Future Sustainability Program

Many nations, regions, and metropolitan areas have begun to examine the practical implications of sustainable development for policy and planning. They face difficult questions: How can current needs and aspirations be met while ensuring satisfactory environmental and resource conditions for the future? What technological, economic, and behavioral adaptations are required? What methods are appropriate for conducting strategic assessments and developing sustainability action plans?

The Future Sustainability Program at SEI-US addresses these questions by advancing the methods, concepts, data and institutional capacity for sustainable development planning, helping to turn sustainability into a practical basis for action.

We work in two main areas:

• Sustainability Studies: We work with partners all around the world on sustainability assessments, which evaluate current conditions, future directions and strategies for sustainable paths of development. SEI brings its expertise in scenario development, supported by its methods and software tools, for studies that paint a coherent picture of the current state of affairs and evaluate possible scenarios of future development directions. The studies catalyze a dialogue among decision-makers and stakeholders on policy choices and build the capacity for continuing research.
• Methods for Integrated Sustainability Analysis: SEI develops methods and tools for integrated sustainability studies. As part of this effort, SEI maintains Scenarios for Sustainability, a site for open methods and tools for scenario-based sustainability studies. SEI’s tools include PoleStar, a comprehensive, flexible and easy-to-use software tool for building and evaluating development scenarios, and IPAT-S, a scenario modeling language.