Seeking solutions for business and nature: Incorporating ecosystem services into corporate decisions

Background/Question/Methods

Corporations are major drivers of change in the natural world. At the same time, they also rely on ecosystem services for everything from maintaining resource streams to protecting their factories from floods and storm damage. As ecosystems are degraded, their ability to continue to provide these often undervalued or taken for granted services is limited. Explicitly bringing data on the value of ecosystem services into business decisions can lead to improved decision-making and enhance a company’s long-term sustainability by highlighting the value of protecting ecosystems that provide critical services to the company and the public. This can lead to opportunities that benefit both conservation and corporate profits. But there are significant challenges in applying ecosystem service science and tools in the business context. Working with Dow Chemical Company at a pilot site in Freeport, TX, we are developing and testing ways to overcome these challenges. We are identifying ecosystem services that are both business and conservation relevant, working with Dow staff to determine data needs, analyzing the biophysical status and trends of the ecosystem services, and valuing those services (both to the public and business) at appropriate scopes, timelines, and resolution to inform key business decisions.  

Results/Conclusions

Through initial analysis, we identified three ecosystem services whose enhancement would generate benefits both for business at Dow’s facilities in Freeport, TX and for local people and also would provide conservation gains: freshwater provision, coastal natural hazard mitigation, and air pollution mitigation by trees. Analysis into each of these services included biophysical modeling and economic valuation to develop information to inform business decisions at the site level. Results at the pilot site will inform decisions at the Freeport facilities. We also worked with Dow staff to identify opportunities to apply the analyses and findings to cross-site and corporate-level decisions and processes. Most importantly, we developed generalized methods and decision-support frameworks that other companies can use when making similar decisions. This work will help clarify challenges and point to solutions for companies, while also making conservation more relevant in a corporate context.