Data, Reports & Resources

NRDC is a leader and trusted source in environmental policy and research. 

From reports to issue briefs, we ensure accountability through peer review led by our Science Office, which provides data and scientific analysis that help shape and guide NRDC’s policies and positions. We also offer a range of other resources, such as 101 guides and consumer-focused scorecards to increase access to knowledge about how everyone can be a catalyst for change. 

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A view of the cross-section of a cut water pipe

Getting the Lead Out: Removing Lead Pipes Would Yield Hundreds of Billions of Dollars in Health Benefits

Issue BriefUnited StatesErik D. Olson
Removing lead service lines could save the United States an estimated $786 billion from avoided health impacts over the next 35 years.
Bits of plastic waste float underwater

The Worst of the Worst: High-Priority Plastic Materials, Chemical Additives, and Products to Phase Out

Fact SheetUnited States, InternationalDr. Veena Singla
Two workers installing a battery in a vehicle in an assembly plant

Building Batteries Better: Doing the Best With Less

ReportUnited StatesJordan Brinn
Reducing the amount of mining needed through improvements in battery technology, second-life applications for vehicle batteries, and better recycling is key to reducing harms caused from battery supply chains.

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Ocean-Climate Guide to Action

ReportUnited States, CaliforniaDr. Lisa Suatoni, Sandy Aylesworth
Healthy oceans are a crucial component in the global fight against climate change, but only a handful of countries currently include meaningful ocean-based mitigation and adaptation actions in their plans to meet their Paris goals. This guide provides options for…

Climate and Clean Energy Action in Latin America

Issue BriefMexico, Brazil, Peru, Costa Rica, ChileCarolina Herrera, Amanda Maxwell, Han Chen
NRDC is tracking countries’ progress on their climate commitments and encouraging bold action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Food Waste: Strategic Communications and Partnership Guide

ResourceDarby Hoover
Tackling food waste involves the need for diverse strategies in a variety of policy and program areas, and interacting and communicating with different audiences. Communicating effectively to these audiences is essential to building community support for executing programs and policies…

Food Rescue Landscape Assessment Guide

OverviewUnited States
This guide shares some of NRDC's key lessons learned and is accompanied by an array of additional tools to help cities conduct food rescue landscape assessments of their own.

Increasing Public Awareness About Food Waste Prevention Guide

OverviewUnited States
Given the magnitude of consumer household food waste, cities can play an important role in both raising awareness and providing action-oriented strategies that consumers can implement in their homes to prevent food from being wasted in the first place.

Food Matters in Baltimore: Reimagining Waste Into Wealth

ReportBaltimore
Nearly one in four Baltimore residents does not have a reliable supply of food, more than twice the national average. By beginning to address food waste in a holistic way—through prevention, rescue, and redistribution—the city can start to reduce disposal…

Food Donations from Farms Guide

Resource
In many communities, there is a particularly acute need for donation of fresh fruits and vegetables and other farm-fresh products,and whether growers live in surrounding areas or are part of the growing “urban ag” movement, they can play an important…

Food Scrap Recycling Landscape Assessment Guide

Resource
Our assessment offers guidelines for cities to identify current capacity, key stakeholder feedback on the needs, opportunities, and barriers related to expanding food scrap recycling.

Unintentional Partner: How the United States Helps the Illegal Shark Fin Market

ReportUnited StatesElizabeth Murdock, Vanessa Villanueva
In recent decades, shark populations have suffered steep declines, due primarily to the lucrative market for shark fins, both legal and illegal. NRDC found that the United States plays a substantial, unrecognized role in facilitating the unsustainable international shark fin…

A Better Future Through Protecting America’s Ocean Habitats

Fact SheetUnited StatesAlison Chase
Overexploitation and pollution has stressed our ocean, and acidification and temperature rises are harming marine life and impacting all of us who rely on the ocean for food, jobs, and recreation. We must act now to protect important ocean habitats.

CAFOs: What We Don’t Know Is Hurting Us

ReportUnited StatesJon Devine, Valerie Baron
Corporate livestock facilities, known as concentrated animal feeding operations (or CAFOs), can threaten the health of communities and pollute our air and water. A decade of NRDC research reveals that the EPA has left these health threats largely unmonitored.

Going Under: Long Wait Times for Post-Flood Buyouts Leave Homeowners Underwater

ReportUnited StatesAnna Weber, Rob Moore
FEMA has funded thousands of voluntary buyouts, in which local or state governments purchase flood-damaged properties from willing sellers at pre-flood values and preserve the land as open space. However, FEMA’s current buyout programs already struggle to meet existing need…

Freshwater Harmful Algal Blooms 101

GuideUnited StatesMelissa Denchak, Melanie Sturm

Ugly, foul-smelling and sometimes toxic, algal blooms are becoming more common in freshwater ecosystems like rivers, lakes, ponds, and reservoirs. Here’s a look at how excess algae can impact the environment—and human health.