1. Economic Environmental Social
Sustainability Economics
Sustainable Return
on Investment
Embracing sustainable business practices can
lower costs and increase revenues. Sustainable
Return on Investment (sROI) is a comprehensive
analysis of the benefits and costs of a proposed
project or investment that accounts for the
economic, social and environmental impacts—
or the triple bottom line.

2. 2 AECOM
“It was a pleasure working with you and the
[AECOM] expert team you brought into this
project. Your handling of difficult new
concepts, such as sustainable Return on
Investment and Triple Bottom Line, was
sensitive to SARA’s needs and well tailored
to reflect the potential application within
our agency.”
—Karen Bishop, Executive Services Supervisor
San Antonio River Authority

3. Energy Savings
62%
Avoided Costs 5%
Water Savings 3%
Other Benefits 7%
Greenhouse
Gas Benefits 16%
Criteria Air
Pollution Benefits 7%
3Sustainable Return on Investment
AECOM’s cost-benefit
analysis of investment
strategies can provide design
teams and decision-makers
with a more complete picture
of the the triple bottom line
(TBL). Most externalities (e.g.,
improved safety, reduced air
pollution) can be converted
into monetary terms along
with the more traditional
financial impacts (e.g., energy
saved, water conserved).
By quantifying many benefits that are not typically accounted
for or valued in the marketplace, such as water quality,
ecosystem services, or safety, sROI offers a complete
understanding of potential impacts to support decision-
making. sROI provides results that are objective, defensible
and transparent.
The benefits of using sROI:
-- Offers a proven economics-based approach to making
planning and budgeting decisions
-- Incorporates costs and benefits typically not valued in the
marketplace into the decision-making process
-- Generates consensus among stakeholders and avoids
biased results by being both interactive and transparent
-- Takes emotion out of the decision-making process
-- Avoids “greenwashing” of a project or investment
-- Helps the selection and justification of a plan when there
are complexities and other considerations besides cost
sROI
A triple bottom line approach
sROI

4. 4 AECOM
Building the team
sROI promotes sustainable investment
strategies from an objective and
transparent perspective. A defining
feature of this methodology is the
inclusion of a cross representation of
stakeholders during the collaborative
workshop, with values backed by scientific
studies and reliable data sources. This
type of engagement avoids biased results.
Based on project type, a group of
stakeholders may include the project
team, technical and subject matter
experts, a facilitator, economists and
other stakeholders.
AECOM’s sROI process
1 Define Objectives
2 Identify Strategies
3 Establish Baseline and Boundaries
4 Monetize Incremental Impacts
5 Develop and Run Model
6 Evaluate Results
Define Options
Assessment
Results
Define the objectives and desired outcome
of the investment/project
Identify which strategies/actions should be
considered to meet objectives
Establish the conditions without the
investment/project (baseline) and the
boundaries of the life-cycle analysis
Identify and monetize incremental impacts
using economic methods and vet values
through a collaborative workshop
Develop model and incorporate inputs, then
conduct a Monte Carlo simulation
Evaluate Monte Carlo and sensitivity analysis
results to assist in the selection of actions or
strategies that meet investment/project objectives

5. 5Sustainable Return on Investment
Examples
of sROI
results
Natural Channel Return on Investment
ProbabilityofNotExceeding
100%
50%
0%
-1 -50% 0% 50% 100% 150% 200% 250% 300% 400%
Return on Investment
Economic ROI
Social ROI
Environmental ROI
sROI
-0.8 -0.6 -0.4 -0.2 0.2 0.4
Green Roof Cost
Avoided Water
Treatment Cost
Electricity Savings
Maintenance Costs
Air Emission
Reductions
Avoided Roof
Replacement Cost
Green Roof Regression Coefficients
0
Coefficient Value
-0.68
-0.25
0.07
0.06
0.46
0.35
0.0
0.1
0.2
0.3
0.4
0.5
0.6
0.7
0.8
90.0%
0.9
5.0% 5.0%
Green Roof Net Present Value
$17,290 $30,460
10
Value in Thousands ($)
15 20 25 30 35 40
1.0
Valuesx10^
-4
Green Roof
Net Present
Value

6. 6 AECOM
Facilities
Transportation
Remediation
Infrastructure
Energy
Community
Planning
sROI can be applied to diverse project types
Net-Zero Energy, Net-Zero
Water and Net-Zero Waste Plan

7. 7Sustainable Return on Investment
Design / Build Campus
Green and Sustainable
Remediation

8. ©2012 AECOM. All Rights Reserved.©2015 AECOM. All Rights Reserved.
For More Information:
Andrea Bohmholdt
Senior Economist
1-240-459-2094
andrea.bohmholdt@aecom.com
About AECOM
AECOM is a premier, fully integrated professional and
technical services firm positioned to design, build,
finance and operate infrastructure assets around the
world for public- and private-sector clients. With nearly
100,000 employees — including architects, engineers,
designers, planners, scientists and management and
construction services professionals — serving clients
in over 150 countries around the world, AECOM is
ranked as the #1 engineering design firm by revenue
in Engineering News-Record magazine’s annual
industry rankings. The company is a leader in all of the
key markets that it serves, including transportation,
facilities, environmental, energy, oil and gas, water,
high-rise buildings and government. AECOM provides
a blend of global reach, local knowledge, innovation
and technical excellence in delivering customized
and creative solutions that meet the needs of clients’
projects. A Fortune 500 firm, AECOM companies,
including URS Corporation and Hunt Construction
Group, had revenue of approximately $19 billion during
the 12 months ended Dec. 31, 2014.
More information on AECOM and its services can be
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