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.
It is for choosing projects, never for setting anyone’s pay.