Earth Economics collaborated with the Seattle 2030 Districts to develop a tool for property owners in Seattle to calculate return-on-investment from investing in water capture and reuse systems. The calculator was published in the "Harnessing the Rain for Building Performance, " a report by Seattle 2030 District and The Boeing Company.
This study presents an estimate of the total annual non-market economic value generated by the trust lands in Washington State. Non-market values describe benefits that are realized by communities, but which are not bought and sold in markets. These benefits do not have observable market prices and are often measured by revealed or stated preference methods. This differs from capital values presented elsewhere in this report that are defined by market prices for goods such as timber and food crops.
The Southeast Quadrant of South Burlington, Vermont encompasses a variety of natural capital assets, including forests, wetlands, streams, and agricultural lands. The open space ecosystems of South Burlington provide critical ecosystem goods and services, including clean air and water, fish and wildlife, aesthetic beauty, and outdoor recreation opportunities.
Greenville County’s proposed buffer expansion aims to improve water quality in the Reedy River watershed by increasing buffers around streams, rivers, and wetlands. Earth Economics conducted an analysis of the economic impacts of the proposed ordinance across eight different existing, planned, and proposed neighborhood development sites.
Earth Economics had the privileged opportunity to contribute to Agriculture Capital’s 2019 Impact Report: Regenerative Food The Value of Scale in the section, Regenerative Agriculture Builds Thriving Soil, found on pages 5-6. Our analysis focused on the limited scope evaluation of ecosystem service value of AC practices on select blueberry farms.
The Hunts Point community is proactively looking to reintroduce nature-based solutions to help reduce pressing environmental challenges, like persistent flooding, while also providing broad community benefits like access to parks and recreation, better air quality, and protection from extreme heat. Nature-based solutions have proven to be cost-effective for many resilience challenges throughout the world, often providing a high return-on-investment as measured through public and private benefits.
WHY DO WE NEED ACCOUNTING STANDARDS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL MARKETS? Environmental markets are often established to use market-based mechanisms to reduce the pollution of air and water resources, and such markets have emerged as an important tool for “internalizing” the externalities associated with the activities of governments and private companies.
Using the Magic City Innovation District and Little Haiti as a case study, this project examines and raises awareness of the potential environmental and social costs of land use and economic changes associated with re-zoning and urban development. While gentrification of neighborhoods like Little Haiti generate economic benefits for developers and many homeowners and businesses, the costs incurred by low-income communities of color in the form of relocation, increased exposure to climate hazards, and disrupted social networks, are significant and measurable.
The proposed Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Programexpansion on the Upper Mississippi River and Illinois Waterwayrepresents an opportunity for the USACE to incorporate ecosystem service values into its analysis so that planning decisions can be made using the most complete information possible. Indeed, including ecosystem service values in economic analyses for this and other future navigation projects offers a monumental opportunity to arrive at win-win solutions that prioritize both the health and productivity of the Mississippi River and the future prosperity of the nation.
The proposed Hale Parkway project is a multi-functional storm water facility and community asset that mitigates flooding, generates significant community benefits, and improves water quality. Community benefits can be obvious, like providing a new recreation opportunity or community gathering space, or more subtle, such as improving air quality or providing habitat for birds. These benefits, also known as ecosystem services, enhance community resilience and well-being and increase the return on investment to the com munity.
