Sector Strategies Program

[logo] Sector Strategies Program: Insight, Innovation, Results

The Sector Strategies Program achieves performance improvement and burden reduction in 13 important sectors by addressing their unique issues and challenges in a collaborative setting.

Staff contacts are experts on their sectors, providing a resource to EPA and external partners, and assessing factors that are drivers or barriers to better performance. Program staffers create ad hoc partnerships with essential stakeholders, including business leaders in each sector, state and local officials, and others. Through informal dialogue, stakeholder teams design tailored strategies to improve environmental performance and reduce regulatory burden.

[cover] Download the 2008 Performance Report Supplement, PDF

New 2008 Performance Report (PDF) (138 pp, 11.6MB)

[cover] Download the 2008 Sector Performance Report Supplement, PDF

2008 Performance Report Supplement (PDF) (48 pp, 2.2MB)

[cover] Download the Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Emissions report, PDF

GHG Report (PDF)
(132 pp, 1.44MB)

New 2007 Energy Report

[cover] An Assessment of the Environmental Implications of Oil and Gas Production: A Regional Case Study

Oil and Gas Report (PDF) (115 pp, 2.3Mb)

[cover] Beneficial Reuse of Industrial Byproducts in the Gulf Coast Region

Beneficial Reuse report (PDF) (116 pp, 1.8MB)

[cover] Potential For Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions In The Construction Sector

Construction Sector Report (PDF) (49 pp, 803K)

Sector strategies may include targeted regulatory changes, sector-based EMS programs, and easier links to assistance services. Action plans are supported by shared knowledge and objective analysis. Innovative measurement approaches track performance with a more strategic allocation of resources by all stakeholders.

2008 Sector Performance Report

Welcome to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) 2008 Sector Performance Report, the third in a series started in 2004. The report provides a comprehensive picture of the environmental performance of 12 sectors of the U.S. economy, currently and over time.

Download the 2008 Sector Performance Report

This Supplement (February 2009) to the 2008 Sector Performance Report (PDF) (48 pp, 2.2MB, About PDF) provides readers with updated Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data from 2006. It contains updated sector information on air emissions, and waste generation & management trends, and it identifies the key chemicals driving those numbers. As this Supplement is a companion to the 2008 Sector Performance Report, rather than a stand-alone report, some data and descriptive text presented in the Report are not repeated in this document. Instead, we refer the reader to the 2008 Sector Performance Report for important information on background, context, and methods. To download this document (Adobe "pdf") to your computer, please click on the Supplement icon found next to this description.

Participating Sectors

At present, there are 13 manufacturing and service sectors participating in Sector Strategies:

There are many participants in these sector partnerships who engage with EPA on wide range of activities, such as issue analysis, policy dialogue, project planning, pilot testing, and long-term program change. Participation varies from sector to sector, and issue to issue. Active participants include over 24 national trade associations, hundreds of involved companies, major colleges, all EPA programs and regions, state and local agencies (and their national associations), and NGO, and academic groups that are actively involved with specific issues.

Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Key Industrial Sectors in the United States

This report seeks to provide greenhouse gas (GHG) emission profiles for key sectors of U.S. industry (including indirect emissions from electricity consumption), which combined accounted for 29% of total U.S. GHG emissions in 2002, more than any other economic sector. Emission profiles are provided for 14 key industrial sectors.

Download the GHG Report (WORKING DRAFT) (PDF) (132 pp, 1.4MB, About PDF)

Energy Trends in Selected Manufacturing Sectors

The Energy Trends in Selected Manufacturing Sectors: Opportunities and Challenges for Environmentally Preferable Energy Outcomes report, released in 2007, details energy consumption trends and related air emissions from the following sectors: Aluminum, Forest Products, Motor Vehicles, Cement, Iron & Steel, Motor Vehicle Parts, Chemical, Metal Casting, Petroleum Refining, Food, Metal Finishing, and Shipbuilding. These sectors collectively represent 85% of the industrial energy use in the United States. For each sector, the report provides "best case" energy scenarios and identifies opportunities for reduced energy-related emission. Additionally, this analytical document suggests policy options to promote discussion on ways to overcome identified regulatory barriers.

Rocky Mountain Region Oil & Gas Case Study

An Assessment of the Environmental Implications of Oil and Gas Production: A Regional Case Study is a working draft that provides an overview of emerging oil and gas exploration and production issues in the Mountain West. Released in 2008, this report is a resource for agency and industry decision makers charged with assessing, responding to, and preventing oil and gas sector impacts. In addition, the report addresses several state, regional, and national initiatives to advance responsible oil and gas production.

View or download the Oil and Gas Report (Working Draft) (PDF) (115 pp, 2.3MB, About PDF)

Beneficial Reuse of Industrial Byproducts in the Gulf Coast Region

The Sector Strategies report: Beneficial Reuse of Industrial Byproducts in the Gulf Coast Region describes how participating sectors can turn "would be wastes" into substitutes for raw materials and/or sources of energy. This report identifies the major industrial byproduct streams for 9 major sectors that have a significant presence in the Gulf coast region. The report summarizes state beneficial material reuse programs in that region, and offers a detailed summary of factors that support or inhibit the creation of market connections to the reuse of industrial byproducts (i.e., drivers & barriers). The report is intended to provide information to state and federal regulators, trade associations, and other stakeholders to support and promote beneficial material reuse.

Download the Beneficial Reuse Report (PDF) (116 pp, 1.8MB, About PDF)

For additional information, please contact Keith Chanon (chanon.keith@epa.gov, phone: 202-566-1410)

Construction and Climate - Potential For Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions In The Construction Sector

No single construction company is a significant greenhouse gas contributor, but the carbon footprint of the entire sector is substantial because the industry is so large. Sector Strategies' February 2009 report, Potential for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Construction Sector, documents the industry's emissions and examines ways to reduce them. The report presents one scenario for cutting emissions by millions of tons per year.

Download the Construction Sector Report (PDF) (49 pp, 803K, About PDF)

Environmental Management Systems and other sector tools

Sector teams work with trade associations to develop and implement a plan for delivering needed outreach, training resources, and support to build a 'business case' for EMS.

In 2003 and 2004, Sector Strategies released brochures highlighting the benefits of EMS implementation at various industrial facilities. Environmental Management Systems: Systematically Improving your Performance was created in partnership with multiple trade associations. Business cases exist for six industry sectors: Agribusiness (meat packing), Construction, Metal Casting, Metal Finishing, Ports, and Shipbuilding and Ship Repair.

Performance Measurement

Sector teams explore creative ways to measure and report industry-wide environmental and economic progress using performance indicators, success stories, and other tools.

Sector Strategies Brochure

The Sector Strategies Brochure (PDF) (8 pp, 469K, About PDF) explains the philosophy behind our work, including:

Insight. Listening and learning
Innovation. New environmental solutions
Results. A cleaner environment

Black and white version (PDF) (8 pp, 344K, About PDF)

Program Launch (2003)

Rollout Announcement (May 2003)
Full text of then-Administrator Whitman's welcome speech.

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