ENVIRONMENT & ENERGY

Scenarios/Alternative Futures

Strategic Planning & Goals

State & Local

General Resources

Scenarios/Alternative Futures

Our Future — Our Environment

This web-based, multimedia report by RAND explores a variety of issues that may impact environmental protection and policy over the next decade. It includes sections on genetics, information technologies, ecosystem services, the future of manufacturing, and global environmental governance.

http://www.rand.org/scitech/stpi/ourfuture

Royal Dutch Shell Global Energy Scenarios

Royal Dutch Shell has been involved in scenario planning for over twenty years. Their planning group has recently developed two scenarios entitled "The New Game" and "People Power."

http://www.shell.com/royal-en/content/0,5028,25432-56934,00.html

An interesting history of the work at Royal Dutch Shell entitled "Storying Corporate Futures: The Shell Scenarios" (from the International Journal of Futures Studies) can be found at:

http://www.plausiblefutures.com/text/shell.html

Alternative Futures for the Department of Energy National Laboratories

This 1995 report was prepared by the Secretary Of Energy Advisory Board Task Force on Alternative Futures for the Department of Energy National Laboratories, headed by Robert Galvin. The report examines future roles of the DOE labs in areas of national security, energy, environment, science and engineering, economics, and concludes with governance / organizational change recommendations.

http://www.hr.doe.gov/seab/galvin/v1a.html#ZZ1

Scenarios of U.S. Carbon Reductions

This report presents the results of a study conducted by five U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories that quantifies the potential for energy-efficient and low-carbon technologies to reduce carbon emissions in the United States.

The Megatrends Report

The "Megatrends" Project was a collaborative effort between the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). This study was designed to address the overall question: "What major forces, trends, events, uncertainties, and/or surprises will have significant impacts--positive or negative--on the quality of the global environment, or on our ability to protect the environment, over the next 30 years?" The "Megatrends" Study was conducted through a series of one-day expert workshops on the following topics: 1. water including marine and coastal zone resources 2. urbanization including transportation and land use 3. innovative technologies 4. energy and the environment including climate resources 5. institutions 6. biodiversity 7. synthesis

Source: The Environmental Protection Agency

http://www.epa.gov/comp_risk/futures/mega/

European Environment Agency

This report presents an inventory of existing scenarios studies relevant for Europe in the context of sustainable development, including European and global models. It also provides a useful review of a selected number of scenarios and pinpoints their strengths and weaknesses.

http://reports.eea.eu.int/Environmental_issues_series_17/en

Strategic Planning & Goals

North America: North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation

A Shared Vision: Towards Sustainability in North America

http://www.cec.org/pubs_info_resources/publications/general_topics/rioindex.cfm?varlan=english

Army Environmental Policy Institute

AEPI assists the Army Secretariat in developing proactive policies and strategies to address environmental issues that may have significant short or long-term impacts on the Army. Since environmental issues continue to emerge as our knowledge and technology develop, AEPI constantly reassesses future environmental challenges and opportunities for the Army. In short, AEPI facilitates the integration of environmental considerations with the Army's Mission.

http://www.aepi.army.mil/

Nation Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Strategic Plan: A Vision for 2005

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's mission is to describe and predict changes in the Earth's environment, and conserve and manage wisely the Nation's coastal and marine resources to ensure sustainable economic opportunities. NOAA's strategy consists of seven interrelated strategic goals for environmental assessment, prediction and stewardship.

http://www.noaa.gov/str-plan/b-vision.html

Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles: Plans and Goals

The Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles (PNGV) is an historic public/private partnership between the U.S. federal government and DaimlerChrysler, Ford, and General Motors that aims to strengthen America's competitiveness by developing technologies for a new generation of vehicles. PNGV's long term goal, dubbed the "Supercar" goal , is to develop an environmentally friendly car with up to triple the fuel efficiency of today's midsize cars-- without sacrificing affordability, performance, or safety.

http://www.ta.doc.gov/pngv/goals/goals.htm

Industries of the Future Program

This program, in DOE’s Office of Industrial Technology, has worked with industry to help them develop: 1) an industry-driven document outlining each industry's vision for the future, and 2) a technology roadmap to identify the technologies These sectors include: Agriculture, Aluminum, Forest Products, Glass, Metalcasting, Mining, Petroleum, and Steel. The program has also been working at a state level (State Industries of the Future Program).

Source: Department of Energy

http://www.oit.doe.gov/industries.shtml

Environmental Science and Engineering for the 21st Century: The Role of the National Science Foundation

The National Science Board established a Task Force on the Environment, whose findings and recommendations are detailed in this report. The recommendations set the stage for a more vigorous NSF role in environmental research, education, and scientific assessment in the 21st century.

Source: National Science Foundation

State Industries of the Future Program

http://www.oit.doe.gov/states/statesiof.shtml

United Kingdom: National Science and Technology Effort

http://energytrends.pnl.gov/uk/uk003.htm

State & Local

California Emerging Environmental Challenges Program

The goal of the Emerging Environmental Challenges Program is to identify environmental issues that may pose challenges over the next five to ten years and enhance Cal/EPA’s ability to take proactive efforts to protect public health and environment in the future. Future issues and challenges are being identified through a series of workshops and proceedings are available.

http://www.oehha.org/multimedia/emerging_env/emerge1.html#EMERGING

Oregon: The Willamette Valley Alternative Futures Project

The Willamette Valley Alternative Futures Project examines the possible conversion of farm and forest lands over the next 50 years to better understand the consequences of these changes for (a) agriculture; (b) the wood products industry; and (c) taxpayers and developers who bear the burden of costs for the infrastructure and services needed by new development.

http://www.econw.com/wvaf/about.html

Oregon: Possible Futures for the Muddy Creek Watershed, Benton County

This report describes a case study project that took place in the Muddy Creek watershed, a 125 square mile (32,000 hectare) area in the Willamette River Basin of Western Oregon. The case study illustrates a framework for important considerations, qualities, and types of information intended to help local communities create alternative scenarios for land conservation and development.

http://ise.uoregon.edu/Muddy/Muddy_abstract.html

General Resources

Environmental Reform: The Next Generation Project

For two years the Next Generation Project of Yale's Center for Environmental Law and Policy has taken on the challenge of formulating ideas for updating environmental policy intellectually and operationally. This reform effort has brought together hundreds of experts from around the world in a series of fourteen workshops and two major conferences to share thinking about the direction of future policies. The results of the Project have been compiled in a new book.

Source: Yale University

http://www.yale.edu/nextgen/ngtitle.html

Stockholm Environment Institute

SEI has attracted a world class staff of international environment and development professionals. This consists of over 60 international, highly qualified experts ranging from biologists, physicists and chemists to geographers, sociologists and economists. SEI experts work in multi-disciplinary teams tackling broad-based environment and development topics. This requires generalist approaches but still demands the experience of well-published specialists.

http://www.sei.se/progs.html

Worldwatch Institute

The Worldwatch Institute has combined information resources about the topics related to the environment. This list is not intended to be exhaustive, but contains links that the research staff feel were especially useful, whether as sources of raw data or as jumping off points for further research.

http://www.worldwatch.org/links/sow00/sow00i.html