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International Best Practices and Innovation- Strategically Harvesting Environmental Lessons from Abroad
- Why We Can Learn From Abroad
- Examples of International Innovation for Harvesting Lessons Learned
- Tools and Resources to Harvest Innovation
Introduction
As state and local governments in the U.S. respond to demanding and complex environmental challenges such as urban sprawl, non-point source pollution, brownfields, and degraded water infrastructure, environmental policies and best practices from overseas are serving as important models. Countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, and Australia have addressed similar environmental challenges by developing and implementing creative and often highly successful solutions. The policies of other Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD)-member countries have helped promote low-impact development to manage stormwater, constructed wetlands to treat wastewater, "green" buildings and renewable energy to address climate change and air pollution, and industrial ecology to support pollution prevention and brownfields revitalization.
In these countries, creative state and local governments have led the way in the development of these innovative polices and projects, which are environmentally sound and economically practical. As they plan new initiatives, projects, and policies, and seek new and different approaches to existing challenges, environmental officials and policy makers in states such as California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Virginia, and Wisconsin, are looking across the Atlantic -- and often beyond -- to observe and integrate these international lessons learned. International state-to-state and peer-to-peer environmental partnerships are growing. Through these mechanisms for transferring lessons learned, U.S. states and cities are developing new, concrete ideas that produce projects and policies with environmental and economic benefits.
top of pageWhy We Can Learn From Abroad
There are three primary factors why U.S. EPA and U.S. states and cities can and do adapt lessons learned from innovative environmental policies in European Union (EU) and OECD-member countries: 1) similar socio-economic profiles; 2) similar environmental, economic, and social pressures to develop sustainable policies; and, 3) more environmentally efficient use of resources in certain areas in many of these countries. While there are lessons to be learned from all parts of the world, for these reasons, OECD-member countries offer particularly fertile ground for harvesting lessons learned.
top of pageExamples of International Innovation for Harvesting Lessons Learned
U.S. states and local governments are poised to import innovative environmental lessons from other countries in order to address the most pressing environmental challenges in the U.S.
BrownfieldsIn many European countries, a variety of policy tools to address sprawl development and promote brownfields revitalization have been successfully developed and applied. In the Netherlands, national spatial planning policies, such as the "ABC Policy," integrate land-use and transportation planning and have been successful at restraining sprawl and promoting compact urban form. This has inspired transportation and housing planning in cities such as Groningen, where approximately 50 percent of inner-city travel is by bicycle. Brownfields development in Europe has also been strengthened by the inclusion of international design competitions which often foster creation of "green" buildings, redeveloped open-spaces and landscapes, and preservation of historic structures and buildings.
AirThe cache of innovative smart growth policy tools common in many OECD-member countries also has preserved open space, supported urban forests, and created greenbelts around many cities -- especially in Europe. Greenspace planning in Stuttgart, Germany, and in Stockholm, Sweden, is linked into sophisticated networks of "green" air corridors designed to mitigate the negative effects of urban heat islands and to reduce air pollutants. In 2001, to address urban heat island effects, the metropolitan government of Tokyo enacted a law requiring all new or reconstructed buildings, public and private, located on plots of 1,000 square meters or more, to plant "green" rooftops on at least 20 percent of their roof space. Air pollution in Europe is also being addressed through devoting significant resources to public transportation. In France and England, nearly 40 to 60 percent of spending for transportation is devoted to passenger railroads and mass transit systems.
WaterEU-member and OECD-member countries also have demonstrated innovation in the realm of watershed management and water infrastructure. In the 1950s, twenty years before the U.S., Germany was beginning to research the treatment and cost efficiencies of constructed wetlands and demonstrate how constructed wetlands could serve as a viable alternative to conventional water treatment processes. Moreover, UV treatment of drinking water, rather than chlorine, is commonly applied in France and Germany. Australia is a global leader in total asset based management in water infrastructure, and has developed several ambitious, state-level water demand management policies and programs. In 2000, the state of New South Wales cancelled plans for a major dam and instead set legally binding requirements and operating licenses for Sydney Water to reduce water demand by 35 percent from 1991 levels by 2011.
Success Stories - StatesA number of U.S. states are increasingly looking overseas for creative solutions to some of their most pressing environmental, economic, and social challenges. In June 2002, Maryland and the German state of Schleswig-Holstein established a state-to-state environmental partnership with an agreement to work collaboratively on exchanging information, data, and technical experts on the subjects of smart growth, green buildings, and renewable energy. Already, this partnership is bearing fruit -- Maryland is now pursuing the development of two wind farms. This current relationship builds on Maryland's successful history of adapting best practices from abroad.
As a result of several peer-to-peer technical exchanges among brownfields and state planners in New Jersey and Germany, New Jersey's state plan for brownfields redevelopment has been directly modeled after regional land-use planning used in the Ruhr Valley. Moreover, New Jersey's pollution prevention efforts have drawn directly from the model of the Dutch "covenants." In 1995, shortly after two trips to the Netherlands by New Jersey government, business, and NGO representatives, then- Governor Christine Todd Whitman formed the Green and Gold Task Force to explore how the Dutch model could be applied in the state. Continuing this strong relationship, New Jersey and the Netherlands in 1998 signed a landmark agreement to work collaboratively on regional solutions to climate change.
Success Stories - Regional and Local LevelAt the regional and local level, adaptation of innovative practices from abroad is equally evident. The Northern Virginia Regional Commission and the Verband Region Stuttgart initiated the first international region-to-region partnership in February 1999. As a direct result of their international partnership and exchange with the Verband Region in Stuttgart, Germany, the Virginia State Legislature passed a bill in Spring 2002 initiating a GIS project for the purpose of sharing air flow mapping and health data. Northern Virginia Regional Commission Executive Director G. Mark Gibb wrote to EPA: "This is just one of many useful ideas that are being discussed and implemented in Northern Virginia as a result of our eight-day trip in the summer of 2000. Other localities are implementing rooftop gardens, car sharing, new traffic calming techniques, open space planning, and town modeling as a result of our trip and information exchange. I think it is important to know that our international partnership is paying back with both interest and dividends."
Numerous municipalities are also adapting innovative programs and practices from overseas. Portland, Oregon is adapting climate protection strategies from Stockholm, Sweden and Copenhagen, Denmark. Car sharing programs in Seattle, Chicago, Denver, New York, Washington, Portland, and Boston are being inspired by Germany and Switzerland. Brownfields redevelopment in Lawrence, Massachusetts and Bridgeport, Connecticut has followed the UK "Groundwork" model, and the 197-a plan for waterfront revitalization and brownfields redevelopment in New York City's Greenpoint/Williamsburg neighborhood has drawn from Duisburg, Germany. Cape Charles, Virginia's concepts of ecological industrial parks are taken from Kalundborg, Denmark, and "green" rooftops in Chicago emanated straight from its sister-city, Hamburg, Germany. The Cape Charles Industrial Park also exemplifies the international investment and business ramifications of such efforts: two of the park's major residents are a German wind energy turbine manufacturer and a Swiss photovoltaic firm. These examples of state, region, and city international collaboration and harvesting of lessons learned are but a sampling of the multitude of success stories from across the country. The conclusion of all these stories is the same: a small investment in learning from and adapting international best practices pays back many fold -- environmentally, economically, and socially.
top of pageTools and Resources to Harvest Innovation
Financial and logistical support from a growing number of national and even local community foundations is available to states and cities that are endeavoring to reach out and learn internationally. Even private corporations, such as the energy, waste, and water services company Suez, recognize the importance of learning from the policies of other countries and facilitate trips to sites of best practices for state and municipal officials. Global NGOs, such as the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives, and international governmental organizations, such as the European Commission's LIFE-Environment program and UN-Habitat's Best Practices Database, have extensive libraries of case studies and other information available to local authorities eager to look globally for best practices and successful innovation.