Sustainability Concepts in Decision-Making Tools and Approaches for the US Environmental Protection Agency (2014) / Chapter Skim
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3 Tools and Methods to Support Decision-Making
3 Tools and Methods to Support Decision-Making
Pages 28-46
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From page 28... ...
In short, EPA needs to consider the development and application of tools to inform sustainability as an on-going process, not an endpoint that is achieved prior to the integration of sustainability into decision making. In subsequent chapters, case studies are presented to consider the specific application of tools and methods for incorporating sustainability concepts into assessments used to support EPA decision making.
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From page 29... ...
System thinking at national, region, community, company, value chain, product category, and product levels is one of the fundamental premises behind a successful implementation of sustainability concepts into EPA decision making processes. ESTABLISHING THE LEVEL OF ANALYSIS NEEDED FOR AN ACTIVITY Chapter 2 discussed the wide range of EPA's activities in which sustainability considerations could be incorporated at multiple levels of activity.
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From page 30... ...
. In addition, th report indicates "As the assessmen tools and a PA n he ese nt approaches ar de re veloped and applied, Sustainability Analytics wi evolve: th assessment tools and ap a S y ill he t pproaches inc cluded in it will be more full described; additional to ly ools and appr roaches will be identified and, inform d; mation about sust tainability me etrics, indicat tors, datasets and indices w be includ will ded" (EPA 2013a, p 8)
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From page 31... ...
In the Analytics report, the link between the tool and how it can be used to provide information to support decision making related to sustainability is often not made. For example, the report did not explain explicitly how ecosystem services valuation can inform sustainability and how it could do so more effectively with additional research and development.
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From page 32... ...
The committee's rating of the tools in Appendix E should be viewed as an example of the type of ongoing assessment needed to develop and refine a full suite of sustainability assessment tools. Because the exercise may have been influenced by the degree of the committee's familiarity with the extent of development of some of the tools, the rating results should not be used as a basis for excluding any tool from consideration or for selecting the appropriate tools for a given EPA decision.
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From page 33... ...
INDIVIDUAL TOOLS AND APPROACHES The committee chose a small set of tools for discussion in this section to illustrate particularly valuable attributes for informing sustainability concepts. The discussion considers how sustainability considerations are currently incorporated into the use of these tools, and how sustainability could be incorporated to a greater extent with additional research and development.
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From page 34... ...
but the principles are generally useful and relevant when considering the issues in the entire suite of EPA sustainability tools.
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From page 35... ...
, is an important component and tool used to inform decisions in the SAM approach. Risk assessment can be used to inform considerations of sustainability concepts by estimating whether, and to what extent, public health or the environment will be affected if an action is taken.
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From page 36... ...
How Are Sustainability Considerations Currently Incorporated? A strict decision rule of adopting programs or policies that "pass" a benefit-cost test is consistent with an economic efficiency criterion, but may fail broader sustainability considerations.
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From page 37... ...
, also contained in EPA guidelines, is that all effects of a program or policy, whether they can be monetized or not, need to be clearly documented in either a BCA or CEA. This is another key tool in the context of sustainability and can be used as a general guide on how to qualitatively and quantitatively assess other sustainability metrics (for example see discussion below on ecosystem services valuation)
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From page 38... ...
. In the environmental pillar there has been a significant and ongoing scholarly effort to measure and monetize ecosystem services.
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From page 39... ...
LCA examines the potential effects associated with a product, process, or system. It can be combined with risk assessment to provide risk estimates over an entire life cycle rather than at a particular point.
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From page 40... ...
There have been efforts underway to add life cycle costing to some studies, but this is still early in the maturity of applying LCA. Moreover, some research is underway to explore how to incorporate social impacts into LCA studies.
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From page 41... ...
This effort builds on previous collaborations between EPA and the UNEP/SETAC Life cycle Initiative to develop Global Guidance Principles for Life Cycle Assessment Databases. While LCIA methods have been developed, the US impact assessment methods have not received as much resources for research and development as those in Europe.
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From page 42... ...
. Ecosystem services is only one of the approaches that can be used to assess ecosystem sustainability, explicitly linking ecosystem structure and function to human reliance and values.
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From page 43... ...
. Future incorporation of ecosystem services valuation into the sustainability context is expected to strengthen the EPA decision making process that has generally emphasized human health benefits through risk assessment and risk management paradigm.
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From page 44... ...
The tradeoffs clearly become even more difficult to make as the geographical and temporal scales expand. KEY CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Conclusion 3.1: The broad array of sustainability tools and approaches presented in EPA's sustain ability analytics report are potentially applicable in assessing possible social, environmental and economic outcomes within EPA's decision-making context.
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From page 45... ...
Recommendation 3.1.1: EPA should use concepts of sustainability to strengthen a systems-thinking approach in using current and future tools and approaches, as necessary, to support EPA decision making. The agency has many opportunities to incorporate sustainability considerations by applying those tools and approaches across the spectrum of its activities and it should do so rapidly.
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From page 46... ...
. In particular, these efforts should focus on the development and use of ecological production functions that can estimate how effects on the structure and function of ecosystems will affect the provision of ecosystem services that are directly relevant and useful to the public.
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