Environmental goods

Environmental goods are typically non-market goods, including clean air, clean water, landscape, green transport infrastructure (footpaths, cycleways, greenways, etc.), public parks, urban parks, rivers, mountains, forests, and beaches. Environmental goods are a sub-category of public goods. Concerns with environmental goods focus on the effects that the exploitation of ecological systems have on the economy, the well-being of humans and other species, and on the environment. Users not having to pay an upfront cost and external factors like pollution that can damage environmental goods indefinitely are some of the challenges in protecting environmental goods.

There have been many efforts to place an economic value on environmental goods, but no consensus yet exists on the method of valuation. The challenges in the way of obtaining these economic values include the free-rider problem, difficulties in assigning ownership, and the non-divisibility of environmental goods.