Cumulative Impacts Research
- Agency Directive
- How EPA's Research is Addressing Cumulative Impacts
- Cumulative Impacts Research Report
- Research Grant Information
- Environmental Justice Tools
- Research Publications
In everyday life, some people are exposed to numerous pollutants from a wide array of sources through multiple media and pathways. Chemical stressors in environmental media (air, water, land) and non-chemical stressors (e.g., social determinants of health, extreme weather events) aggregate and accumulate over time from one or more sources in the built, natural, and social environments, affecting individuals and communities in both positive and negative ways―referred to as cumulative impacts. In communities, particularly those already overburdened, disproportionate impacts can arise from unequal environmental conditions and exposure to multiple stressors. Additionally, changes in climate can exacerbate many of these disproportionate impacts.
Agency Directive
In January 2021, President Biden signed Executive Orders (EO) 13985 and 14008 to advance racial equity and support for underserved communities and to address the climate crisis. These EOs provide a framework for stimulating action across the federal government to address health inequities in the U.S. caused by disproportionate exposures to pollution and environmental degradation that are exacerbated by racial, economic, and geographic factors and climate change.
In support of these Orders, former EPA Administrator Regan issued an Agency-wide directive to take steps to better serve historically marginalized communities using cumulative impact assessment.
To fulfill its mission to protect human health and the environment, EPA must address cumulative impacts from exposure to multiple stressors. To do this, the Agency must strengthen the scientific foundation for assessing cumulative impacts, exposures, and risks. Recognizing the need to bolster the scientific basis for identifying actions that can improve community health and well-being, and to select, implement, and evaluate these actions, EPA has made cumulative impacts research a priority.
Cumulative Impact Assessment: Research and Regulatory Activities at EPA Research Webinar
Webinar recording and additional information (March 14, 2023 Webinar)
EPA has launched a new public webinar series, Healthy and Resilient Communities Research Webinar Series, to communicate research and tools intended to help communities and local decision-makers protect their assets and reduce vulnerabilities. For the first webinar in this series, experts in our Office of Research and Development, Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights, Office of General Counsel, Office of Policy, and Region 5 Office discussed EPA’s work to incorporate cumulative impacts into research, policy, law, and decision making.
How EPA’s Research is Addressing Cumulative Impacts
Solving longstanding environmental health problems, including health disparities exacerbated by racial and social injustices, requires an accurate and realistic assessment of the effects from combined exposures to chemical and non-chemical stressors (cumulative impacts) that inform decision-making at all levels.
EPA’s Office of Research and Development (ORD) aims to support federal, tribal, state, and community decision-making by strengthening the scientific foundation for assessing cumulative impacts, exposures, and risks through existing and new methods, tools, data, and monitoring. Cumulative impacts research is a priority to bolster the scientific basis for identifying actions that can improve community health and well-being.
Over the past year, ORD developed fiscal years 2023-2026 Strategic Research Action Plans (StRAPs) for each of its six National Research Programs. The StRAPs integrate efforts to improve our understanding of cumulative impacts to support real-world assessments of both adverse and beneficial health and environmental effects.
Cumulative Impacts Research Report
ORD published the final report, Cumulative Impacts Research: Recommendations for EPA’s Office of Research and Development, to inform the 2023-2026 StRAPs. This report focuses on recommendations to enhance cumulative impact research that are applicable across the National Research Programs and includes recommendations for how ORD can provide management support to facilitate this complex research.
This report represents ORD’s commitment to develop an integrated cumulative impact research portfolio, in collaboration with others, to inform decision-making at all levels.
- The recommendations in the report are already informing actions within ORD to advance the state of the science, and we are prepared to do more as we implement cumulative impacts research in the years to come.
- Building on the broad input we received from partners and stakeholders, the report presents recommendations that will assist ORD with integrating research efforts to improve our understanding of cumulative impacts and conduct real-world assessments.
- Both cumulative impacts and cumulative impact assessment are defined in the interest of providing clarity and consistency across ORD’s research portfolio.
- Research gaps and barriers to implementing cumulative impact research at EPA are identified and recommendations are made for advancing this research as an explicit part of each of ORD’s six 2023-2026 StRAPs.
- Recommendations are included for cumulative impacts research that will provide data and information the Agency needs to meet its commitment to advancing environmental justice.
- Recommendations are provided for cumulative impact assessments that will address the unique vulnerabilities of children and vulnerable populations.
This report was prepared by an interdisciplinary group of scientists and experts from EPA’s ORD, Office of Environmental Justice, and regional offices, and is based on input from EPA programs and regions; states, tribes, and community representatives; the EPA Science Advisory Board; public comments; and previous recommendations from the National Environmental Justice Advisory Committee and the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Committee.
Science Matters article: EPA Researchers Release Cumulative Impacts Report, Prioritizing Environmental Justice in New Research Cycle
Download the report: Cumulative Impacts: Recommendations for ORD Research (PDF)
Research Grant Information
EPA provides grants and funding to the nation's leading researchers to improve the scientific basis for decisions on health and environmental issues. You can sign up to receive email notifications about research grant opportunities and news releases.
| Status | Name |
|---|---|
| Closed for Application | |
| Closed for Application | |
| Awarded | |
| Awarded |
Centers for Early Lifestage Vulnerabilities to Environmental Stressors |
| Awarded | |
| Closed Grant |
Integrating Human Health and Well-Being with Ecosystem Services |
| Closed Grant |
Research Publications
Cumulative Impacts Research Publications in Science Inventory
- Evaluating Non-Chemical Stressors for Children’s Environmental Health Protection: Workshop Summary (2024)
- Challenges and opportunities for research supporting cumulative impact assessments at the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Research and Development (2024)
- Redefining exposure science to advance research supporting cumulative impacts, environmental justice, and decision-making (2023)
- Community-level exposomics: a population-centered approach to address public health concerns (2023)
- Neighborhood quality, social cohesion, and biomarkers of epigenetic aging (2021)
- A systematic review and meta-analysis examining the interrelationships between chemical and non-chemical stressors and inherent characteristics in children with ADHD (2020)
- Chemical and non-chemical stressors affecting childhood obesity: a systematic scoping review (2018)
- Development of a Conceptual Framework Depicting a Childs Total (Built, Natural, Social) Environment in Order to Optimize Health and Well-Being (2016)