Programs

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IERE is a non-profit institution that supports environmental decision making based on facts. Our activities focus on four areas:

Environmental Management

This program evaluates current approaches to environmental management, in an attempt to uncover the best approaches to managing complex environmental programs.

Examples of projects in this program include:

· Community environmental management systems to support sustainability
· Cost-benefit analysis of regulatory reinvention projects
· Participation in the development of international standards on environmental management, especially the ISO 14000 standards.
· Ecolabels based on life cycle assessments
· Verification of environmental performance

Environmental Impact Research

In this program area, data and methods are developed to evaluate environmental impacts. The object here is to develop and communicate the unbiased information needed to support the improved decision making. We strongly support the use of life cycle assessment (LCA) as a measurement tool for environmental performance, and much of our research is related to development and implementation of LCA-based approaches. LCA is a holistic, science-based tool for evaluating the environmental performance of products and services.

Examples of projects include:

· Development of indicators of land use for use in life cycle assessment and policy
· Testing different fate and transport models to evaluate their utility for impact assessment
· GIS based analysis of local environmental conditions
· Life Cycle Impact Assessments. We perform impact assessments where the sponsor is interested in disclosing the results.
· Research on the links between LCA and sustainability

Environment and Development

New environmental management and policy infrastructures can be put in place most effectively when countries are undergoing rapid economic development. IERE supports these activities through the following projects:

· Pollution prevention train-the trainer in conjunction with the U.S. EPA.
· Life cycle assessment training in developing nations
· Assistance in developing the data needed to manage local environmental issues

Environmental Education for Adults

Finally, IERE helps adults learn about the environment, especially where that knowledge is immediately applicable to their current jobs.

Sometimes this means developing education and training modules. More often this involves working with universities and colleges to improve their effectiveness in educating the adult student. For example:

· Fact sheets on particular environmental issues, especially as they relate to community problems
· Courses on pollution prevention offered to industry representatives
· Sponsoring the International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment, Tools for Sustainability, with the U.S EPA
· Courses on Community based Environmental Management offered to community managers
· Training on EPA compliance programs
· Courses providing an overview of ISO 14000-EMS offered at the community, undergraduate and graduate levels.
· Courses on life cycle assessment offered at the professional and graduate school level