Promoting Environmental Sustainability

• Green Building
• Green Purchasing
• Green Process and Product Design
• Product Collections, Take-Backs, and Recycling
• Climate Change

Communities are increasingly interested in reducing the environmental footprint of economic activities and are looking to public agencies to encourage sustainable behaviors. Agencies are implementing sustainability initiatives internally and are encouraging other organizations and companies to adopt similar practices. Innovative sustainability practices are targeting buildings and property development, purchasing and production processes,products, and waste generation to cost-effectively lower the material requirements, energy needs, and environmental risk of economic activity.

Green Building

Green building practices will reduce environmental impacts by influencing design, construction,and deconstruction choices. Innovative practices are promoting a variety of sustainable building techniques, such as use of green building materials, energy and water-efficient design, and demolition material reuse and recycling. Other innovative practices are taking a broader perspective by facilitating sustainable design at the neighborhood or community level. Innovative green building practices are: 1) disseminating information on green building techniques; 2) developing tools to facilitate green design choices; and 3) leveraging government's ability to lead by example through its building and construction choices. Agency managers can use these techniques to address specific waste, energy, or water challenges, and to complement broader efforts to encourage environmentally sustainable behaviors.

Green Purchasing

Government agencies should stimulate demand and developing markets for environmentally preferable production products and services using their purchasing power. Public agencies are: 1) changing their own procurement practices; 2) organizing purchasing alliances to further leverage buying power; and 3) increasing access to information regarding environmental attributes of products and services. Agency managers can use innovative practices to increase the availability of environmentally preferable products and to encourage other organizations to purchase them.

Green Process and Product Design

Environmental agencies can influence business process and product design decisions that improve environmental outcomes. Innovative practices frequently: 1) target specific product constituents, such as toxic chemicals, for pollution prevention, waste minimization, and resource conservation; 2) partner directly with companies or industry associations, particularly in the product design and development phase, offering design advice and incentives to adopt green processes and products; 3) support research into environmentally preferable substances and processes; and 4) provide technical assistance and basic tools to small businesses. Agency managers can use innovative practices to help businesses understand the full (and often hidden) costs of process and product design choices.

Product Collections, Take-Backs, and Recycling

Agencies should employ innovative practices to keep toxic substances, and products containing them, from being landfilled or improperly discarded. Innovative practices, such as collection events and take back systems, are being used to address the logistical challenge of collecting dispersed, used products and wastes. For example, many jurisdictions have programs to collect scrap tires, used motor oil, and other automotive product waste. Efforts are growing to expand collection of used consumer electronic goods. Agencies are supplementing targeted waste collection activities with efforts to repair, demanufacture, and/or recycle the products, often teaming with private sector partners. Agency managers can use product collection efforts to mitigate the environmental and human health impacts of specific products or product constituents until more environmentally preferable designs emerge.

Climate Change

Public agencies are taking steps to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions while improving energy efficiency and economic performance. Public agencies are increasingly realizing that many GHG reduction efforts have additional benefits, such as reducing criteria pollutant emissions associated with energy use and combustion activities. Although addressing climate change issues can involve multi-national cooperation, efforts on a smaller scale can add up to big results. Public agencies are pursuing innovative practices that include: 1) developing GHG emission inventories; 2) establishing and committing to GHG reduction goals and targets; and 3) developing action plans to achieve these goals. Agencies are also implementing specific GHG reduction projects with or without a link to broader planning. Agency managers can use innovative practices to assess the profile of GHG emissions in their jurisdiction and to collaboratively plan an appropriate response strategy.