what IERE is

The Institute for Environmental Research and Education (IERE) is a not-for-profit 501(c)3 located in Washington State, with a global scope. Environmental issues have a direct effect on the financial well being of all people and organizations. We envision a world where everyday decisions integrate environmental facts and concerns as a matter of common sense.

IERE’s mission is to undertake and disseminate comprehensive, fact-based research for use in the development of responsible environmental policy, programs and decisions.

What we do

IERE's DNA is based on the new science of life cycle assessment. LCA is the science of measuring the environmental impacts of products and services over their life cycle, from cradle to grave. Our flagship program is the American Center for Life Cycle Assessment, the professional society for LCA in America.

We offer LCA-based ecolabels, through our Earthsure program. This kind of label is called a Type III environmental product declaration. It is like a nutrition label, only disclosing carbon footprints, water footprints, biodiversity and land use, fossil fuel depletion, toxicity and other environmental impact categories.

Life Cycle Communities is a new program of IERE. It connects the cleanness of local utilities directly to economic growth of local communities, through the use of environmental product declarations.