### U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

# SUSTAINABILITY

and the

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES 

## National Advisory Committee for Environmental Policy & Technology 

## November 14, 2011• To advance science and technology

• To advise government and

the nation

• On policy for advancing science, engineering and

medicine

• On applications of science, engineering, and medicine to policy issues 

## The AcademiesTHE NATIONAL ACADEMIES 

# Sustainability and the U.S. EPA

Science and Technology for Sustainability Program
Policy and Global Affairs Division

National Research Council

The National Academies• A committee under the Science and Technology for Sustainability Program conducted a study at the request of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Office of Research and Development to help define efforts to incorporate sustainability concepts into agency programs

• This study builds on existing sustainability efforts in EPA by strengthening the analytic and scientific basis for sustainability as it applies to human health and environmental protection within the agency's decision

- making process 

## Sustainability and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency• Bernard Goldstein (IOM) (Chair)

- University of Pittsburgh

• Leslie Carothers

– Environmental Law Institute

• Terry Davies

– Resources for
the Future

• John Dernbach

– Widener University School of Law

• Paul Gilman

– Covanta Energy Corporation

• Neil Hawkins

– The Dow Chemical Company • Michael Kavanaugh (NAE)

– Geosyntec Consultants

• Steve Polasky (NAS)

– University of Minnesota

• Kenneth Ruffing

– Organisation for Economic Co

- operation and Development

• Ted Russell

– Georgia Tech

• Susanna Sutherland

– City of Knoxville

• Lauren Zeise

– California Environmental Protection Agency 

## Sustainability and the USEPA Committee Members• Study launched November 30, 2011

• 2 day meeting

– December 14

- 15, 2010

• The committee heard EPA officials, state agencies, industry, universities, and non

governmental organizations during data gathering sessions

• 5 day meeting

– February 7

- 11, 2011

• Weekly conference calls 

## COMMITTEE PROCESS

# Report Released

• Pre

- Publication: August 2, 2011

• Final: September 15, 2011

### Sustainability

and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

The consensus report answers the following questions:

• What should be the operational framework for sustainability for EPA?

• What scientific and analytical tools are needed to support the

framework?

• How can the EPA decision making process rooted in the risk assessment/risk management (RA/RM) paradigm be integrated into this new sustainability framework?

• What expertise is needed to support the framework?

# Why Now?

• Current and emerging emerging problems are more complex and challenging

• Sophisticated tools are becoming increasingly available to address these complex problems

• Sustainability is becoming a common approach to
address broader economic, social and environmental

issues

• The potential value to the development and competitiveness of the United States through using a sustainability approach that allows consideration of economic and social issues in environmental protection is becoming evident• Develop a framework for EPA to solve complex environmental challenges through a more integrated, systems approach

• Similar to the 1983 NRC report Risk Assessment in the

Federal Government

• Recommended framework will be scaled up under the broader NRC study, Sustainability Linkages in the

Federal Government , that will begin in September 2011 

## Sustainability and the U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyThe committee did not devote significant time to defining sustainability. It noted that the description of environmental goals in the 1969 National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was fully consistent with sustainability. Support for these goals has been repetitively reaffirmed, including Executive Order 13514, where sustainability is defined as:

Sustainability : to create and maintain conditions, under which humans and nature can exist in productive harmony, that permit fulfilling the social, economic, and other requirements of present and future generations (NEPA 1969; Executive Order 13514, 2009). 

## DEFINITION• Sustainability is a Process and a Goal

• Staged and programmatic implementation

– will lead to accelerated programs and to a growing body of agency successes and experiences with sustainability

• Sustainability Framework Level 1: Components that define the agency

- wide process

• Sustainability Framework Level 2: Elements of Sustainability Assessment and Management (SAM) 

## APPROACH TO TASKThe committee examined the benefits, where EPA has statutory authority and discretion in regulatory and

non

- regulatory programs, of building sustainability

considerations into its administration of these

statutes. Because EPA did not request that the committee address laws pertaining to EPA or to organizational and institutional aspects of the agency’s operations, the committee did not examine these topics 

## APPROACH TO TASK

### Sustainability Framework

### Sustainability Framework

Level 1

### Sustainability Framework

Level 2The Sustainability Assessment and Management process is intended to be equally applicable to human health, ecological risks and other challenges 

## SUSTAINABILITY FRAMEWORKWhat should be the operational framework for sustainability for EPA?

The committee recommends EPA adopt the proposed Sustainability Framework

The proposed Sustainability Framework requires a comprehensive approach including specific processes for incorporating sustainability into decisions and actions.

As part of the framework, EPA should incorporate into its decision making upfront consideration of sustainability options and analyses that cover the three sustainability domains (social, environmental, and economic), as well as trade

- off considerations.

The framework was developed with the intent that EPA could apply it to any decision to which a need arose. (Recommendation 3.1)

### What scientific and analytical tools are needed to support the framework?

The committee recommends EPA develop a “sustainability toolbox” that includes a suite of tools for use in the Sustainability Assessment and Management approach.

Collectively, the suite of tools should have the ability to analyze present and future consequences of alternative decision options on the full range of social, environmental, and economic indicators.

Application of these tools, ranging from simple to complex, should have the capability for showing distributional impacts of alternative options with particular reference to vulnerable or disadvantaged groups and ecosystems. (Recommendation 4.1)• Risk Assessment

• Life

- Cycle Assessment

• Benefit

- Cost Analysis

• Ecosystem Services Valuation

• Integrated Assessment Models

• Sustainability Impact Assessment

• Environmental Justice Tools

• Present and Future Scenario Tools 

## EXAMPLES OF TOOLS• Tradeoff and synergy

– key element of SAM

• The objective is to maximize synergies (social, environmental, and economic benefits of a decision) and to minimize the adverse effects of conflicts among the three pillars

• Important for EPA to establish a systematic way to analyze and quantify alternatives

– e.g., spatially explicit models of multiple ecosystem services and biodiversity, Polasky, 2011

• Analysis can be used to identify new strategies that may improve results for key objectives 

## TRADEOFF AND SYNERGY ANALYSISTrade

- off decisions must not compromise the fundamental objective of net sustainability gain

• Maximum net gains

• Burden of argument on trade

- off proponent

• Avoidance of significant adverse effects

• Protection of the future

• Explicit justification

• Open process

*Gibson, R. 2006. Sustainability assessment: Basic components of a practical approach. IAPA 24(3):170

- 182

. 

## EXAMPLE OF A POSSIBLE TOOL

Gibson Guidelines for Approaching

Tradeoff Analysis *

### How can the EPA decision making process

rooted in the risk assessment/risk management (RA/RM) paradigm be integrated into this new sustainability

framework?

The committee recommends EPA include risk assessment as a tool, when appropriate, as a key input in its sustainability decision making. (Recommendation 5.1)In keeping with the Red Book, the Committee separated risk assessment (RA) from risk management (RM)

Four step RA paradigm reaffirmed as a valuable tool for sustainability

Committee noted that RM used in two ways currently: a formal description of EPA’s policies related to control of environmental risk and an informal term denoting any EPA approach to management of current or potential threat

Sustainability goes beyond RM as sustainability is primarily concerned with maximizing benefit, while addressing risks of concern, rather than being an exercise focused mainly on achieving risk based standards. 

## Interface Between Risk and SustainabilityThe focus on risk based standards sometimes includes

risk

- risk and risk

- benefit trade

- offs in management decisions but does not necessarily or typically encompass the social (including health), environmental, and economic pillars of sustainability

Risk management does not fully encompass the sustainability paradigm in which the management of risk is perceived as an opportunity to maximize benefits while controlling environmental harm 

## Interface Between Risk and Sustainability

## Interface Between Risk and Sustainability

## Interface Between Risk and Sustainability

SAM and RA/RM Phase I
Problem formulation and scoping

– stakeholder involvement

SAM and RA/RM Phase II
Planning and conducting assessments (including RA) to help discriminate policy options
Analysis (including trade

- off/synergy) would address critical social,

environmental and economic features associated with the different options
This stage could receive technical peer review and stakeholder comment

SAM and RA/RM Phase III

Decision

- makers consider results, struggle with trade

- offs, make

decisions

### What expertise is needed to support the framework? 1 of 2

The committee recommends that EPA hire multidisciplinary professionals who are proficient in many disciplines, who have experience in the development and implementation in the sustainability assessment tools described, and who have a working knowledge in all three pillars and their application to environmental issues.

The Agency should hire leaders and scientists including from outside sectors to aid the agency in shifting to a more cross

- cutting mind set.

Although EPA has existing staff in all the main areas of sustainability

- related fields, the agency should further facilitate collaboration among existing professional expertise to encourage dialogue and understanding of the various fields and work already being done within EPA. (Recommendation 6.10)

### What expertise is needed to support the

framework? 2 of 2

The committee recommends EPA institute a focused program of change management to achieve the goal of incorporating sustainability into of all the agency’s thinking, to foster agency

- wide innovation, to optimize the social, environmental, and economic benefits of its decisions, and create a new culture among all EPA employees. (Recommendation 6.1)• Foster change and innovation at
all levels of EPA

• Learn from others and from what you are doing

• Broaden disciplinary approaches toward understanding underlying processes

• Consider longer term time

horizons 

## Changing the Culture of the Agency• Overall management system framework for sustainability for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

• Approach driven by sustainability principles and goals and involves setting, meeting and reporting on measurable performance objectives

• Sustainability Assessment and Management (SAM) component incorporates sustainability into individual EPA decisions and actions 

## SUMMARY

# Three Overlapping Phases in the History of the EPA

1) Command and Control



## 2) Risk assessment / Risk management

3) Sustainability

# Drilling Rig in Rural Upshur County,



# WV

Source: WVSORO, Modern Shale Gas Development in the U.S.: A Primer, (2009) U.S. Dept of Energy