Capacity return on investment (CROI — named to avoid the existing “EROI,” energy return on investment) asks a different question than financial return: for everything a project consumes — money, years, energy, land, human attention — how much lasting ecological capability does it leave behind?
What it reveals
Scored this way, the rankings change. Early-childhood development, public transit, libraries, and parks may show extraordinary capacity return — far beyond their fare revenue, circulation stats, or accounting value — because they generate skills, access, horizon, optionality, and low-cost development that keep compounding. A glamorous megaproject may score poorly if almost nothing transferable remains once it is built. CROI is the ratio that a No Wasted Geometry government or funder would add to price, schedule, and risk when choosing what to build. See Choosing Projects by Ecological Return.