Sustainability and the U.S. EPA (2011) / Chapter Skim
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4 Sustainability Assessment and Management: Process, Tools, and Indicators
4 Sustainability Assessment and Management: Process, Tools, and Indicators
Pages 53-78
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From page 53... ...
The set of potential tools include risk assessment, lifecycle assessment, benefit-cost analysis, ecosystem-services valuation, integrated assessment models, sustainable impact assessment, environmental justice, and present and future scenario tools. This list is not meant to be comprehensive, nor will all of the tools be useful in all cases.
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From page 54... ...
54 SUSTAINABILILTY AND THE U.S. EPA FIGURE 4-1 A framework for EPA sustainability decisions (level 2)
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From page 55... ...
The committee recognizes that the formal Sustainability Assessment and Management process can be quite involved and may require EPA to devote analysts blame recent high prices for corn and other crops, at least in part, on biofuel demand (Runge and Senauer 2007; Mitchell 2008)
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From page 56... ...
Screening Evaluation EPA has the discretion to decide what kinds of activities or actions to ad dress in the Sustainability Assessment and Management process. Application of sustainability assessment tools, such as the risk assessment, life-cycle assessment, benefit-cost analysis, ecosystem services valuation, integrated assessment models, sustainability impact assessment, and environmental justice tools described in this chapter, can be applied to programs, policies, and projects; however, not all of them will necessarily require the application of these tools.
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From page 57... ...
Not all applications of the sustainability assessment tools need to be done at the same level of depth and detail. The distinctions made in administration of the environmental review process under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA)
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From page 58... ...
The Sustainability Assessment and Management approach should begin to develop provisional plans about the level and depth of analysis; the level, extent, and timing of stakeholder engagement; indicators by which they will judge the decision outcomes and pro cess; and collaborative opportunities to explore the range of potential solutions and approaches. To be successful, the overall sustainability process will probably involve a high degree of collaboration, including federal partners, state and local governments, as well as the private sector, nongovernmental organizations, and other stakeholders (NRC 1996, IOM 2009)
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From page 59... ...
. Application of Sustainability Tools To incorporate sustainability effectively within EPA and to achieve external adoption in various sectors, EPA will have to make use of a variety of assessment tools.
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From page 60... ...
A small subset of the most appropriate tools, including risk assessment, life-cycle assessment, benefit-cost analysis, ecosystem services valuation, integrated assessment models, sustainability impact assessment, environmental justice tools, and present and future scenario tools are described below. This list is not intended to be a comprehensive list of potential tools but rather a brief review of some important assessment tools.
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From page 61... ...
emphasized the need for tools for fuller characterizations of cumulative risks, including qualitative ones, that adequately account for the full range of chemical and other stressors, particularly for environmental justice contexts. Such risk descriptions could be useful inputs for sustainability decision making.
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From page 62... ...
These developments include, for example, integrating life-cycle analysis into benefit-cost analysis, having improved methods of estimating the value of ecosystem services, and paying close attention to distribution of benefit and costs across different groups in society to address environmental justice concerns (Pearce et al.
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From page 63... ...
Still, integrated assessment models will often be needed to understand the relationships among the social, environmental, and economic pillars of sustainability in the context of a particular decision. Sustainability Impact Assessment Sustainability impact assessment is used to analyze the probable effects of a particular project or proposal on the social, environmental, and economic pillars of sustainability.
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From page 64... ...
Present Conditions and Future Scenario Tools The Sustainability Assessment and Management approach requires an evaluation of present and future conditions to show that present decisions and actions are not compromising future human and ecologic health and well-being. A re quirement of these elements, therefore, is to be able to forecast potential future conditions as a function of the decision option chosen.
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From page 65... ...
At a minimum, this means that the forecasted premises needs to be made explicit and the uncertainty of the forecast also needs to be explicit because the robustness of the sustainability assessment will depend on the degree of uncertainty of the forecast. One standard approach to specifying future conditions is to use scenario analysis (Schwartz 1991)
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From page 66... ...
As stated in a previous NRC report (2005a, p.8) , "Federal environmental agencies should undertake an assortment of research initiatives to collect, appraise, develop, and extend analytical activities related to forecasting in order to improve environmental understanding and decision making." Trade-off and Synergy Analysis Trade-off and synergy analysis is a fundamental component of the Sustain ability Assessment and Management approach.
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From page 67... ...
The committee also expects that these trade-off rules may change over time as EPA gains greater experience with their use. Communication of Results to Decision Makers Following scoping and options identification, screening evaluation, applica tion of tools, and trade-off and synergy analysis, communication of results will need to be integrated into the decision-making process at a point when the information can be considered in formulating the policy or program or taking a major action subject to sustainability review.
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From page 68... ...
As is the case with alternatives analysis under NEPA, options in a sustainability assessment allow the decision maker to understand different ways of taking a particular action and thus provide the decision maker with more choices to reduce adverse impacts. In addition, options in a sustainability assess ment allow the decision maker to find better ways of improving social well-being, economic development, and environmental protection at the same time.
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From page 69... ...
. The plan envisions that the development of additional indicators will be useful in tracking changes in environmental justice, children's health, and regional ecosystems, such as the Great Lakes.
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From page 70... ...
Because some sustainability goals may require long-term solutions, sustain ability indicators would be applicable in the short-term but also intergenerational and usable in a long-term time frame. Inherent in sustainability is concern about intergenerational impacts, thus differentiating sustainability indicators from many commonly used environmental indicators that reflect the current state of the environment.
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From page 71... ...
The Sustainability Assessment and Management 1 The Michigan Environmental Indicators Act (P.A.
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4.2. Finding: An important step in the Sustainability Assessment and Man agement approach is an evaluation of present and future conditions to show that present decisions and actions are not compromising future human and ecologic health and well-being.
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From page 73... ...
4.3. Recommendation: The agency should develop a tiered formalized process, with guidelines, for undertaking the Sustainability Assessment and Management approach to maximize benefits across the three pillars and to ensure further intergenerational social, environmental, and economic benefits that address environmental justice.
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From page 74... ...
4.7. Finding: EPA and other organizations have developed and continue to develop environmental indicators; however, appropriately addressing sustain ability in the decision-making process will require additional attention to economic and social issues, including environmental justice (p.69)
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From page 75... ...
2008. EPA's Environmental Justice Collaborative Problem-Solving Model.
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From page 76... ...
2010. Guidance on Sustainability Impact Assessment.
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From page 77... ...
Policy Brief Paper based on the Conclusion of the SUTRA Seminar on Sustainability Impact Assessment, March 26-27, 2003, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium [online]
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