Corporate Ecosystem Services Review
The Corporate Ecosystem Services Review (ESR) is a facilitated strategy development process where we provide guidance in developing new revenue streams, entering new markets, and managing the operational risks caused by changes in the natural ecological systems your company interacts with.
Our methodology (which is harmonized with the ESR guidelines published by the World Resources Institute - WRI) helps you efficiently and effectively implement the Ecosystem Services Review in your organization: we provide robust process expertise, targeted knowledge support, and value-added tools & resources to help you create long-term business value by sustainably leveraging and optimizing your company's interaction with natural ecosystems.
Why is this important to my business?
Global scientific audits (including the UN's Millennium Ecosystem Assessment) have identified that over half of the planet's major ecosystem services have been significantly degraded in the last 50 years, with increasing documented disruptions to business operations. Ecosystem degradation will increasingly dominate headlines in the years to come, proactive businesses can use our ESR methodology now to mitigate operational risk.
Additionally, forward-thinking companies have used the ESR methodology to develop entirely new revenue streams and enter new markets by proactively managing their relationship with their natural environment.
Our methodology helps bridge the worlds of environmental responsibility and fiscal responsibility, by providing the first cohesive strategies and tools that link ecosystem health with your company’s financial health.
What if we already have an Environmental Management System (EMS)?
Great question! The Ecosystem Services Review was designed to both complement and fill gaps in existing environmental management systems:
- Many environmental management systems do not focus on the specific business risks and opportunities that are caused by the use and degradation of ecosystem services (most environmental management systems focus on impacts, not dependence, and they focus on risks, not opportunities). As a result, existing environmental management systems may not identify critical business dependencies and may leave businesses unprepared for risks to critical operations – and they may also miss out on new sources of revenue.
- Our ESR methodology doesn’t just look at environmental assessment or impact – instead it is a tool for proactive strategy development.
- Sustainability is more than squeezing efficiencies and cost-reductions out of your value chain - it is about addressing your organization’s strategic dependence and impact on the ecological systems that business and society depend on!
- ESR can be conducted as a standalone process, or it can be integrated into your existing environmental management system(s).
- Organizations that want to play a leading role in promoting sustainability by addressing ecosystem change, or those organizations that want to address an often-overlooked driver of operational risk & opportunity, can benefit from conducting an ESR.
- Learn more: ESR brochure
