Ecosystem Capital, LLC

Ecosystem degradation issues are highly relevant to business liability and risks because companies not only impact ecosystems and the services they provide to society, but also depend on them for their growth and survival. While ecosystem degradation is posing a number of risks to corporate performance, it is also creating new and significant business opportunities relating to mitigating the impacts of ecosystem degradation. Ecosystem Capital is poised to assist our clients in realizing these significant business opportunities by redefining the relationship between business and nature.

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”  

Winston Churchill

A Message From Ecosystem Capital's Founder and CEO

From the moment I first stepped into the woods as a young boy growing up in rural Illinois, I developed a conservation ethic that would only grow stronger as time passed. Theodore Roosevelt became my hero.  I completely understood why Henry David Thoreau "went to the woods".  Over the next several years, I refused to accept the premise that success in business and environmental stewardship were mutually exclusive goals.

I clearly remember having a spirited debate with my professor and classmates during a college business ethics class on the topic of business ethics and environmental considerations when the solution to the issue became alarmingly clear to me for the first time -- if it became profitable for companies to integrate environmental considerations into their corporate decision-making process, the desired environmental and financial results would be achieved, with no other factors influencing the desired outcomes, including ethics (or lack thereof). The integration of economic markets and environmental policy was necessary to develop a self-replicating solution. The initial premise behind Ecosystem Capital's business model began to take shape.

Prior to creating Ecosystem Capital, LLC, I practiced environmental and natural resources law for almost a decade. I was a partner for one of the largest global law firms and in-house environmental regulatory counsel for a Fortune 100 global heavy equipment manufacturer. I realized that the effect of command-and-control environmental policy had limitations for both business and the environment, and if we truly wanted to create measurable, self-replicating environmental and business benefits then companies had to be economically incentivized to integrate environmental and sustainability considerations into their organizational strategies.

I have accepted the fact that society will probably never view nature as priceless, but if society could understand the day-to-day benefits and services we derive from ecosystems then such attributes could be assigned financial value. A paradigm shift is now taking place where ecosystems are recognized as having  financial value and markets for ecosystem services are rapidly emerging as a cost-effective environmental solution as a result of this recognition. What were once considered  liabilities are now viewed as valuable assets.

I feel privileged to be able to witness the rise of market-based environmental policy mechanisms and often ask myself  the following question: "If Theodore Roosevelt were alive today, how would he feel about  the rise of markets for ecosystem services?"  I find myself arriving  at the same conclusion each time I consider the question -- he would be leading the charge to guarantee their success as the most effective conservation finance policy mechanism in history. Ecosystem Capital, LLC is determined to ensure that this becomes a reality.

View My LinkedIn Profile