EARTH ECONOMICS IS CELEBRATING 10 YEARS
PARTNERSHIP WITH THE KRESGE FOUNDATION!

The generous support of the Kresge Foundation has enabled Earth Economics to provide federal agencies, municipalities, utilities, community-based organizations, and other non-profit groups with applied ecological economic analysis, tools, support, and policy advocacy since 2013.

*Carla Lewis (ECO-Action), Dr. Olivia Molden (Earth Economics), and Dr. Yomi Noibi (ECO-Action) at the 2023 Kresge CREWS Convening in Tucson, AZ.*

ACCELERATING COMMUNITY-LED SOLUTIONS

SUPPORT FOR COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS

Kresge support has enabled us to provide services to numerous community-based organizations (CBOs) over the past decade, including benefit-cost analyses, displacement analyses, and participatory flood mapping in urban areas. We have also led workshops and webinars on the benefits of nature-based solutions to Kresge grantee communities, including the Climate Resilience and Urban Opportunity (CRUO) initiative and the Climate Resilient and Equitable Water Systems (CREWS) network.

CONNECTING WITH CITIES

Early support from The Kresge Foundation helped us to meaningfully engage municipalities as they developed projects to address community needs, including stormwater management, urban heat mitigation, outdoor recreational and educational opportunities. Through the 100 Resilient Cities Program, Earth Economics served as a Platform Partner, providing natural capital consulting to multiple cities. We also developed a framework on natural infrastructure and biodiversity, and co-authoring a practitioner’s guide to nature-based solutions for urban areas.

ENVIRONMENTAL EQUITY

These CBO partnerships have also given us opportunities to address environmental justice challenges. In 2019, we worked with the Miami-based legal advocacy organization Community Justice Project to help leaders of the Little Haiti neighborhood advocate for displacement prevention policies. Because Little Haiti is at a higher elevation, it has seen rapid gentrification as development has shifted away from low-lying, flood-prone coastal neighborhoods.

Photo: *Deep South Center for Environmental Justice*

The Deep South Center for Environmental Justice (DSCEJ) supports Gulf communities that have been harmed by pollution and climate vulnerabilities. The DSCEJ asked Earth Economics to develop fact sheets highlighting each community’s unique environmental history, as well as potential nature-based solutions. The CBOs use these fact sheets to engage local residents and officials, raising awareness of the issues they face and advocate for solutions that build on local knowledge, concerns, and ideas.

ADVANCING FEDERAL SUPPORT FOR NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is tasked with helping communities to recover from natural disasters and mitigating risk by managing land to reduce exposure to flooding, windstorms, and drought. As the costs of disaster responses has risen, FEMA has come to recognize the importance of nature-based solutions as viable alternatives that provide valuable co-benefits, reducing disaster risk while also improving quality of life in affected communities.

SUPPORTING THE INTEGRATION OF ECOSYSTEM SERVICES INTO THE FEMA BCA TOOL

To be eligible for funding all projects must be cost-effective—benefits must outweigh costs. Our history of providing ecosystem service valuation estimates for FEMA’s Benefit-Cost Analysis Toolkit has improved the economic performance of nature-based solutions, increasing the competitiveness of such projects. Since 2013, we have supported FEMA as it has incorporated ecosystem service benefits of nature-based solutions, providing valuation updates in 2016, 2020, and 2022 and expanded the variety of eligible landcover and green infrastructure project elements. Inclusion of ecosystem services increases the competitiveness of nature-based solutions.

FEMA APPLICATION SUPPORT

Since 2017, with support from the Kresge Foundation, Earth Economics has supported conservation partners in California (post-wildfire), Texas (post-Hurricane Harvey), the Carolinas (post-Hurricane Florence), and Washington state to develop proof-of-concept proposals for a growing range of nature-based approaches to disaster mitigation. Kresge’s sustained support has allowed us to develop strong working relationships that have led to parallel efforts to advance the understanding that nature supports both economic and social resilience.

PROMOTING FEMA POLICY REFORM

In 2021, FEMA reduced cost-share requirements for qualifying “Economically Disadvantaged Communities.” With Kresge support, we partnered with the Environmental Defense Fund to assess an alternative definition of economic disadvantage, finding that small changes based on community size, income sources, and rural location had disproportionate effects on the eligibility of minority communities. We hope this analysis will help the agency to advance its equity goals.

One recent partnership with Connecticut’s Save the Sound has also shown promise. With support from Kresge and PEW Charitable Trust, we reviewed FEMA’s BCA Toolkit methodology to determine whether mitigation projects could be considered cost-effective based purely on the ecosystem services they provide. During a webinar presenting these results to regional stakeholders, the head of FEMA’s Benefit-Cost Analysis Program not only supported the strategy, but called special attention to our history of working with the agency.

PORTFOLIO-LEVEL GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE INVESTMENT

Kresge’s sustained support has been critical in enabling Earth Economics to promote approaches to project design and accounting that can support greater investment in green infrastructure.

SUPPORTING 21ST CENTURY UTILITIES

Utilities are increasingly turning to nature-based solutions to meet level-of-service targets, improve resilience, and create community co-benefits. Over the past decade, Earth Economics has worked with several water utilities, including those dependent on a single watershed source for water (e.g. Eugene Water & Electric Board), and utilities with complex water sourcing (e.g. Santa Clara Valley Water District). These forward-thinking utilities protect and maintain natural infrastructure to improve service reliability while reducing long-term costs, and reporting those benefits—and additional community co-benefits—to investors and rate payers.

ACCELERATING PRIVATE INVESTMENT IN NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS

Because most of the co-benefits produced by nature-based solutions (NBS) produce value outside of markets, revenue gains for private lenders and investors are limited. Yet CDFIs and Green Banks have been able to facilitate NBS via bridge loans to developers who can generate revenue through credit trading programs (e.g. carbon, stormwater retention). Through our work with Green Compass, we have connected with lenders and regulators in the DC Stormwater Retention Credit Trading program. By engaging these strategic groups, our project in DC may establish a precedent for valuation of co-benefits in the trading program.

ADVANCING INNOVATIVE ANALYTICAL TOOLS

ECOSYSTEM VALUATION TOOLKIT

Kresge support was invaluable in the early development of the Ecosystem Valuation Toolkit, widely recognized as one of the most-advanced ecosystem service analytical support tools in the world. The database now includes more than 9,000 estimates, each tagged with up to 200 study site attributes (e.g. ecosystem, climate, urban proximity) known to affect the value of ecosystem services, as well as analytical details (e.g. unit of analysis, methodology) from the source studies. Filtering by location, ecosystem type, and other attributes, our analysts rapidly identify relevant valuation estimates for most partner project sites.

Water Reuse Calculator

We developed the online Water Reuse Calculator to estimate cost-effectiveness of water capture and reuse systems to evaluate the feasibility of a water reuse system on a proposed 600-unit residential development in Atlanta, Georgia. The Calculator was later used by members of the Seattle 2030 District (with support from the Boeing Foundation) to assess alternative water-wise projects. By offering a simple way to develop benefit-cost analyses, this tool supports commercial landowners interesting in investing in on-site grey water and rainwater reuse systems.

COMMUNITY-DRIVEN FLOOD MAPPING

Kresge support enabled us to partner with Freshwater Future to develop the online Flood Focus app, which enables community members in Detroit to document localized flooding, increasing climate resiliency, and informing green infrastructure investments. The interactive, browser-based map allows users to become part of the solution, identifying at-risk areas and suggesting locations for future green infrastructure projects.

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE VALUATION TOOL

Kresge support also enabled Earth Economics to work with the Green Infrastructure Leadership Exchange to develop the Green Infrastructure Valuation Tool to assess the co-benefits of green infrastructure project elements, including flood protection, urban heat island mitigation, combined-sewer overflow risk reduction, and air quality improvements. More than ten cities have reported they are using (or plan to use) the tool to screen green infrastructure projects for broader effectiveness.

URBAN HEAT MITIGATION MAPPER

We developed the Urban Heat Mitigation Mapper (UHM2) based on Kresge-supported work, as well as a contract with Accelerate Resilience Los Angeles. This geospatial tool models impacts associated with urban heat and the distribution of green space, a cost-effective means of mitigating heat extremes while providing additional community benefits. Designed to be applicable within the continental US, (due to data limitation), UHM2 estimates heat-related deaths and hospitalizations on those 65 or older that may be avoided due to local tree canopies across metropolitan areas. It is designed to fully integrate with our other green infrastructure tools.

GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE TOOLKIT

Kresge support has also allowed us to begin development of a platform that integrates our growing suite of green infrastructure tools with data from the National Risk Index, Social Vulnerability Indices, and Park Access maps to better understand and communicate the distribution of benefits associated with green infrastructure solutions (or their relative absence). The ability to map benefits and burdens, alongside local vulnerability and resiliency has proven to be a powerful tool to promote investments in equitable, nature-based solutions that address public needs while also providing broader social benefits.

The Kresge Foundation celebrates its 100 year anniversary in 2024

The Kresge Foundation was founded in 1924 to promote human progress. Today, Kresge fulfills that mission by building and strengthening pathways to opportunity for low-income people in America’s cities, seeking to dismantle structural and systemic barriers to equality and justice. Using a full array of grant, loan, and other investment tools, Kresge invests more than $160 million annually to foster economic and social change. For more information visit kresge.org.

We want to extend our profound thanks to The Kresge Foundation for their continued support, and look forward to continuing our work on equitable and innovative nature-based solutions.

10 Years with The Kresge Foundation

EARTH ECONOMICS IS CELEBRATING 10 YEARSPARTNERSHIP WITH THE KRESGE FOUNDATION!