The United States¡¥ commitment to Sustainable Development is considerable. The United States promotes domestic policies that further environmental protection, while also fostering economic growth and social progress, and seeks to advance such practices abroad.
A key foundation for effective environmental protection, and thus sustainable development, is effective environmental governance. While we do not formally track indicators across the government, we believe that improving a country¡¥s Rule of Law, implementation, and enforcement can be one of the most useful indicators to track progress in a country¡¥s implementation of sustainable development. Voluntary efforts to implement sustainable development policies are another critical element.
Political commitment to sustainable development in the United States developed in the 1960s as the result of the effects of devastating pollution when a national pollution-control program was absent. This was addressed in the 1970s by the
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formation of U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which was empowered to develop, implement, and enforce environmental legislation and regulation in national environmental programs.
In later decades, as these regulatory programs became more fine-tuned and sophisticated, innovative market-based, voluntary, and information-based programs were added to improve the mix of tools available to promote environmental protection. The U.S. experience illustrates that, for a country to achieve stability of its sustainable development program, the political system needs to institutionalize it in the legal and bureaucratic system of domestic governance, to protect it from temporary political changes in direction.
For example, strong political commitment to sustainable development in the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) can be measured by the extensive programs of the USDA that address numerous facets of sustainability: economic, environmental, and social, particularly related to rural America, management of farm and forest lands, and diet and health. For purposes of this brief review we highlight efforts to make internal operations of the USDA (including Forest Service) more sustainable in compliance with Executive Orders and a variety of extramural programs targeted at: 1) restoring the sustainability of local and regional food systems while at the same time promoting child health and nutrition and rural development; 2) research and educational support to sustainable agriculture; 3) support to organic agriculture; 4) sustainable energy development and energy savings through bio-based fuels and products; 5) domestic food security through food and nutrition programs; 6) global food security and sustainable agricultural development through Feed the Future Initiative; 7) conservation of land, soil, wildlife habitat, and water quality through conservation programs; 8) educational programs related to sustainability; 9) life cycle inventory data programs of the National Agricultural Library.
Sustainable USDA operations¡XThe following 10 performance goals have been formally set for the department and a summary of accomplishments related to each is available on the USDA sustainable operations website:
?h Greenhouse Gas Reduction (Scope 1 and 2)
?h Greenhouse Gas Reduction (Scope 3)
?h Develop/Maintain Comprehensive Greenhouse Gas Inventory
?h High-Performance Sustainable Design/Green Buildings
?h Regional and Local Planning
?h Water Use Efficiency and Management
?h Pollution Prevention and Waste Elimination
?h Sustainable Acquisition
?h Electronic Stewardship and Data Centers
?h Agency Innovation.
USDA External Programs:
Know Your Farmer-Know Your Food: The approach of the Know Your Farmer-Know Your Food program is to look across the Department of Agriculture to direct existing resources more effectively to these goals. Additionally, the Food and Nutrition Service and the Natural Resources Conservation Service sponsor programs
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relevant to food security/nutrition and resource conservation. Rural Development Agency programs include the Appropriate Technology Transfer Program for Rural Areas. This program provides information on a variety of sustainable agriculture practices that include both cropping and livestock operations.
Business and Industry (B&I) Guaranteed Loan Program: The purpose of the B&I program is to help new and existing businesses based in rural areas gain access to affordable capital. By issuing a guarantee to a private lender, USDA essentially co-signs the loan to a business owner, promising to pay a portion of any loss that might result in case the business owner is unable to repay the loan. Having the guarantee lowers the lender's risk, allowing more favorable interest rates and terms to be offered.
Community Facilities Program: The Community Facilities Program supports the success of rural communities by providing loans and grants for the construction, acquisition, or renovation of community facilities or for the purchase of equipment for community projects.
Rural Business Enterprise Grants: The RBEG program provides grants for rural projects that finance and facilitate development of small and emerging rural businesses help fund distance learning networks, and help fund employment related adult education programs. To assist with business development, RBEGs may fund a broad array of activities, such as acquisition or development of land, construction, conversion, renovation, of buildings, plants, machinery, equipment, capitalization of revolving loan funds including funds that will make loans for start ups and working capital; training and technical assistance; and project planning. The project must benefit small and emerging private businesses in rural areas.
Rural Business Opportunity Grants: The RBOG program promotes sustainable economic development in rural communities with exceptional needs through provision of training and technical assistance for business development, entrepreneurs, and economic development officials and to assist with economic development planning.
Rural Cooperative Development: Rural Cooperative Development grants are made for establishing and operating centers for cooperative development for the primary purpose of improving the economic condition of rural areas through the development of new cooperatives and improving operations of existing cooperatives. The U.S. Department of Agriculture¡¥s goal is to encourage and stimulate the development of effective cooperative organizations in rural America as a part of its total package of rural development efforts.
Value-Added Producer Grants: VAPGs help farmers and ranchers receive a higher portion of the retail dollar. Grants support planning activities, such as developing a business plan, or as working capital (e.g. labor, inventory, advertising). There is 10% set-aside for projects that focus on local and regional supply networks.
Women, Infants and Children - Farmers' Market Nutrition Program: The goal is to provide fresh, nutritious, unprepared, locally grown fruits and vegetables through farmers' markets to women receiving nutrition assistance, and to expand the awareness and use of farmers' markets by women receiving nutrition assistance.
Farm Service Agency: FSA provides loan guarantees to farmers and ranchers working through eligible lending institutions and also makes direct loans to qualifying farmers and ranchers.
Farm Storage Facility Loans: On-farm storage may is expensive, but it helps farmers to maximize profits. This program assists with the finance purchase, construction, or refurbishment of farm storage facilities.
Environmental Quality Incentives Program: The Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) was reauthorized in the Farm Security and Rural Investment Act of 2002 (Farm Bill) to provide a voluntary conservation program for farmers and ranchers that promotes agricultural production and environmental quality as compatible national goals. EQIP offers financial and technical help to assist eligible participants install or implement structural and management practices on eligible agricultural land.
EQIP - Organic conversion cost share: The Environmental Quality Incentives Program protects natural resources by providing direct financial support to farmers and ranchers who want to improve their environmental stewardship. There is a $50 million set-aside reserved for farmers who would like to convert to organic production.
Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program: The Farm and Ranchland Protection Program is a voluntary program whose purpose is to protect agricultural lands by limiting non-agricultural uses. Funding is available for up to 50% of the purchase price of a conservation easement. The program is administered through approved state, local, and non-profit entities who arrange for the purchase of development rights on private lands and then hold and manage these conservation easements in perpetuity.
Community Food Projects: Community Food Projects fund proactive approaches to making communities more self reliant at maintaining their food systems while addressing food, nutrition, and farm issues. Grants are intended to help eligible private nonprofit entities that need a one-time infusion of federal assistance to establish and carry out multipurpose community food projects.
Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education: The mission of the SARE program is to advance sustainable innovations to the whole of American agriculture. Since it began in 1988, SARE has funded more than 4,000 sustainable agriculture research, education and professional development projects across the country. Sharing project results is a cornerstone of the SARE program, with field days, workshops and conferences in every region, and an Outreach office producing an ever-growing library of books, bulletins, online resources as well as a vast archive of know-your-farmer profiles of SARE grantees. SARE is uniquely grassroots, administered by four regional offices guided by administrative councils of local experts.
Community Outreach and Assistance Partnerships: RMA partnerships work with educational institutions and community based organizations to provide farmers and ranchers with information on new ways to manage risks to their businesses. Risk management strategies including production, marketing, legal and financial and crop insurance. To teach risk management strategies including production, marketing, legal and financial and crop insurance to minority, limited resource and traditionally underserved producers.
Risk Management Education Programs: RMA partnerships work with educational institutions and community based organizations to provide farmers and ranchers with information on new ways to manage risks to their businesses. Risk management strategies including production, marketing, legal and financial and crop insurance.
Renewable Energy Initiatives to Spur Rural Revitalization: The Obama Administration intends to promote production of fuel from renewable sources, create jobs, and mitigate the effects of climate change. USDA recently announced several measures, including publication of a final rule to implement the Biomass Crop Assistance Program (BCAP). USDA will make payments to eligible producers to ensure that a sufficiently large base of new, non-food, non-reed biomass crops is established in anticipation of future demand for renewable energy consumption.
BCAP also assists agricultural and forest landowners and operators by providing matching payments for transportation of certain eligible materials that are sold to qualified biomass conversion facilities. These are used for heat, power, bio-based products or advanced biofuels.

On September 15, 2010 President Obama signed a Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development that centers U.S. development policy on the promotion of sustainable economic growth. The directive sets out new policy objectives, an enhanced operational model and a modern architecture for U.S. development efforts.
It provides clear policy guidance to all U.S. Government agencies and enumerates a new policy, enhanced operational model, and modern architecture for U.S. development efforts. A fact sheet on the new policy is at www.whitehouse.gov.
Through the Presidential Policy Directive, President Obama has made clear that sustainable development is a long-term proposition, and progress depends on the choices of political leaders and the quality of institutions in developing countries. Where leaders govern responsibly, set in place good policies, and make investments conducive to development, sustainable outcomes can be achieved. Where those conditions are absent, it is difficult to engineer sustained progress, no matter how good our intentions or the extent of our engagement.
Implementation of the policy will begin with the FY 12 budget process and is already being carried out through the President?s three major initiatives: Feed the Future, the Global Health Initiative, and the Global Climate Change Initiative.
One example of the work going on within the U.S. Federal Government is in the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). In August 2010 EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson announced the Agency?s international priorities, including Building Strong Environmental Institutions and Legal Structures, noting that countries need adequate governmental structures to enforce environmental protections. The Administrator noted that pollution doesn?t stop at international borders, and neither can our environmental and health protections.
EPA also continues to play a very significant role in the partnerships that were established at the World Summit for Sustainable Development (WSSD) in 1992 to address the issues noted above. The Partnership for Clean Indoor Air (PCIA) was
launched at the WSSD in 2002 to address the challenge of indoor air pollution caused by open cooking fires or rudimentary stoves.
More than half the world?s population (three billion people) cooks food and heats homes by burning coal and biomass, including wood, dung, and crop residues. The World Health Organization estimates that 1.9 million people die prematurely each year from exposure to indoor smoke, and the use of clean cookstoves and fuels can dramatically reduce fuel consumption and exposure to smoke. To date, PCIA has 414 partner organizations working in 115 countries. The mission of the Partnership is to improve health, livelihood, and quality of life by reducing exposure to air pollution, primarily among women and children, from household energy use.
On September 21, 2010, the Global Alliance for Clean Cookstoves was launched, building on the success of PCIA. The Alliance is a new public-private partnership to save lives, improve livelihoods, empower women, and combat climate change by creating a thriving global market for clean and efficient household cooking solutions.
The Alliance will build upon the extensive network of organizations that comprise PCIA. Its primary goal is to create the market and distribution conditions necessary for 100 million households to adopt clean cookstoves by 2020.
Led by the UN Foundation, Alliance partners include EPA, the Department of State, the Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Shell Foundation, and Morgan Stanley, in addition to other governments and entities.
The United States is a founding member of the Partnership for Clean Fuels and Vehicles (PCFV), which was also launched in 2002 at the World Summit for Sustainable Development. Goals of the PCFV are to:
o Eliminate lead from gasoline
o Reduce sulphur in gasoline and diesel to 50 parts per million or below,
o Deploy clean vehicle technologies based on the removal of lead (e.g. three way catalysts) and/or the reduction of sulphur levels (e.g. diesel particulate filters, advanced catalysts).
UNEP-Nairobi serves as a clearinghouse for the partnership. During April 21-22, EPA hosted the 8th Global Partners PCFV meeting, with about 70 participants. Partners agreed on a work plan for the 2010/2011 period. PCFV is one of 443 registered partnerships for sustainable development by the Commission for Sustainable Development and only 7 partnerships have more partners than PCFV. Due to its success, the PCFV is often showcased as a model for other public-private partnerships in the environment, and a model for UNEP cooperation with partners and cross-sectoral initiatives.
The PCFV has led the effort to phase out lead in gasoline in all countries. One major success was the elimination of lead in gasoline throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Overall, there are now just 10 countries in the world with leaded gasoline and most of those have plans to phase it out. Over the past several years 82 countries have committed to reducing sulphur levels in gasoline and diesel to 50 parts or million or below, which will allow for wide scale deployment of advanced emission control
technologies. PCFV continues to explore partnerships and linkages with other vehicles programs that would achieve co-benefits, such as GHG reductions.

The United States understands that reliable science must be behind policy decisions. The concept of strong science supporting actions can be applied to each of the three pillars of sustainable development, and our agencies are actively working to ensure that U.S. Government work is supported by science and best practices. For example, USAID has a new science strategy and science advisor. In addition, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration?s experience in developing its Climate Service shows that coordination within a Federal agency to bring together disparate scientists and other experts working on the same topic (climate) is very helpful in moving forward a policy goal to provide nation-wide delivery of services for public benefit.

Good environmental governance by countries is a necessary first step towards accelerating progress towards sustainable development. This includes, for example, better understanding of the costs and benefits of environmental action as the full range of benefits are not always well understood by policy-makers and commitments on creating transparent policy processes that allow for input from stakeholders. Good environmental governance also means that stakeholders have an opportunity to provide input into the development of public policies. Each government has the principle responsibility for environmental governance, and for safeguarding local and global environments; the United States takes this responsibility seriously.
Agriculture is an important component of sustainable development, and USDA is focused on accelerating progress towards sustainable development through enhancing the sustainable intensification of agriculture of all scales. Advances in science, technology, education are all important to achieve these goals. Agriculture depends on the efficient use of a variety of renewable and non-renewable inputs including water, energy, labor, genetic diversity, fertilizers, pest control agents, etc. Advancing and applying scientific knowledge will be critical to achieve both sustainable intensification of agriculture and also global food security.
International cooperation will strengthen support for sustainable development. In agriculture a variety of institutions provide venues for international cooperation including the Food and Agriculture Organization, the UNCSD, IFAD, World Food Program, OECD, the CGIAR, etc.
Under sustainable development and with respect to food security issues, fisheries remains a high priority area. The United States is focused on ending overfishing and ending illegal, unregulated, unreported fishing internationally.

The sharing of best practices and lessons learned in international fora and through international cooperation must be an integral component of any country?s sustainable development efforts. We can all help each other by sharing experiences, exchanging information, and engaging stakeholders at all levels. This is the U.S. expectation of UNCSD.

The United States believes the pillars of sustainable development are strongly complimentary and for that reason, we have pursued policies that would promote social justice and environmental protection while fostering economic growth in our domestic green

The United States has made considerable progress toward meeting Millennium Development Goals, while recognizing that much more needs to be done. The U.S. strategy for meeting the MDGs is described at: http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/mdg/.
Two examples of outcomes where there has been significant progress are global food security and sustainable agriculture. The numbers of globally food insecure at just under 1 billion speak for themselves. Sub-Saharan agriculture and South Asia are the primary but not only regions of food insecurity. Agriculture as a whole is not yet sustainable using 70 percent of fresh water, significant energy, and contributing to between 15-30 percent of green house gases. Additional concerns relate to loss of biodiversity. Within the United States food insecurity is tracked on an annual basis by state.

The United States Government is engaged at all levels in promoting public-private partnerships for sustainable development. Many of these partnerships are described in our Sustainable Development Partnerships (SDP) website, http://www.sdp.gov/. Additional information on U.S. sustainable development partnerships is contained in the U.S. national submission to the 18th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development, at http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/dsd_aofw_ni/ni_natiinfo_usa.shtml.
In the field of education for sustainable development, for example, there has been strong activity in the higher education sector and substantial activity in the K-12 and Teacher Education sector of the United States. Within higher education, the development of four national organizations or networks are shifting the norms of higher education to include sustainability education and actions on the curricular, co-curricular, and operations sides of the institutions. The American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment (www.presidentsclimatecommitment.org) has over 680 college and university presidents as signatories. These presidents have committed to eliminate greenhouse gases as quickly as possible, have created greenhouse gas reduction plans and have taken concrete steps to begin implementing
these plans. They have also committed to educating all students to be engaged in climate solutions.
The Higher Education Associations Sustainability Consortium (HEASC) includes sixteen national or international higher education associations in its membership, including professional associations for college and university presidents, business officers, facilities officers, student affairs staff, housing staff, planners and designers. HEASC members have helped to shift the professional identity of each of these positions in higher education to include commitments and actions for sustainability education. HEASC (www.heasc.net) has created a resources page that includes a wide variety of informational resources that higher education institutions can use to push forward the agenda for sustainability education and action, from a publication from business officers on how to fund sustainability to a list of campus activities to create a culture of sustainability on campus to a set of sustainability learning outcomes for all students. HEASC member associations are integrating sustainability into the professional development of their members.
The American Association of Community Colleges, one of the HEASC members, has created an online resource center for all community colleges (which serve close to half of the undergraduates in the country.) This resource center, called Sustainability Education and Economic Development (SEED), has information on curricular materials for students and existing businesses, certifications and standards, innovative partnerships to create sustainable communities and economies, and employment projections. The center (www.TheSeedCenter.org) also has a space for educators to share ideas and strategies to build quality sustainable development education.
The Disciplinary Associations Network for Sustainability (DANS) consists of over 26 academic disciplinary associations that are committed to sustainability education. They include disciplines from the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities and recognize that each discipline has an important contribution to make to our understanding of and actions for sustainability. These disciplinary associations have been working for over four years on sustainability curricula, tenure and promotion and accreditation criteria that support sustainability education and actions, the incorporation of sustainability into textbooks in all disciplines, the collection of assessments for sustainability learning, and informing legislation and the general public about sustainability (www.aashe.org/dans ).
The Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) has created a robust resource center on sustainability policies and practices, including annual digest and discussion forums (www.aashe.org ). There has been a growth of membership, following a growth of sustainability staff positions on campuses that catalyze sustainability within planning, operations, purchasing, student life, and community partnerships, with growing emphasis on curricula and real world problem solving activities for sustainability as well.
The U.S. Partnership for Education for Sustainable Development (U.S. Partnership) catalyzed the formation of both HEASC and DANS (described above.) The K-12 and Teacher Education sector team of the U.S. Partnership (www.uspartnership.org) created national standards in sustainability education that have been: adopted by some states, endorsed by the National Council of Social Studies, and integrated into national standards on global competencies. This sector team also catalyzes
sustainability activities, conference themes, presentations and commitments within a wide array (over 20) of K-12 national organizations, and collects and shares resources on K-12 and teacher sustainability education.
Over 45 national youth organizations have come together as the Energy Action Coalition (http://energyactioncoalition.org/) to engage youth nationally in measuring and reducing greenhouse gas emissions and pushing for appropriate energy and climate sustainability policies.
These networks all cooperatively promote each others' work. Webinars, national conferences themes, web pages, forums, national conference calls, and online resource centers and initiatives such as National Sustainability Education Week (endorsed by multiple governors) are all used to promote these efforts.
Promotion and propagation of these networks has been driven by leaders who work primarily in higher education. Government has played a secondary role to advance the above efforts, and private foundations are supportive of related efforts to some extent. In September, the US Department of Education sponsored a national summit to advance work on sustainability education. Other federal agencies such as NOAA, NSF, Energy, and EPA pay ongoing roles in supporting related education programs on climate and environment.
In the fisheries sector, the United States has focused on developing a national catch shares policy with NOAA leadership. Catch shares are fishery management programs that allocate a specific percentage of the total allowable fishery catch or a specific fishing area to individuals, cooperatives, communities, or other entities. For more information, see http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/sfa/domes_fish/catchshare/index.htm.
For additional information on public-private partnerships for sustainable development, please see Section D.

Certainly UN entities contribute to progress in sustainable development, and technical assistance is a key component in this, in addition to dialogue, exchange of best practices, partnerships at all levels and between myriad actors, and stakeholder participation. In addition to U.N. agencies, the intergovernmental Group on Earth Observations (GEO) is taking steps necessary to implement a Global Earth Observation System of Systems (GEOSS). Many existing systems and organizations, which coordinate the input and/or requirements of specific communities, e.g., WMO, IOC, CEOS, UNEP, UNESCO, have played key roles in the development of GEO as a truly international movement and in the development of GEOSS as a comprehensive, coordinated and sustained global system of Earth observations.

Additional international cooperation and promotion of voluntary partnerships by UNCSD and UNEP could improve the effectiveness of these efforts by expanding the number and range of participants.

The new and emerging challenges are interrelated, making it difficult to rank them in order of importance. The challenges include climate change, water availability and quality, energy, biodiversity including linkages to ecosystem services, sustainable consumption and production and green growth, marine ecosystem degradation, and energy scarcity and the dependence on fossil fuels.

Some examples of mechanisms in the U.S. that address these challenges are listed below:
Climate:
The Fifth U.S. Climate Action Report presents details of the actions the United States is taking to address climate change, and underscores the U.S. commitment to address climate change.
The report is available at:
http://www.state.gov/g/oes/rls/rpts/car5/index.htm
The United States is committed to a leadership role in addressing climate change, and making the investments in clean energy technologies that will power sustainable growth in the years ahead.
Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the United States has invested more than $90 billion in clean energy ¡V the largest energy investment in American history. New tax credits and loan guarantees have sparked manufacturing of wind turbines, solar panels and electric cars across America. The Obama Administration is making the single largest investment in home energy efficiency in U.S. history. In partnership with industry, the United States is investing up to $12 billion in projects including plug-in hybrid vehicles, all-electric vehicles, and the infrastructure to power them, as well as the next generation of biofuels.
Under President Obama¡¥s leadership, the United States is working with nations around the world toward a global solution to climate change. Important progress includes:
?h a commitment by G-20 and APEC nations to eliminate fossil fuel subsides;
?h bilateral energy and climate partnerships with China, India, Mexico, Canada and other nations;
?h joining Canada and Mexico in proposing to phase-down HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons), a potent greenhouse gas, in developed and developing countries;
?h committing $1 billion to help countries develop and implement plans to reduce global greenhouse gas emission from deforestation and forest degradation;
?h leading Arctic nations in efforts to reduce black carbon emission that contribute to climate change; and
?h reaching an historic accord at the Copenhagen climate summit that includes transparently implemented emissions reductions by all major economies that lays the foundation for international action for years to come.
The President launched the Major Economies Forum creating a new dialogue among developed and emerging economies to combat climate change and promote clean energy. The Administration also hosted Clean Energy Ministerial ¡V the first time that ministers of the world¡¥s largest economies have gathered to focus exclusively on clean energy.
In addition, the Department of Energy and other U.S. agencies are working with developing countries in a range of areas to promote the uptake of clean energy technologies including:
?h to create markets for super-efficient equipment and appliances;
?h to convert lighting in poor households, especially in Africa, from fossil-fuel-powered to solar-powered LED¡¥s;
?h to increase energy efficiency in commercial and public buildings through public-private partnerships and building certifications;
?h to promote smart electricity grids around the world.
Additional examples of U.S. government actions include the following.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) launched a Climate Service Portal to serve as a one-stop location for climate data, products, information and services for all users. In addition, the proposed NOAA Climate Service is being designed with strong regional focus, integration and support services.
The U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) is addressing several of these issues in the context of its mission to manage federal lands and natural resources, including climate change, water, and energy. DOI manages about 20% of the land area of the United States, including national parks, national wildlife refuges and other federal public lands, manages ocean energy development within federal jurisdiction, supplies hydropower and water in the American West, administers federal wildlife laws, and conducts research in the earth and biological sciences.
In response to the challenge of adapting to climate change, DOI is launching 21 Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCCs) across the land area of the United States. These LCCs bring together diverse partners (DOI bureaus, other federal agencies, State, local and tribal governments, and others) to assemble the scientific knowledge needed to understand climate change and other large-scale trends affecting habitat and biodiversity, and incorporate those findings into planning at the landscape scale. More information on the LCCs is available at http://www.doi.gov/whatwedo/climate/strategy/LCC-Map.cfm.
The DOI and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) are establishing a network of Climate Science Centers to increase amount and quality of the information available to natural resource planners and management about the consequences and options for dealing with climate change. These institutions are regional in nature, will serve as a locus for ongoing consultation between managers and scientists in the region, and will perform a "translation" function in delivering climate science to LCCs and other
management entities in a form that is accessible and usable for them.
DOI intends to identify the areas and species ranges in the United States that are most vulnerable to climate change by 2012, and begin implementing comprehensive climate change adaptation strategies in these areas. DOI is seeking to develop landscape scale strategies that build partnerships across boundaries and large expanses of land, and make science accessible to decision-makers for the conservation, sustainable use, and adaptation to climate change (including increased hydrological and climate variability) of water resources and shared ecosystems and their goods and services.
DOI is also contributing to new mechanisms to help mitigate climate change. For example, USGS has been charged by Congress in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act with assessing the carbon sequestration capacity and greenhouse gas emissions in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems across the United States and identifying management practices that can enhance carbon sequestration by ecosystems.
Water:
In the area of drought and water resources, the United States is trying to help coordinate at the national level the delivery of drought services through NIDIS, an attempt to create one-stop-shopping for drought data and information. There are also many local efforts to provide drought services to support decisions related to water.
Water shortages and water use conflicts have already become more commonplace in many areas of the United States. The USGS has been assessing the quantity and quality of the Nation¡¥s waters since 1879. These data are used to assess the resource, to set policy on water resources development and to intensively manage the resource. Water is managed at the national, State, tribal nation and local levels. The withdrawal and use of water has been monitored since 1950 by USGS. Policies and management strategies are adjusted as needed to address the quantity and quality of the available resource. It is expected that water scarcity will increase in areas where DOI manages lands and supplies water due to a number of trends including climate change, changes in land use and cover, and trends in water use.
There are numerous examples of successful strategies of water resources management. For example, in 2009-10 the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) carried out a number of projects to stretch scarce water supplies through reuse and recycling ($135 million) and water conservation ($40 million), as well as other efforts to contribute to the long-term sustainability of water and natural resources. For more information see http://recovery.doi.gov/press/bureaus/bureau-of-reclamation/summary-of-projects/.
Over the longer term, DOI has proposed to develop a strategy to address the questions: 1) Does the Nation have an adequate quantity of water with sufficient quality and timing-characteristics to meet both human and ecological needs? 2) Will this water be present to meet both existing and future demands? This effort will involve an interdisciplinary assessment of trends in water resource supply, factors affecting water availability, water use and distribution, and data needs for forecasting.
This assessment would provide a sound scientific basis for decision-making and would update the last such comprehensive assessment completed in 1978.
This effort reflects DOI¡¥s efforts to implement the Secure Water Act (Title IX, Subtitle F of Public Law 111-11) passed in 2009, which provides authority for the Federal water and science agencies to work together with States and local water managers to plan for climate change and the other threats to our water supplies, and take action to secure our water resources for the communities, economies, and the ecosystems they support. The BOR, United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), NOAA, and United States Geological Survey have formed the Climate Change and Water Working Group (C-CAWWG) to bring the water managers and climate scientists together to create efficient research and development (R&D) collaborations and information sharing across the federal agencies toward understanding and addressing climate change impacts on Western water supplies and water use.
Energy:
In the area of energy, there are both state and local tax incentives to develop renewable energy sources. Energy conservation initiatives and programs are supported for homeowners and businesses.
The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) within DOI manages extensive land areas in the American West for multiple uses. These lands include lands in the West and Southwest with high potential for renewable energy production, including solar and wind power. DOI is working to facilitate siting and development of renewable energy facilities and transmission facilities in an environmentally responsible manner, taking account of conservation and other values of land and habitat. DOI is building agency capacity to review and permit projects with a goal of permitting at least 9,000 megawatts of new solar, wind and geothermal electricity generation on DOI-managed lands by the end of 2011. In October 2010, the BLM approved the first utility-scale solar energy development projects on federal lands in the U.S. These projects included the 709-MW Imperial, 663-MW Calico, 45-MW Lucerne, and 370-MW Ivanpah solar projects in California and the 50-MW Silver State solar project in Nevada.
Additional solar projects, including the 986-MW Blythe solar project in California, are expected to be approved in Fall 2010.
The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) is responsible for permitting offshore renewable energy production. On October 6, the DOI/BOEMRE signed a lease for the first commercial wind energy development within federal offshore jurisdiction, the Cape Wind facility in Nantucket Sound, Massachusetts, which could generate a maximum output of 468 megawatts with average anticipated output of 182 MW. More information available at http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/Salazar-Signs-First-US-Offshore-Commercial-Wind-Energy-Lease-with-Cape-Wind-Associates-LLC.cfm.
Biodiversity: DOI is engaged in scientific research to improve understanding of ecosystems and the services they provide, and the impact of human activities on their productivity and capacity to continue providing services, as a necessary scientific base for decision-making on resource management and ecological restoration. Better understanding of wildlife disease, invasive species, and transboundary migrations
helps DOI make sound, science-based decisions affecting public lands that potentially benefit foreign natural resource managers as well.
Please see Section D for additional information.

The United States has taken a variety of steps to enhance success in addressing new and emerging challenges, including the following examples:
Diet and health: An ¨Depidemic¡¬ of overweight and obesity of U.S. public, including children, means that the next generation of Americans is expected to have a lower life expectancy than the current one. Our food system, the public, the educational system, and policy makers must work together to address this needless source of public health risk. Additionally, due to increasing incomes and changing demographics worldwide, these patterns are prevalent in other countries as well and predicted to increase.
Food insecurity and nutritional deficiencies: The dual challenge of the domestic and global food system is to address problems of food insecurity and poor diets. The first 1000 days has been highlighted by Secretary Clinton and others as critical to child development.
Sustainable intensification of agriculture. Food produced must double in the next 40 years. This cannot be done sustainably by significantly extending the land base utilized in agriculture. Thus, more must be grown with less. This will demand new technologies and new management practices for all scales of farms, including smallholders worldwide. Water use, particularly, will be key.
Sustainable, livable communities. The Obama Administration has emphasized coordinated urban planning that integrate transportation, the built environment, environmental planning, etc., to encourage manageable density near transport hubs, and provide for efficient provision of necessary services. As urban centers grow worldwide, this type of planning for livable communities¡ªintegrating food system planning¡ªwill be critical.

Scientific advice must be communicated in a manner that can be understood by policymakers and the general public.

Existing international agreements can be made more effective by ensuring they contain measurable goals. Funding should be directed to help developing nations comply with international obligations.

The United States has a large variety of domestic and international programs that seek to alleviate risks for the poor and vulnerable populations.

The U.S. is taking actions that both build the nation?s capacity to manage materials, and accelerate the public dialogue necessary to create a green, resilient, competitive, and sustainable economy in the future. This action is taking place in the government and private sectors through a variety of policy instruments. Below are several examples of U.S. governmental initiatives on green economy:
Greening the Government: The President?s Executive Order 13514, Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance, emphasizes the importance of sustainability and requires U.S. Federal agencies to meet a number of energy, water, and waste reduction targets, including 50% recycling and waste diversion by 2015.
ENERGY STAR: ENERGY STAR is a voluntary government-backed program dedicated to helping individuals protect the environment through superior energy efficiency. ENERGY STAR is the national symbol of energy efficiency, making it easy for consumers and businesses to identify high-quality, energy-efficient products. ENERGY STAR currently covers 63 product categories. In 2009 alone, Americans:
o saved $17 billion dollars off energy bills with ENERGY STAR
o saved 45 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent to the annual emissions of 30 million cars
o purchased over 300 million ENERGY STAR qualified products
In addition, more than 8,700 buildings have earned the ENERGY STAR (3,900 buildings earned EPA?s ENERGY STAR in 2009), and over 8,500 builder partners constructing new homes that qualify as ENERGY STAR in every state. During 2009, more than 100,000 ENERGY STAR new homes were constructed, for a total of more than 1,000,000 homes, and more than 20% of new homes in the U.S. earn the label. Cumulatively, more than 75,000 existing homes have been improved through Home Performance with ENERGY STAR.
Reduce, Reuse and Recycle: In 2002, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued ―Beyond RCRA: Waste and Materials Management in the Year 2020‖. This report describes the need to shift from a waste management approach to materials management: a ―cradle-to-cradle‖ approach aimed at reducing environmental impacts throughout the life cycle of products, materials, and activities. In 2009, Sustainable Materials Management: The Road Ahead? http://www.epa.gov/epawaste/inforesources/pubs/vision.htm was released. This report is focused on 1) knowing and reducing the life cycle impacts across the supply chain; 2) using less material inputs (reduce, reuse, recycle); 3) using less toxic and more renewable materials; and 4) considering whether services can be substituted for products.
Life Cycle Analysis: The United States is working to promote life-cycling thinking internationally. EPA, UNEP, and the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (SETAC), among others, participated in the launching of the 1st Stakeholder Engagement Meeting, ―Towards Global Guidance for Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Databases,‖ in Boston on September 30, 2009. The majority of participants at this meeting agreed that the development of a global guidance document for an LCA database is necessary. Such a document would help provide a scientific basis for product stewardship in industry, as well as life-cycle-based policies by governments that help to advance the sustainability of products and processes. EPA, together with other countries and industry groups, has provided grant funds to support this effort. Life-cycle analysis http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/lcaccess/ (LCA) represents an important change in how we think about waste and chemicals management and an important tool for achieving these goals. EPA has created the Waste Reduction Model http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/wycd/waste/calculators/Warm_home.html to help solid waste planners and organizations calculate, track, and voluntarily report reductions in the quantity and toxicity of emissions from alternative materials management practices such as source reduction (e.g., using less packaging material http://www.epa.gov/retailindustry/products/sustainability.html#packaging), recycling, and composting.
Working with Industry to Reduce Chemical Use: EPA?s Design for the Environment (DfE) program works in partnership with industry, environmental groups, and academia to reduce risk to people and the environment by finding ways to prevent pollution. For more than 15 years, through partnership projects, DfE has evaluated human health and environmental concerns associated with traditional and alternative chemicals and processes in a range of industries. These analyses have empowered hundreds of businesses to select safer chemicals and technologies. DfE focuses on industries that combine the potential for chemical risk reduction with a strong motivation to make lasting, positive changes. More recently, DfE has been helping consumers and industrial purchasers make wise choices by identifying safe and effective products. It has evaluated and allowed more than 1,500 products to carry the DfE logo. As incentives to businesses for participation and driving change, DfE offers EPA technical tools, methodologies, and expertise. This expertise in Green Chemistry, toxicology, and modeling enables industry to identify safer alternatives to chemicals of concern. Every year, DfE programs reduce the use of chemicals of concern by hundreds of million pounds. www.epa.gov/dfe
Empowering Consumers on E-Waste: The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) is a system that helps purchasers evaluate, compare and select electronic products based on their environmental attributes. Desktops, laptops and monitors that meet 23 required environmental performance criteria may be registered in EPEAT by their manufacturers in 40 countries worldwide. Registered products are rated Gold, Silver or Bronze depending on the percentage of 28 optional criteria they meet above the baseline criteria. EPEAT ratings are product assessments against lifecycle environmental performance criteria. These criteria are developed through stakeholder consensus and are contained in the IEEE 1680 Family of Standards for Environmental Assessment of Electronic Products. EPEAT operates an ongoing verification program to assure the credibility of the registry. In 2008, U.S.
purchases of EPEAT registered laptops, desktops, and monitors over conventional products resulted in reductions in the use of toxic materials, including mercury, by 1,021 metric tons and reduction of over 1.57 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions over the useful life of the products.
Working with Communities: The Cleaner Production/Community Initiative: Economy, Energy, and Environment (E3) Program is a coordinated U.S. federal and local technical assistance initiative that helps communities work with their manufacturing base to adapt and thrive in a new business era focused on sustainability. Joining forces with the local community, E3 provides manufacturers with customized, hands-on assessments of production processes to reduce energy consumption, minimize their carbon footprint, prevent pollution, increase productivity, and drive innovation. E3 serves as a unique model by working directly with local communities and businesses and streamlining the delivery of the best available technical assistance for manufacturers across five federal agencies.
Responsible Appliance Disposal Program: EPA?s Responsible Appliance Disposal (RAD) Program is a voluntary partnership program that began in October 2006 to help protect the ozone layer and reduce emissions of greenhouse gases. As part of the RAD program, partners recover ozone-depleting chemicals from old refrigerators, freezers, window air conditioners, and dehumidifiers. Using best practices, RAD partners ensure that:
o Refrigerant is recovered and reclaimed or destroyed
o Foam is recovered and destroyed, or the blowing agent is recovered and reclaimed
o Metals, plastic, and glass are recycled
o PCBs, mercury, and used oil are recovered and properly disposed
SmartWay Transport Partnership: The SmartWay Transport Partnership is a public-private partnership that uses market mechanisms to improve energy efficiency in the goods movement sector. The Partnership has accelerated the adoption of advanced technologies and operational practices that save fuel, save money and reduce emissions from freight operations. SmartWay partners include trucking companies, shippers, logistics providers, and rail carriers. SmartWay Partners have saved 1.5 billion gallons of diesel fuel from goods movement, saving partners $3.6 billion in operating costs while reducing 14.7 million metric tons of CO2. Recent international SmartWay projects include a Green Truck pilot in Guangzhou, China, sponsored by the World Bank, and SmartWay pilot testing in the EU.
Sustainable Skylines Program: The Sustainable Skylines Initiative (SSI) is an EPA program designed to use air quality regulatory needs, climate action goals and other local environmental priorities as the catalyst for integrated sustainability actions. The SSI is a collaborative effort that brings together the resources of EPA, other government agencies, nonprofit and private organizations to support individual communities. Initial SSI programs are underway in Dallas, Texas; Kansas City Kansas and Missouri; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. SSI programs are designed to meet the local circumstances of participating communities.
Good Governance: The foundation to implementing any effective green economy or sustainable development policy starts with having effective environmental governance
systems in place. EPA?s Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance (OECA) has created training materials and conducted training workshops in a number of areas such as Principles of Effective Environmental Enforcement, Environmental Inspector Training, Investigation and Prosecution of Environmental Crimes, Environmental Compliance and Enforcement Indicators, and Principles of Environmental Impact Assessment Review.
AirNow-International: The goal of AirNow-International (AirNow-I) is to strengthen environmental cooperation among governments and international organizations by sharing technology utilized by EPA to transform air quality data into vital, real-time information for decision-makers and the public. AirNow-I uses software identical to the AirNow domestic system and helps promote good governance and transparency. A very successful pilot program was launched in Shanghai, China at the 2010 Expo and plans are underway to expand the program to surrounding provinces, as well as other countries, enabling data exchange and cooperation, as well as air quality monitoring, forecasting, and management.
Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Grants: The Environmental Workforce Development and Job Training Grants (EWDJT) help residents take advantage of the jobs created by the management, assessment, cleanup, and revitalization of solid and hazardous waste sites in their communities. EWDJT provides local residents of communities historically impacted by brownfields and other environmentally contaminated properties or waste related facilities an opportunity to take environmental training offered through the programs. To date (since 1998), EPA has funded 169 job training grants totaling over $35 million through the former Brownfields Job Training Program. As of April 2010, more than 5,800 people had completed training and more than 3,800 obtained employment in the environmental field with an average starting hourly wage of $14.65.
Water: EPA?s Office of Water is working domestically to enhance the sustainability of U.S. communities, U.S. drinking water, wastewater and stormwater systems, and the infrastructure that make up those systems. EPA will build on its efforts in these areas and will continue to work with stakeholders to bring about changes that will put us on increasingly sustainable paths.
o Community Sustainability: Community sustainability encompasses economic, environmental, and social dimensions. The investments made today in the water sector can have profound impacts on the long-term sustainability of a community. EPA encourages the adoption of cross-sector planning coordination (including water sector, transportation, housing, etc.) to enable a community to make strategic infrastructure investments. In the water sector, this means an emphasis on the optimization of existing infrastructure and, where possible, working to accommodate growth through infill rather than expansion.
o Water Sector Sustainability: Water sector services include drinking water, wastewater and stormwater utilities. The concept of a sustainable water sector goes beyond that of just water infrastructure sustainability. It includes effectively managing all aspects of the systems? operations and infrastructure. EPA?s efforts to promote sustainable systems are anchored in two areas?the
Effective Utility Management (EUM) Initiative and the Safe Drinking Water Act?s (SDWA) Capacity Development Program.
o Sustainable Water Infrastructure: Managing US water infrastructure is one of the biggest sustainability challenges faced by the water sector. EPA?s efforts to promote sustainable infrastructure practices are a central element of EUM and Capacity Development. Sustainable infrastructure includes the implementation of asset management and environmental management systems (EMS) practices, which can be integrated with efforts on water efficiency, energy efficiency, rate setting and pricing practices, and watershed decision making. All of these practices serve to reduce costs or appropriately increase revenues to help close the infrastructure funding gap.
USDA Forest Service Job Corps Civilian Conservation Centers (CCCs) are training students to work in a greener economy. The CCC offers opportunities for underserved youth to acquire training to compete for jobs in industries such as carpentry, natural resources, health care, and culinary arts. By incorporating green aspects into these fields, graduates will be better equipped to contend for jobs in the changing economy. ―Green jobs are an extremely important part of rebuilding the American economy,‖ said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. Because of the new direction, ―generations of Job Corps graduates will make our nation healthier, more energy-independent and our public lands more resilient to the effects of climate change.‖ The Forest Service CCC?s has provided underserved youth vocational training for 45 years. USDA operates 28 programs across 18 states with a capacity of 6,200 students. Six additional agencies support this new effort of the USDA.
Green Jobs Career Data: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released a formal definition on ―green jobs‖ and issued a report on Careers in Wind Energy. For more information on BLS green jobs data and initiatives, please visit http://www.bls.gov/green/home.htm. The U.S. resource on occupational competencies is an online tool and searchable database known as the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) system. In 2008 ? 2009, the O*NET began research to add green jobs information to the current occupational database. The project conducted a literature review and analysis and released a report in February 2009 entitled Greening of the World of Work: Implications for O*NET-SOC and New and Emerging Occupations (http://www.onetcenter.org/reports/Green.html).
For more information on O*NET, please visit http://www.onetcenter.org/green.html.
In addition to the aforementioned initiatives geared toward collecting green jobs career data, the following is an inventory of many of the green jobs initiatives undertaken by DOL and links to resources for more information.
American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (Recovery Act) Green Jobs Grants
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes tax credits for domestic production of green goods, money for ‗green collar? worker training, money for energy efficiency programs, grants to support building renewable energy facilities, incentives to provide infrastructure for alternative fuel vehicles. The Executive Order on Federal Sustainability sets energy efficiency and greenhouse gas emission standards for federal buildings and fleet vehicles.
The Department of Labor (DOL) plays a key role in growing the clean energy economy, a primary focus of the new Administration. The energy industry offers workers new opportunities that will require additional training and certification. Through the Recovery Act, federal programs and projects have received large investments that could create green jobs, including investments in renewable energy infrastructure, energy-efficiency home retrofitting, biofuel development, and advanced drive train/vehicle development and manufacturing. DOL has encouraged states that have received Recovery Act funding for federal workforce investment programs to recognize collaborative opportunities to prepare workers for green jobs, and to utilize other sources of federal funding.
The Recovery Act included $500 million in funding for a competitive grants program for research, worker training and placement, and labor exchange in the energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors of the economy. DOL completed five Green Jobs grant competitions from late 2009 through early 2010 that will play an important role in connecting other Federal agencies? green training and job creation programs with the workforce investment system to forge a government-wide approach to the development and expansion of the workforce for these critical industries. DOL is also studying the implementation process and outcomes of these grants.
U.S. Labor Secretary, Hilda Solis, has committed the Department of Labor (DOL) to ensuring that new green jobs are good jobs and could provide high quality employment for everyone, including:
 Women;
 People with disabilities;
 Veterans;
 Individuals who are limited-English proficient;
 Individuals who live in high poverty areas;
 Youth and older workers; and
 Unemployed individuals, dislocated workers, high school dropouts; and individuals with past legal issues.
While historically disadvantaged populations have been the last to benefit from economic growth, DOL is developing programs to help make these workers first in line for new, green jobs.
DOL?s Recovery Act-funded Green Jobs grant programs are:
Pathways Out Of Poverty Grants: To provide assistance to underserved populations living in high-poverty areas, who are seeking pathways out of poverty and into sustainable employment in energy efficiency and renewable energy industries. Workers will receive recruitment and referral services; basic skills, work-readiness and occupational skills training; and supportive services to help overcome barriers to employment, for example, transportation.
State Energy Sector Partnership and Training Grants: To highlight the important role States play collectively in building a national green economy, the DOL is investing in workforce sector strategies that target energy efficiency and renewable
energy industries as well as other green industries. The grants provide training and placement services in the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries for workers impacted by national energy and environmental policy, individuals in need of updated training related to the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries, and unemployed workers.
Green Capacity Building Grants: The grants will support capacity building for organizations to provide training for entry-level positions leading to career pathways in the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries. The grants will help individuals acquire the skills needed to enter and advance in green industries and occupations by building the capacity of active DOL-funded training programs, particularly for youth, to provide education and training in the key skills and competencies required in these green industries and occupations.
Energy Training Partnership Grants: The grants provide training for workers that will prepare them to enter the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries, as well as green occupations within other industries. These grants invest in partnerships made up of a diverse set of stakeholders that utilize these partnerships to design and distribute training approaches that lead to portable industry credentials and employment, including registered apprenticeship.
Green Jobs Labor Market Information: These grants support innovative approaches for identifying and obtaining information on green jobs at the state level. One of these grantees, a consortium of eleven states, is conducting ground-breaking research on ways to use ―data-mining‖ of job postings available on the Internet to conduct ―real-time‖ identification of skill demands from employers. This new approach to data collection on skill demands will address some of the limitations or drawbacks of typical employer surveys.
For more information on the grants, please refer to these fact sheets:
 State Energy Sector Partnership grant fact sheets (SGA/DFA PY-08-20)
 Pathways Out of Poverty grant fact sheets (SGA/DFA PY 08-19)
 Energy Training Partnership grant fact sheets (SGA/DFA PY 08-18)
 Green Capacity Building grant fact sheets (SGA/DFA PY 08-21)
 Green Jobs Labor Market Information grant summaries
Green Jobs Innovation Fund: The level of interest expressed in the Recovery Act-funded green jobs training grants revealed the need for resources that focus on training that complements job creation efforts particularly on green jobs. The Green Jobs Innovation Fund promotes DOL?s vision for ensuring that workers have the necessary skills, knowledge, and abilities to succeed in a knowledge-based economy that includes high growth and emerging industry sectors, including green industries. Green industries are comprised of the energy efficiency and renewable energy industries as well as industries that impact our environment, such as transportation, green construction, environmental protection, sustainable agriculture, forestry, and recycling and waste reduction. Through competitive grant opportunities, the Innovation Fund will help workers receive job training in green industry sectors and occupations, and access green career pathways. For Fiscal Year (FY) 2010, the Green Jobs Innovation Fund has $40 billion to train workers in green industry sectors.
Green Jobs for Women: More women than ever are working in higher-paying occupations and in management positions, but many still cannot access non-traditional jobs for women, such as in the construction sector where majority of the jobs in the clean energy economy are. If the United States is to be competitive in the emerging economy, women must play a leading role and have access to green jobs. To give women enhanced opportunities in the green economy, we are close to completing a ―Woman?s Guide to Green Jobs.‖ Targeted at women who are looking for a job in the green economy, the Guide is a roadmap on how to locate training and entrepreneurship opportunities; how to access work supports, like child care; and how to find their own career path. In addition, the Women?s Bureau has nine green jobs training projects around the country. For information on a Woman?s Guide to Green Jobs, and Women?s Bureau projects on green jobs for women, please visit: http://www.dol.gov/wb/media/Greenhome.htm
Green Jobs for Youth : DOL also received funding in the Recovery Act for Job Corps, an intensive education and training program for at-risk youth, and for the YouthBuild program, created to help at-risk youth gain education and occupational credentials while building or rehabilitating affordable housing. Both Job Corps centers and YouthBuild programs are implementing green curricula and many Job Corps facilities employ green technology. For more information on YouthBuild and green jobs, please visit http://www.ybshadesofgreen.org/
For more information on Job Corps and green jobs, please visit http://www.jobcorps.gov/AboutJobCorps/recovery.aspx, where the following PDF references are available:  Green: The Jobs of Tomorrow (185 kb PDF file)  Your Green Career at Job Corps (298 kb PDF file)  An Employers' Guide to Job Corps and Its Green Graduates (709 kb PDF file)  Partner with Job Corps: Save Time, Money, and the Environment (168 kb PDF file)  Job Corps Green Initiatives: For Students, For Staff, For the Community (158 kb PDF file)
Green Jobs for Veterans: In June of this year, DOL?s Veterans Employment and Training Service (VETS) awarded $9 million in grants to provide veterans with green jobs training. Veterans will receive skills assessments, individual job counseling, labor market information, classroom or on-the-job training in green jobs, skills upgrading and retraining, placement assistance and crucial follow-up services.
Green Jobs and Persons with Disabilities: The Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) hosted a roundtable in December 2009 in conjunction with the National Technical Assistance and Research Leadership Center, titled ―Strategies for Including People with Disabilities in the Green Jobs Talent Pipeline.‖ The roundtable brought together leaders to develop recommendations for two purposes: 1.) to ensure that people with disabilities are included in the emerging energy efficiency and renewable energy workforce talent pipelines and 2.) to identify promising Federal,
state, regional, and local opportunities for linking persons with disabilities to these green jobs. Read ODEP Assistant Secretary Martinez?s remarks at the roundtable.
Occupational Health and Safety and Green Jobs: DOL?s Occupational Health and Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has established a strategic partnership with the private sector and other agencies in an effort to provide a safe environment for workers at a wind farm in north central Illinois. For more information, please read the news release.

Policies that promote a green economy are implemented both as part of a centralized strategy and as independent initiatives. Within the USDA, for example, there is a Strategic Plan laying out the connections of all these policies.

The benefits of implementing a national green economy strategy include the opportunity to advance economic growth in a sustainable fashion that improves the well-being of human health and the environment. However, this is not the only way forward, as independent initiatives can each contribute to the overarching goal of achieving a green economy.
With respect to agriculture and forestry, the major perceived benefits of implementing a national green economy strategy would be to recognize and incentivize actions that can be taken in the agriculture and forest sectors to mitigate the effects of climate change and sequester carbon through natural processes. An additional challenge for which agriculture must prepare but which is not yet adequately on the radar is water conservation and water quality.

The seven energy efficiency and renewable energy industries defined in Section 171(e)(1)(B)(ii) of the Workforce Investment include:
 The energy-efficient building, construction, and retrofit industries;
 The renewable electric power industry;
 The energy efficient and advanced drive train vehicle industry;
 The biofuels industry;
 The deconstruction and materials use industries;
 The energy efficiency assessment industry serving residential, commercial, or industrial sectors; and
 Manufacturers that produce sustainable products using environmentally sustainable processes and materials.
Some food consumers are interested in food choices that they believe to be ―green.‖ Organics, local foods, and other types of food (animal-friendly) may supply aspects of green. However, there is currently no acceptable labeling system to inform a consumer about the climate or environment-friendliness of the products he or she consumes. LCA analysis in the future may fill this gap.

Green economy policies that are most effective help to incentivize green behavior. This includes sharing accurate information for consumers so market mechanisms can work to match consumer demands for green products with supply. This also includes educating the public on the impacts of their actions and encouraging adopting workplace policies ? in all sectors - that have less environmental impact.

Examples of how policies contribute to poverty eradication include a coffee chain whose sustainable practices result in certifiable coffee and enhanced wages to coffee growers. In lieu of government certification, many global firms are matching up with NGOs to ¨Dcertify¡¬ their production processes as sustainable.

While many of the policies currently in place in the United States are effective in promoting a green-growth economy are market-based instruments, as an environmental regulatory agency the U.S. EPA has found it necessary to apply a mix of regulatory, market-based, and information-driven programs. Achieving a green-growth economy requires a fair balance that includes regulatory mechanisms in promoting ? and usually requiring ? standards and compliance to assure that growth is green within the regulated community. Furthermore, technology-forcing regulations or standards are effective in promoting green- growth/technology innovation and in creating green jobs. Thus, a mix of policies needs to be considered by decision-makers.
Achieving in any nation a green economy and sustainable development will depend on having a strong and effective domestic program of environmental laws that are enforced.

Corporate social responsibility efforts contribute to marketing advantages through branding.

While formal studies are not readily available, U.S. experts have found the following to be success factors and challenges associated with promoting green economy and sustainable development policies:
?h Incorporating Environmental Externalities into Decision-Making: Future economic growth will require proper, full-cost internalization in product pricing or regulatory benefits analysis.
?h Capacity: Governments and other entities must ensure adequate infrastructure to carry out desired policies.
?h Full Engagement: There is a need to ensure coordination between multiple agencies and levels of government as well as involve the private sector, customers and local communities to ensure effective implementation of policies.

Key outcomes might include a transfer of best practices, guidance on how to successfully implement green economy initiatives, and identification of areas for global cooperation. Additional outcomes might be support for open source life cycle inventory/ life cycle assessment platforms and sharing of these data among countries and industries, compilation of best management practices and lessons learned relative to sustainable intensification of agriculture and food security, elements of ¨Dgreen¡¬ educational curriculum for different educational stages and situations, and more development of the green economy theme in various economic sectors.

Continued focus of UNDESA and the CSD on sustainable development, in cooperation with other UN programs, and updating of governments of actions in this area can help ensure effective coordination. A focus on coordination mechanisms within the United Nations would be particularly helpful in this regard.

Again, a focus on coordination mechanisms within the United Nations would be particularly helpful in this regard. A number of recent improvements, such as greater use of the Environmental Management Group, UN-Water, and UN-Energy, are helping to identify and implement synergistic activity among existing instruments and actors. Consideration of the reinvigoration of the concepts of the Inter-Agency Coordination on Sustainable Development (IACSD) might also improve coordination within the UN system.

No, the United States does not have domestic mechanisms which fulfil a similar capacity. However, the U.S. government conducts an active interagency process on sustainable development involving the White House, USG agencies, and civil society.

Yes, participation of major groups is strong in the United States. Major groups participate in all of the above processes.

The United States Government engages with major groups at the national, regional and local level. The U.S. government strives for an open and fair communication process, using mechanisms such as the Federal Register to promote open and transparent communication with all groups.