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Cross-sector and Multi-sector Publications
Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
- 2008 Sector Strategies Performance Report
- Beneficial Reuse of Industrial Byproducts in the Gulf Coast Region (PDF)
- Beneficial Reuse Forum: Summary of Key themes (PDF)
- Energy Trends in Selected Manufacturing Sectors: Opportunities and Challenges for Environmentally Preferable Energy Outcomes
- EMS: Systematically Improving your Performance
- Episodic Air Pollution Control Measures: Analysis of Potential Options for Industrial Sources (PDF)
- Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Emissions
- Archived Documents
2008 Sector Strategies Performance Report
This report provides information on the environmental performance of some of America's leading manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors. Together, the 12 sectors profiled represent more than 856,000 entities, employ more than 12.6 million people, and contribute more than $2.5 trillion annually to the U.S. economy. Developed by EPA's Sector Strategies Division, in cooperation with sector trade associations and many other stakeholders, this report provides a comprehensive look at the environmental impacts and trends of each sector. The data, drawn primarily from government databases, show many improvements in performance, such as emissions reductions for many pollutants, both in terms of the total amounts emitted and per individual unit of production.
Download the 2008 Sector Performance Report
Download the 2008 Performance Report Supplement (PDF) (48 pp, 2.2MB, 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 (PDF) (116 pp, 1.8MB, About PDF) 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 nine major sectors that have a significant presence in the Gulf Coast region, summarizes state beneficial material reuse programs in the 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 and 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.
Beneficial Reuse Forum
This forum provided direct input from industry experts on barriers to resource conservation and on how to identify and address crosscutting issues. Here is a summary of key themes (PDF) (12 pp, 263K, About PDF) and some (though not all) background dialogue.
Energy Trends
The Energy Trends in Selected Manufacturing Sectors: Opportunities and Challenges for Environmentally Preferable Energy Outcomes (PDF) (204 pp, 2MB, About PDF) 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 emissions. Additionally, this analytical document suggests policy options to promote discussion on ways to overcome identified regulatory barriers.
Environmental Management Systems (EMS): Systematically Improving your Performance
In 2003–2004, Sector Strategies released brochures highlighting the benefits of EMS implementation at various industrial facilities. The brochures, titled Environmental Management Systems: Systematically Improving your Performance, were created in partnership with multiple trade associations.
Episodic Air Pollution Control Measures: Analysis of Potential Options for Industrial Sources
The Episodic Air Pollution Control Measures: Analysis of Potential Options for Industrial Sources (PDF) (60 pp, 825K, About PDF) report identifies and preliminarily assesses a number of potential episodic control measures for industrial sources, based on a review of literature and discussions with industry experts. Three industry sectors were selected as case studies for the analysis: pulp and paper; iron and steel; and cement. While the study finds that a variety of potential episodic control measures are available for each of the three sectors analyzed (and, by extension, for other industrial sources), it emphasizes that further analysis is required, and it recommends a number of refinements and additional research activities to help EPA, states, business leaders, and other stakeholders more fully evaluate the potential contribution of industrial source episodic control measures.
Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Key Industrial Sectors in the United States
The Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Key Industrial Sectors in the United States (132 pp, 1.8MB, About PDF) 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.
Archived Documents
Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
- Sector Strategies Performance Reports: 2004 and 2006
- EPA Sector Program Plan 2001–2005
- The Common Sense Initiative, 1995–1998
Sector Strategies Performance Reports: 2004 and 2006
Using government and industry data, as well as case study examples, the Sector Strategies Performance Report provides a 10-year portrait of environmental performance for 11 sectors. It tracks each sector for their record in reducing water discharges, air emissions, waste generation, toxic chemical releases, as well as their accomplishments in recycling and energy and water efficiency.
The 2006 report also provides a first-time look at how EPA's Toxic Release Inventory data can be used to target the greatest hazard reduction opportunities when managing chemicals. EPA is using toxicity-weighted scores to show release trends for higher-impact substances. This information can serve as a tool for future strategic planning. The 2006 report also describes how sectors are turning would-be wastes into material and energy inputs, and how trade associations are helping their members improve environmental operations.
- Download the 2006 Sector Strategies Performance Report
- Download the 2004 Sector Strategies Performance Report
EPA Sector Program Plan 2001–2005
In the fall of 2000, the National Advisory Council for Environmental Policy and Technology (NACEPT), an EPA Federal Advisory Committee, endorsed EPA's Sector Plan 2001–2005. The Plan completes the transition from experimental to everyday use of sector approaches as part of the Agency's mainstream activities. NACEPT provided the EPA Administrator with six recommendations for improving the application of sector-based programs for improved environmental protection.