Sustainability Linkages in the Federal Government

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1135117 (Moses). An ad hoc NRC committee under the Science and Technology for Sustainability Program will identify and describe the need for sustainability linkages among domains such as energy, water, and health that are not routinely considered in decision making. The premise is that sustainability is a systems problem that cannot be achieved by separately optimizing its pieces. The study and subsequent report will highlight priority areas for interagency cooperation, at the federal level, on specific sustainability challenges and opportunities, as well as impediments to transdisciplinary jurisdictional programs and associated scientific research gaps as they relate to a systems approach to sustainability. The study will build upon existing and emerging expertise throughout the scientific, technological, and policy communities, describing the nexus where domains intersect but existing institutions and disciplines do not. The committee will convene a series of fact finding meetings, commission expert-authored case studies, review the pertinent literature, and author an overall consensus report. The report will include a decision framework that can be used by U.S. policymakers and regulators to help them examine the consequences, tradeoffs, synergies, and operational benefits of sustainability-oriented programs. The decision framework will include social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainability.