

A key  element of the ORD implementation  strategy is  to work  with  Program and
Regional Offices to assess future research needs that can best support the move towards
sustainability.  ORD intends to set up a series of Program Office Sustainability Dialogues
to explore how the mission needs of Program and Regional Office can be met more
proactively through application of technologies, decision-making tools, and collaborative
problem solving aimed at sustainability  outcomes.

With States and EPA Regions
Many of the critical decisions on sustainability are made at state and local levels. A key
element of the ORD Research  Strategy is to  support EPA Regional Offices and state
partners in ensuring that the best decision support tools are available and used in critical
management decisions. A second key element is to ensure that ORD staff is available to
work with state and  regional  officials  in building collaborative  partnerships.  The
Sustainable  Sandhills  project  in North Carolina,  funded  through  the  CNS  program
described earlier in this chapter, is a model of such collaboration. In this case, 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. The larger  group is
helping decision-makers  plan for the regional  population  and economic growth by
applying a set of analytical decision-support models. The  goal is an effective  regional
plan that is cost-effective, environmentally sound, and sustainable.

The Sandhills example  reflects  a general strategy  of integrating and  synthesizing
knowledge generated across various ORD research programs to more effectively address
sustainability-related questions and support decision-making at the regional level. Figure
6.3 depicts how the  STS, EDS, GEOSS, Global  Change, and Ecosystems  research
programs  will  collaborate  to  support regional projects that apply  scientific  and
engineering  data,  methods, tools, and technologies  to solve  problems  and   support
decision-making. The regional projects are an integrating mechanism across the plans and
strategies. Methods, tools,  and approaches developed can be transferred and  applied
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elsewhere,  in some cases through other EPA programs (such as  CARE and Targeted
Watersheds). The  communication  between  the  regional  projects and  the  more
fundamental and disciplinary research supported by the plans and strategies will be bi-
directional. Through these regional projects, ORD will  potentially be able to identify
additional important core research questions and prioritize needs in fundamental methods
development.
  Figure 6.3. Research Integration to Support Sustainable Regional Decision-Making
          STS

         EDS

  GEOSS/AMI


 Global Change

    Ecosystems
 Integration through
S&T for Sustainability
      MYP
 Application of
New Approaches
^^

Regional
Approaches
to Sustainability:
CMS, SES
Thr
New Integrated
Approaches
Dugh Other Progrj
CARE,
EJ CPS,
Targeted
Watersheds,
Regions, States

With Industry
A large proportion of all research in technology and technology systems will produce real
benefits only if its findings are implemented by industry. In some instances this means
working  with industry  on  applied chemistry or  engineering problems. It  may mean
working with industry to develop tools and approaches to help firms better understand the
long-term environmental, economic, and social costs and benefits of their decisions. EPA
has long-standing cooperative agreements  with  industry  organizations  such  as  the
American Chemistry Council, and is currently negotiating a new partnership with the
biotechnology industry. It will expand partnerships with business associations such as the
Business Roundtable and the Conference Board. It is exploring application of existing
and new Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADAs) to facilitate
work with industry on key sustainability-related problems.

With Federal Agencies
Because EPA's overall and environmental research budgets are small relative to the rest
of the Federal  government, it is  important  to  collaborate with  other  agencies  in
developing Sustainability research  priorities and programs. Table 6.2 illustrates some
opportunities for collaborating on research and/or programs with other Federal Agencies,
categorized by Sustainability resource area. For example, USDA and DOI  (USGS) each
support research that  relates  to land  management  and  development,  and  DOD
(particularly the Army) is increasingly focusing on its  stewardship of land on and around
military bases. NSF supports research on new materials  and chemicals, some of which
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
are environmentally preferable over a product life cycle, and DOT (USGS) collects and
publicly shares data on the use of materials in the economy.
 Table 6.2. Opportunities for Research or Program Collaboration across Agencies,
                         by Sustainability Resource Area
                X - some opportunity
XX - strong opportunity

DOD
DOE
DOI
EPA
NASA
NOAA
NSF
USDA
Air

X

XX
XX
XX
X

Ecosystems
X

XX
XX


XX

Energy
X
XX

X


X

Land
XX

XX
XX


X
XX
Materials
X

XX
X


XX
X
Water


XX
XX

XX
XX
X
ORD is also working with other Federal agencies through the Office of Science and
Technology Policy (OSTP)'s  Council  on  the  Environment and  Natural  Resources
(CENR). Activities for this  multi-agency Council  include  creating an inventory of
sustainability-related scientific and technical tools; reviewing research related to effective
use of materials and energy and to development of benign materials; reviewing research
relating to sustainable ecosystems; identifying relevant  societal  trends and emerging
issues; and  identifying potential  multi-agency pilot projects. It will be important for
CENR to  collaborate  on Sustainability research issues with such other OSTP working
groups and committees as the Surface Water Availability and Quality subcommittee, the
Ecosystem Research Working Group, the Working Group on Earth Observations, the
Metabolic Engineering Working  Group, the Social and Behavioral Science Working
Group, and the Critical Infrastructure Working Group.

There are additional  sustainability-related programmatic activities  across the Federal
government. A 2004 Office of the Federal Environmental Executive (OFEE) and EPA
Sustainability workshop  revealed  a wealth of  Federal  activities,  but as  paucity of
coordination and policy coherence. Results of this workshop contributed to the creation
of the OFEE-led Stewardship and Sustainability Council and of the CENR Sustainability
working group mentioned  above. ORD intends  to  continue to work with OFEE on
coordinating and integrating Sustainability research efforts with other Federal agencies.
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With Academia
Sustainability  research is a focal point in  many  university research  and engineering
programs,  laboratories, and  centers. ORD interacts with  the university community
primarily through its extramural STAR  research grants (including CNS) and fellowship
programs.  The  P3  student  Sustainability  design competition  and  the  engineering
curriculum  benchmarking  project  described  earlier in  this  chapter are catalyzing
leadership within academia.

University researchers are more than just grantees of EPA or other agencies. Universities
develop and possess specific Sustainability knowledge in engineering,  natural  sciences,
social  sciences,  business, and law. Universities  can make strategic  contributions to
Sustainability  through  research  and   education  that  promotes  social  justice  and
environmental stewardship. By interacting with universities and investing in  research and
education, EPA can help to catalyze the development and refinement of academic fields
that can contribute to Sustainability.

Taking these factors into account, a  key  objective of the Sustainability Research Strategy
is to foster closer ties among universities, ORD laboratories, and other EPA Program and
Regional Offices to catalyze research on current environmental problems, potential future
problems, and sustainable solutions. ORD  began in  2006  to  conduct visits  to major
university Sustainability research centers to discuss coordination and  collaboration on
emerging frontier research issues.

With International Partners
EPA has been collaborating on Sustainability issues with other industrial nations: with the
Austrian government, EPA hosted a  2004 international workshop on systems analysis and
modeling;  in  2005 the  Agency hosted an international  workshop  on  Sustainability
research. EPA consults closely with the EC, its  member countries, Canada, and Japan,
which  have each been developing sustainable research strategies.52 These  countries have
proposed  several areas for  research cooperation  with EPA, including joint  work on
assessing  implications of new technologies, green chemistry and chemical screening,
environmental monitoring, implications  and  applications of nanotechnology, assessment
and informatics,  systems analysis, and human health impacts. Through partnerships with
international governmental  and  academic  research  centers,  EPA  intends  use  this
emerging  international focus  on Sustainability  research to leverage its resources for
achieving its mission.

These  new research  partnerships  complement the  ongoing  agreements and other
cooperation  on   science  and  technology  within the  Organization  for Economic
Cooperation and  Development  (OECD)  and  within  the  G8's  2003  Science  and
Technology for Sustainable Development Action Plan.  The G8 plan focuses  on areas that
are also 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.
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Identification of Future Research Opportunities

As ORD identifies and integrates a collection of sustainability research efforts that are
currently underway and/or strongly related to Multi-Year Plans, it will be important to
identify gaps that suggest future research needs and potential demonstration projects.
This process will be ongoing and will proceed from the prioritization  factors discussed
earlier in this chapter.

To begin to identify  gaps  and research needs, ORD is hosting a series  of workshops on
topics relating to the six  sustainability themes, the stewardship/sustainability resource
areas, and  integrated systems.  The first in the series was the May 2005  international
workshop  mentioned  above—"Meeting the   Future:   A   Research   Agenda  for
Sustainability"—which  introduced  a  broad  array of topics from  the implications of
emerging technologies through  ecological vulnerabilities to analyzing the  business case
for sustainability.53 ORD  expects to follow up on the European  Commission proposal
growing out of this workshop for cooperation in  a several sustainability research areas.
ORD hosted a workshop examining  economic aspects  of sustainability  in December
2005. And a multi-agency  Federal  Sustainability Research Summit is planned in
collaboration with the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive (OFEE) for the fall
of 2006.

Achieving  Success

Advances in science and technology form a foundation that can lead to a wide array of
opportunities to move towards a sustainable future.
       •   Technological advance, such as through green chemistry and engineering, can
           enable  society to prevent or  avoid  pollution and associated health  and
           ecological risks and to use resources more efficiently.

       •   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  materials flow analysis) can enable us
           to better understand over time health  effects, environmental conditions,  and
           underlying societal causes.

       •   Future analysis can  enable us to  better  anticipate  and prepare  for potential
           societal transformations (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  that support
           decision-making that advances the protection  of human health and the natural
           environment now and for future generations.
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In short, this Sustainability Research Strategy serves our national environmental needs in
ways that also support our economy and our society.  The potential long-term national
benefits from  pursuing the  lines of research identified in the Sustainability  Research
Strategy are clear and compelling:

       •   It will enable communities  and regions to envision, plan, develop, manage,
          and restore their infrastructure and spaces such that materials and energy  are
          conserved and the quality of air and water, community health, and the quality
          of human life are protected for the future while economic and social  needs  are
          met,

       •   It will enable industry and consumers to benefit from advances in  scientific
          understanding  and technology to  support  the  design  and manufacture  of
          materials and products over multiple life cycles such that the environment and
          public health are protected and resources  are conserved while economic and
          social objectives are met, and

       •   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 environment.
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                APPENDIX 1. SCIENCE ADVISORY BOARD REPORTS
          RELEVANT TO THE ORD SUSTAINABILITY RESEARCH STRATEGY
1988   Future Risk: Research Strategies for the 1990's, EPA-SAB-EC-88-040

       SAB recommends that EPA increase attention to ecological matters and calls for a
       program to determine and analyze the status and trends of the nation's ecosystems.

1990   Reducing Risk: Setting Priorities and Strategies for Environmental Protection,
       EPA-SAB-EC-90-021

       SAB makes recommendations to EPA on strategies for reducing risk and fostering a
       more integrated and targeted national environmental policy, including setting risk-based
       priorities; reducing ecological risk, focusing on pollution prevention but also including
       tools such as market incentives; increasing efforts to integrate environmental
       considerations into broader aspects of public policy; improving public understanding of
       environmental risks; and developing methods to value natural resources and account
       for long-term environmental effects in economic analyses.

1992   Review of Draft Pollution Prevention Research Strategic Plan, EPA-SAB-EEC-
       LTR-92-007

1993   Review of Draft Stimulating Environmental Progress: A Social Science Research
       Agenda, EPA-SAB-RSAC-LTR-93-00

1995   Beyond the Horizon: Using Foresight to Protect the Environmental Future
       (FUTURES project), EPA-SAB-EC-95-007

       SAB recommends that EPA work with other organizations to develop a "futures"
       capability, a capability to anticipate future environmental conditions and analyze the
       actions needed to improve them. SAB specifically recommends that EPA (1) give as
       much attention to avoiding future environmental problems as controlling current ones;
       (2) establish an early-warning system to identify potential future environmental risks; (3)
       stimulate coordinated national efforts to anticipate and respond to environmental
       change; and (5) recognize that global environmental quality is a matter of strategic
       national interest.

1995   Ecosystem Management: Imperative for a Dynamic World Ecosystem
       Management (FUTURES project), EPA-SAB-EPEC-95-003

       SAB recommends the routine and systematic use of futures analysis to establish a
       comprehensive perspective on future ecological risks; stresses the need to consider
       ecosystem products and services,  and the integration of ecological and societal goals;
       and reaffirms the conclusions in Reducing Risk (1990) that national ecological risks are
       dominated by larger-scale and longer-time issues.
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1995   Human Exposure Assessment: A Guide to Risk Reduction and Research
       Planning (FUTURES project), EPA-SAB-IAQC-95-005

       SAB recognizes the importance of exposure assessment in preventing the occurrence
       of adverse effects to human health and the environment, and encourages the
       establishment of an early-warning system, development of more integrated research
       programs, and interdisciplinary collaboration.

1995   Futures Methods and Issues, Technical Annex, EPA-SAB-EC-95-007A

1995   Future Issues in Environmental Engineering (FUTURES project), EPA-EEC-95-004

       SAB suggests that EPA establish "lookout" panels to regularly scan the horizon for
       future technology-related issues and recommend near-term actions based on projected
       futures. Some possible future technological concerns SAB identified include fossil fuel
       depletion, industrial accidents and/or terrorist activities, and deterioration of urban
       infrastructure.

1997   Environmental Goals for America, EPA-SAB-EEC-97-007

       SAB makes recommendations for improving the Environmental  Goals for America
       document, including the following: link individual goals and their associated strategies
       to each other; promote pollution prevention as the major path to long-term
       sustainability; develop monetary and non-monetary incentives for waste
       reduction/pollution prevention activities; establish sound science to lead to wiser
       decision-making; and include a specific goal for environmental education to improve the
       nation's scientific understanding and ability to make future environmental decisions.

1997   First Report from the SAB Lookout Panel: Focus on Water Issues, EPA-SAB-EC-
       LTR-97-003

       In a brief, non-comprehensive look beyond the horizon, SAB offers three water-related
       issues that could have significant implications for the EPA and the country: (1) the
       quantity of available high-quality water; (2) the growth of high water use industries; and
       (3) the status of water infrastructure.

1997   Second Report from SAB Lookout Panel: Meeting with OPP Managers, EPA-SAB-
       EC-LTR-97-006

       SAB suggests that EPA develop scenarios to evaluate ecological risk and mechanisms
       that allow for cross-agency sharing of information in order to more holistically assess
       environmental needs.

1998   An SAB Advisory on Economic Research Topics and Priorities, EPA-SAB-EEAC-
       ADV-98-005

       SAB ranks research on methods  of valuing ecosystem services as a top economic
       research priority at EPA.

2000   Toward Integrated Environmental Decision-Making, EPA-SAB-EC-00-011

       SAB proposes a Framework for Integrated Environmental Decision-making that
       describes how a broader array of considerations and participants should affect
       environmental decision-making in the future. At the core of the framework is integrated
       thinking about complex environmental problems, resources, and analyses to address
       the problems as they occur in the real world, and integrated input from the public and
       interested and affected parties.
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2000  Commentary on the Role of Science in New Approaches to Environmental
      Decision-Making that Focus on Stakeholder Involvement, EPA-SAB-EC-COM-00-
      002

      SAB supports EPA efforts to involve stakeholders in the decision-making process and
      urges EPA to ensure that broad public interest is served by effectively using science in
      decision processes.

2001  Commentary Resulting from a Workshop on the Diffusion and Adoption of
      Innovations in Environmental Protection, EPA-SAB-EEC-COM-01-001

      SAB recommends that EPA would benefit substantially from a modest research and
      demonstration effort aimed at utilizing current knowledge in the  social sciences
      concerning strategies and techniques of diffusing innovations.

2002  The Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Water and Watersheds Grants Program:
      An EPA Science Advisory Board Review, EPA-SAB-EPEC-02-001

      SAB recommends that EPA continue to fund the Water and Watersheds component of
      the STAR grants program and suggests that ORD produce "State of the Science"
      reports that review and analyze collective findings of STAR-funded research,  and
      develop a process to systematically distill and communicate research findings to
      Program and Regional Offices and state agencies.

2002  A Framework for Assessing and Reporting on Ecological Condition: An  SAB
      Report, EPA-SAB-EPEC-02-009

      SAB suggests that better information about ecological condition is a pre-requisite for
      better EPA decision-making and prioritizing and for preventing future environmental
      problems. SAB provides a checklist of essential ecological attributes that can  be  used
      to assess ecological condition.

2002  Industrial Ecology: a Commentary by the EPA Science Advisory Board,  EPA-
      SAB-EEC-COM-02-002

      SAB proposes that industrial ecology—a systems approach to environmental
      analysis—could help EPA address environmental policy challenges, and identifies the
      need for better understanding of the potential and limitations of  several  approaches,
      including technological innovation; voluntary and cooperative approaches to
      environmental management;  recycling and reuse; reduction in the amounts of materials
      used in products; and substitution of scarce resources with those  that are more
      plentiful.

2004  Review of the Environmental Economics Research Strategy of the  U.S.
      Environmental Protection Agency; A Report by the EPA Science Advisory Board,
      EPA-SAB-04-007

      SAB identifies additional economic research needs  that should  be included in EPA's
      Environmental Economics Research Strategy, including economists working closely
      with ecologists to value bundles of ecosystem services rather than changes in single
      services.

2005  Advisory Review of EPA's Draft Ecological Benefit Assessment Strategic Plan:
      An Advisory by the SAB Committee on Valuing the Protection of Ecological
      Systems and Services, EPA-SAB-ADV-05-004

      SAB recommends that EPA adopt a framework for assessing the  benefits of ecological
      protection in agency decision-making.
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2005   EPA's Draft Report on the Environment (ROE) 2003: An Advisory by the ROE
       Advisory Panel of the SAB, EPA-SAB-05-004

       SAB finds that the Report on the Environment is a critical document, essential for U.S.
       efforts to support sustainable use of natural resources for future generations. SAB
       recommends that EPA produce future Reports on the Environment on a regular basis.
       SAB also gives several recommendations for improving the report, including
       incorporating indicator data relevant to climate change; integrating indicators across
       media; adding information on missing indicators, such as information on large scale
       water availability and human water use and demand; and including analysis of much
       greater statistical rigor in order to develop informative syntheses, identify patterns, and
       depict trends.

2006   Advisory on EPA's Regional Vulnerability Assessment Program, EPA-SAB-ADV-
       06-001

       SAB recommends that EPA support efforts to develop the Regional Vulnerability
       Assessment Program (ReVA), a program to develop tools and methods for estimating
       future ecosystem vulnerability and illustrating trade-offs associated with alternative
       environmental and economic policies on a regional scale.
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                                ACRONYMS

3Rs          Reduce, Reuse and Recycle
AMI         Advanced Monitoring Initiative
BOSC        Board of Scientific Counselors
BRIC        Brazil, Russia, India and China
CCSP        Climate Change Sciences Program
CENR        Committee on Environment and Natural Resources
CNS         Collaborative Science and Technology Network for Sustainability
ETV         Environmental Technology Verification Program
ESTE        Environmental Sustainable Technology Evaluation program
G8           The eight major industrialized nations: U.S., Japan, Canada, France,
             Germany, Italy, UK, and Russia
GEOSS      Global Earth Observation System of Systems
ISA          Integrated Systems Analysis
LCA         Life Cycle Assessment
MARKAL    Market Allocation
MFA        Material Flow Analysis
MYP        Multi-Year Plan
NPD         National Program Director
OECD        Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
OFEE        Office of the Federal Environmental Executive
OMB        Office of Management and Budget
ORD         Office of Research and Development
OSWER     Office of Solid Waster and Emergency Response
P2NT        Pollution Prevention and New Technology (P2NT)
P3           People, Prosperity, and Planet Student Design Program
RCC         Resource Conservation Challenge
SAB         Science Advisory Board
SES          Sustainable Environmental Systems
SRS          Sustainability Research Strategy
STS          Science and Technology for Sustainability
TSE          Technology for a Sustainable Environment
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                                  END NOTES
1 An open period for public comment beginning in February 2006 will precede the
definition of final goals and objectives of the Draft 2006-2011 EPA Strategic Plan.
2 Preface to Everyday Choices: Opportunities for Environmental Stewardship. IAC
Report to the Administrator, November 2005. (www.epa.gov/innovation)
3 National Research Council, Building a Foundation for Sound Environmental Decisions.
Washington: NAS Press, 1997.
4 Unlocking Our Future: Toward a New National Science Policy. House Committee on
Science.  September 24, 1998.
5 BOSC Review of ORD Global Change Research Program (draft, December 13, 2005)
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."
6 www.epa.gov/indicators/roe
7 Source  of population data:  Water Availability in the Western United States. USGS
Circular  1261 (2005).
8 Dreaming with BRICS: The Path to 2050. Goldman Sachs Economic Report #99.
October 2003. www.gs.com/insight/research/reports/report6.html
9 Gro Harlem Brundtland, Our Common Future; World Commission on Environment and
Development. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.
10 Administrator William Reilly may have been the first EPA Administrator to articulate
the need  for a broader sustainability focus.  "I don't think we will be able to say, in the
popular phrase of the moment," he said, "that we have attained a sustainable level of
development until we function in harmony with these ecosystems and learn to keep them
productive. [EPA] is not, nor ought to be, fundamentally about reducing this effluent or
that emission, but rather about protecting the totality of the environment."
www.epa.gov/history/publications/reilly/21.htm
11 The sustainability research program, like the global change program, affects decision-
makers at all levels of government and in the public and private sector. Achieving
sustainable outcomes, such as mitigation against global change, are  best addressed in a
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collective manner. See BOSC Review of the ORD Global Change Research Program
Final Draft, December 13, 2005, pg. 2.
12
  C.S. Rollings. "Understanding the Complexity of Economics, Ecological and Social
Systems." Ecosystems 2001, 4: 390-405.
13
  Joseph. Fiksel, "A Framework for Sustainable Materials Management," Journal of
Materials., August 2006 (in press).
14
  Mark T. Anderson and Lloyd H. Woosley, 2005 Water Availability for the Western
United States: Key Scientific Challenges. USGS Circular 1261.
15 www.millenniumassessment.org
16 Richard Sparks, "Rethinking, Then Rebuilding New Orleans," Issues in Science and
Technology (Winter 2006), 33-39. "Planners should look to science to guide the
rebuilding, and scientists now advise that the most sensible strategy is to work with the
forces of nature rather than trying to over power them."
17
  BOSC Review of Ecological Research Program (draft), August 2005.
18 See www.epa.gov/ncea/ROEIndicators/tfchapter5
19 For rapporteur's summary and presenters' precis papers of the EPA-sponsored forum
on "Sustainability, Weil-Being, and Environment Protection: What's an Agency to Do?"
seewww.epa.gov/sustainability/econforum
20 Tared Diamond, Collapse (TSTew York: Viking, 2004). Diamond argues that the natural
system is at the center of economic growth. Rejecting the common assertion that "(t)he
environment has to be balanced against the economy," he insists that "(t)his quote
portrays environmental concerns as a luxury, views measures to solve environmental
problems as incurring a net cost, and considers leaving environmental problems unsolved
to be a money-saving device. This one-liner puts the truth exactly backward" (pg. 503).
21 Robert T. Lackey, Denise H. Lach, and Sally Duncan, "Wild Salmon in Western North
America: Forecasting the Most Likely Status in 2100" (in press).
22 See EPA Draft Report on the Environment 2003 at
www.epa.gov/indicators/roe/index.htm Also "State of the Nation's Ecosystems," Heinz
Center, 2003. www.heinzctr.org/ecosystems/index.htm
23 Several panelists proposed that Sustainability should incorporate non-declining levels of
ecosystem services and community welfare, as well as distributional equity among
generations; specifically, a sustainable economy preserves its capacity to generate
income, which is made possible because natural capital is maintained (Bhavik Bakshi).
Sustainability encompasses two equally important functions: fairly distributing economic
benefits over time and limiting the negative environmental impact of economic activity
(Geoffrey Heal). Another way to measure Sustainability is to ask whether a current action
(or absence of action) leaves future decision-makers with less desirable options than
those enjoyed by the current generation (William Pizer).
24
  EPA SAB, Commentary on Industrial Ecology, 2002. Also SAB Review of Science and
Research Budgets for FY2006, March 30, 2006.
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25 See www.epa.gov/epaoswer/osw/conserve
26 DOE and USD A, Biomass as Feedstock for a Bioenergy and Bioproducts Industry:
The Technical Feasibility of a Billion Ton Annual Supply.
http://wwwl.eere.energy.gov/biomass/pdfs/fmal_billionton_vision_report2.pdf
27 www.epa.gov/chemrtk/hazchem.htm
28 The Draft 2006-2011 EPA Strategic Plan Architecture document is available for public
comment, www.epa.gov/ocfo/plan/06draftarch.pdf
29 See "A Framework for Computational Toxicology." ORD. EPA 600/R-03/065
November 2003.
30 See www.epa.gov/osa/nanotech.htm
31 The drafting of this Research Strategy coincides with the major human and physical
impacts of hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast. In coming years, as attention shifts to
rebuilding the affected areas, questions will arise as to how humans and nature can
coexist in this region. The ability to plan and respond to natural disasters is an important
element of Sustainability planning.
32 National Academies Press, 2001. www.nap.edu/catalog/9975.html
33 Draft BOSC Program Review of Land Restoration and Preservation Program Review,
January 2006.
34 See www.smarte.org/smarte/home/index.xml
35 See Regional Summaries of State and Tribal Issues and Priorities for the 2006-2011
Strategic Plan Revision, www.epa.gov/ocfopage/plan/regions/index.htm
36 BOSC Review of Ecological Research Program. August 2005, pg.18.
37 For rapporteur's summary and presenters' precis papers of the EPA-sponsored forum
on "Sustainability, Weil-Being, and Environment Protection: What's an Agency to Do?"
seewww.epa.gov/sustainability/econforum
38 See www.epa.gov/ncer
39 See
http://cfpub3.epa.gov/ncer_abstracts/index.cfm/fuseacti on/display.institutionlnfo/instituti
on/1327
40 See GOESS 10-Year Implementation Plan Reference Document, www.epa.gov/geoss
41 See www. epa. gov/innovation
42 Everyday Choices: Opportunities for Environmental Stewardship: Technical Report
2005).
43 NACEPT Subcommittee on Environmental Technology March 23 2006.
44 OSWER has recommended that ORD look at proposed new methodologies for
assessing environmental  impacts and provide guidance on appropriate support tools for
policy-makers. Although MFA is a valuable tool, it is primary focus is on volumes and
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                   Draft ORD Sustainability Research Strategy—May 4, 2006
weights of materials. A clearer measure of environmental impact of 3R-type programs is
need.
45 All three concepts rely on strong scientific input to help decision-making achieve
measurable and sustainable outcomes. Michael Leavitt, EPA's former Administrator, and
current Administrator Steve Johnson have been making collaborating problem solving an
important element of EPA's governance agenda.  Similarly, the concept of collaborative
conservation as outlined in an Executive Order (August 26, 2004) requires EPA (and four
other agencies) to actively engage all stakeholders when  implementing conservation and
environmental projects. Finally, EPA is also promoting environmental stewardship -
defined as shared values and responsibilities among stakeholders for environmental
protection.
46 www.epa.gov/CARE
47 www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice/grants/ej _smgrants.html
48 www.epa.gov/compliance/environmentaljustice/grants/ej-cps-grants.html
49 www. epa. gov/ncer/cns.
50 www. epa. gov/ncer/rfa
51 www. epa. gov/innovation
52 The EU is promoting National Strategies for Sustainable Development:
www.nssd.net/index.html. The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research
released its 2004_Research for Sustainability (www.fona.de/eng/). France issued its
National Strategy for Sustainable Development (reported at www.nssd.net/index.html):
the French-language text of the strategy is at
www.ecologie.gouv.fr/rubrique.php37id rubrique= 12 Environment Canada has
established an Environmental Foresight Branch with the  mission of providing analysis
and advice on emerging environmental issues to inform the proactive development of
national environmental policy (www.ec.gc.ca/envhome.html).
53
  For the agenda, highlights, and each of the 40-plus presentations, see
www.epa.gov/sustainability/Workshop0505/index.htm
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