Compare methods

	Real Options Valuation	Ecosystem Services Valuation
Field	Economics	Sustainability
Family	Process / pipeline	Process / pipeline
Year of origin	1994	1997
Originator	Stewart Myers (term); Dixit & Pindyck, Trigeorgis (theory)	Robert Costanza, Rudolf de Groot, and team
Type	Valuation of managerial flexibility under uncertainty	Valuation method
Seminal source	Dixit, A. K., & Pindyck, R. S. (1994). Investment Under Uncertainty. Princeton University Press. ISBN: 9780691034102	Costanza, R., d'Arge, R., de Groot, R., Farberk, S., Grasso, M., Hannon, B., ... & van den Belt, M. (1997). The value of the world's ecosystem services and natural capital. Nature, 387(6630), 253-260.
Aliases	Real Options Analysis, ROV, Real Option Pricing, Investment Under Uncertainty	ESV, Natural capital accounting, Environmental valuation
Related	3	3
Summary	Real options valuation applies the theory of financial options to real (physical, strategic) investment decisions, valuing the managerial flexibility to defer, expand, contract, switch, or abandon a project as uncertainty resolves over time. Where standard discounted-cash-flow analysis assumes a now-or-never commitment to a fixed plan, real options recognize that managers hold rights — not obligations — to act, and that this flexibility has value precisely because the future is uncertain. Using option-pricing and dynamic-programming methods, the approach values these embedded options and identifies the optimal timing and conditions for exercising them.	Ecosystem Services Valuation (ESV) is a framework pioneered by Costanza and colleagues (1997) that assigns economic value to the benefits nature provides to humanity—from pollination and water purification to climate regulation and cultural enjoyment. Formalized in the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2005) and The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity (TEEB 2010), ESV bridges ecology and economics to make the invisible value of ecosystems visible to policymakers and markets.