Earth Economics partnered with the Franklin Soil and Water Conservation District to estimate the value of the co-benefits supported by their green infrastructure incentives for businesses, developers, and homeowners. We found that a 1-acre of rain garden in Franklin County provides as much as $74,000 in co-benefits each year, and that every time a rain barrel is filled, it saves $1.21 in irrigation costs. 

Earth Economics worked with Green Compass to value their projects in DC’s Stormwater Retention Credit trading program. When fully established, seven sites will create $1.3M in benefits to local communities every year, delivering a return of $7.80 for every dollar invested. Investment by CDFIs and Green Banks in groups who merge sustainability and community goals (such as Green Compass) will accelerate the pace of GSI throughout the District, creating strong social and environmental benefits for residents. 

The Belle Pointe Coastal Mitigation Bank is a 387-acre Wetland Mitigation Bank in Louisiana. The bank was previously agricultural land, which flooded frequently and required levees and pumping to remain productive. Delta Land Services permanently restored the site to a forested wetland, planting native coastal bottomland hardwood and bald cypress. The new ecosystem will support resiliency in the face of storm surge, trees will clean air and sequester carbon in one of the most polluted areas in the US, and water quality from agricultural and industrial/commercial runoff will improve. Earth Economics found that the total value in ecosystem services permanently protected by the project was $101 million (USD 2021)—$1,813 per person per year for nearby residents and students. 

The Avahoula Climate Mitigation Project is a nature-positive investment by Delta Land Services and Pachama. The conversion of 7,200 acres of marginal agricultural land to forested wetland will create $80 million in benefits annually and protecting $2.7 billion in benefits in perpetuity (discounted at 3 percent) for 67,000 Louisiana residents and 46,000 tourists. By converting sub-optimal and climate vulnerable agricultural land to priority habitat, Avahoula mitigates climate change impacts and addresses the biodiversity crisis.

In early 2023, Earth Economics conducted an ecosystem service valuation and jobs analysis of the Duckabush Estuary Restoration Project, a $120m infrastructure project, which will raise a causeway into a 1,600 foot full spanning bridge, reestablishing the estuary’s connection to neighboring floodplains and creating a corridor for marine and terrestrial wildlife. Earth Economics calculated the total value of the wetlands at $249.6 million ($75.4 million at a 3 percent discount rate) over the 100-year lifespan of the bridge. The valuation includes the additional 400,000 chum salmon population due to the improved nursery function of the estuary, valued at $30 million to $109 million to Puget Sound residents.

At the end of 2022, Earth Economics completed a report for The Nature Conservancy in Oklahoma,  Benefit-Cost Analysis of Best Management Practices in the Blue River Watershed of Oklahoma. This report is an extension of an earlier analysis conducted by Earth Economics, Ecosystem Services in the Blue River Watershed, which estimated $927 million to $1.7 billion per year in nonmarket ecosystem services provided within the basin.