Environmental Sustainability Program

Environmental Sustainability Program is sponsored by U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF). This program funds engineering research to develop sustainable systems that balance human well-being, ecological protection, and economic stability. It emphasizes projects that balance ecological protection and stable economic conditions, and research may consider long time horizons and can integrate social sciences and ethics.

While not exclusively focused on marine plastic, it supports broader environmental sustainability which can encompass solutions to plastic pollution.

Environmental Sustainability | NSF - U.S. National Science Foundation Environmental Sustainability Important information for proposers and award recipients All proposals must be submitted in accordance with the requirements specified in the funding opportunity and in the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) and its supplements .

All NSF grants and cooperative agreements are subject to the applicable set of NSF award terms and conditions . NSF has updated its research security policies for NSF funded projects. The Environmental Sustainabilit y program is part of the Environmental Engineering and Sustainability cluster together with 1) the Environmental Engineering program and 2) the Nanoscale Interactions program.

The goal of the Environmental Sustainability program is to promote sustainable engineered systems that support human well-being and that are also compatible with sustaining natural (environmental) systems. These systems provide ecological services vital for human survival. Research efforts supported by the program typically consider long time horizons and may incorporate contributions from the social sciences and ethics.

The program supports engineering research that seeks to balance society's need to provide ecological protection and maintain stable economic conditions. There are five principal general research areas that are supported.

Circular Bioeconomy Engineering: This area includes research that enables sustainable societal use of food, energy, water, nitrogen, phosphorus, and materials, with the reduction and eventual elimination of fossil fuel combustion that lacks carbon capture. The program encourages research that helps build the raw material basis for the functioning of society principally on biomass, drawing heavily on sustainable agriculture and forestry.

Additionally, material flows must reduce or preferably eliminate waste, with an emphasis on closed-loop or “circular” processing. Industrial ecology: Topics of interest include advancements in modeling such as life cycle assessment, materials flow analysis, net energy analysis, input/output economic models, and novel metrics for measuring sustainable systems. Innovations in industrial ecology are encouraged.

Green engineering: Research is encouraged to advance the sustainability of manufacturing processes, green buildings, and infrastructure. Many programs in the Engineering Directorate support research in environmentally benign manufacturing or chemical processes.

The Environmental Sustainability program supports research that would affect more than one chemical or manufacturing process or that takes a systems or holistic approach to green engineering for infrastructure or green buildings. Improvements in distribution and collection systems that will advance smart growth strategies and ameliorate effects of growth are research areas that are supported by Environmental Sustainability.

Innovations in management of storm water, recycling and reuse of drinking water, and other green engineering techniques to support sustainability may also be fruitful areas for research. Ecological engineering: Proposals should focus on the engineering aspects of restoring ecological function to natural systems. Engineering research in the enhancement of natural capital to foster sustainable development is encouraged.

Earth systems engineering: Earth systems engineering considers aspects of large-scale engineering research that involve mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, adaptation to climate change, and other global concerns. All proposed research should be driven by engineering principles, and be presented explicitly in an environmental sustainability context.

Proposals should include involvement in engineering research of at least one graduate student, as well as undergraduates. Incorporation of aspects of social, behavioral, and economic sciences is welcomed. NOTE: Water treatment, air pollution (both outdoor and indoor), soil remediation, and solid waste treatment proposals are to be submitted to the Environmental Engineering program (CBET 1440).

Innovative proposals outside the scope of the four core areas mentioned above may be considered. However, prior to submission, it is recommended that the Principal Investigator contact the program director to avoid the possibility of the proposal being returned without review.

For proposals that call for research to be done on regions that are outside of the United States, an explanation must be presented of the potential benefit of the research for the United States. Proposals should address the novelty and/or potentially transformative nature of the proposed work compared to previous work in the field.

Also, it is important to address why the proposed work is important in terms of engineering science, as well as to also project the potential impact on society and/or industry of success in the research. The novelty or potentially transformative nature of the research should be included, as a minimum, in the Project Summary of each proposal. The duration of unsolicited proposal awards in CBET is generally up to three years.

Single-investigator award budgets typically include support for one graduate student (or equivalent) and up to one month of PI time per year (awards for multiple investigator projects are typically larger). Proposal budgets that are much larger than typical should be discussed with the program director prior to submission.

Proposers can view budget amounts and other information from recent awards made by this program via the “What Has Been Funded (Recent Awards Made Through This Program, with Abstracts)” link towards the bottom of this page. Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) program proposals are strongly encouraged. Award duration is five years.

The submission deadline for Engineering CAREER proposals is in July every year. Learn more in the CAREER program description . Proposals for Conferences, Workshops, and Supplements : PIs are strongly encouraged to discuss their requests with the program director before submission of the proposal.

Grants for Rapid Response Research (RAPID) and EArly-concept Grants for Exploratory Research (EAGER) are also considered when appropriate. Please note that proposals of these types must be discussed with the program director before submission.

Grant Opportunities for Academic Liaison with Industry (GOALI) proposals that integrate fundamental research with translational results and are consistent with the application areas of interest to each program are also encouraged. Please note that RAPID, EAGER, and GOALI proposals can be submitted anytime during the year.

Details about RAPID, EAGER, and GOALI are available in the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG), Part 1, Chapter II, Section E: Types of Proposals . Compliance : Proposals that are not compliant with the Proposal & Award Policies & Procedures Guide (PAPPG) will be returned without review.

May 7, 2025 - 2025 ENG/CBET CAREER Program Webinar Awards made through this program Browse projects funded by this program Map of recent awards made through this program Directorate for Engineering (ENG) Division of Chemical, Bioengineering, Environmental and Transport Systems (ENG/CBET)