ECOSYSTEM INTELLIGENCE

Driving pervasive positive impact.

It’s easy to appreciate the intricate relationships in nature. But understanding and measuring how our actions affect those relationships has always been the domain of experts.

Ecosystem Intelligence is a proven quantification platform for nature-based decision making – developed by EcoMetrix Solutions Group. Whether you’re trying to understand the benefits provided by an acre of wetland, or deciding how to optimize your restoration plan or urban design for the most ecological benefit, you view every decision through the lens of its quantifiable impact on nature.

20+

years

EI is a next generation ecosystem quantification platform based on early groundbreaking work (the ESII Tool) developed in collaboration with The DOW Chemical Company and The Nature Conservancy.

40+

countries

EI models have been applied on every continent except the Antarctic, and within every biome capable of supporting vegetative attributes.

100+

collaborators

Refined with input from ecologists, fish and wildlife biologists, botanists, wetland, desert, and forestry scientists, soil scientists, hydrologists, water quality experts, fluvial geomorphologists, engineers, environmental toxicologists, chemists, spatial analysts, and policy analysts.

Our History

In 2011, The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and The Dow Chemical Company (Dow) initiated a collaborative effort to help Dow and the wider business community identify and incorporate the value of nature into business decision making.

With the support of the EI models, Dow is on track to exceed its target of “generating $1 billion in business value through projects that are good for Dow’s business and better for nature,” with over $630M realized in the first six years of the program.

As this collaboration progressed, it became clear that to advance or promote the valuation of ecosystem services across a large corporation such as Dow, a tool was needed to assess those services rapidly and cost-effectively. In 2013, the EcoMetrix Solutions Group partnered with TNC and Dow to create a tool to identify and quantify the ecosystem services provided by a site and produce results that could easily be incorporated into existing company engineering and financial models. The precursor to EI platform, the Ecosystem Services Identification & Inventory (ESII) Tool, has helped Dow quantify and value ecosystem services to drive business decision-making.

In response to a rapidly evolving global focus on biodiversity, the EI models have been updated and repackaged into the Ecosystem Intelligence platform. EI is the culmination of numerous SME teams working collaboratively, over more than a twenty-year period, to develop, evolve, and continually improve the method.

Help us craft what’s next

The EI platform includes a collaboration workspace, the EI Commons, where SME practitioner input on platform models, tools, and outputs is sought, evaluated, tested, and incorporated as appropriate.