The subsurface environment is gaining in importance and now plays a key role in issues of public interest such as energy and drinking water supply and securing climate targets. Judicial use of the subsurface can bring major economic benefits, both in financial terms (natural gas recovery, for example) and in the broader sense of economic welfare (protection of ecosystem services). The subsurface environment is vulnerable, though, and certain interventions may conflict with ecological functions. Protecting these vulnerable functions can also have considerable benefits for society, even though it may be impossible to express these directly in financial terms.