The Environmental Data Science Innovation & Inclusion Lab (ESIIL) is a NSF-funded data synthesis center led by the University of Colorado Boulder in collaboration with NSF’s CyVerse at the University of Arizona and the University of Oslo. ESIIL enables a global community of environmental data scientists to leverage the wealth of environmental data and emerging analytics to develop science-based solutions to solve pressing challenges in biology and other environmental sciences. ESIIL holds inclusion as a core principle and method for diversifying environmental data science at a time when society needs all perspectives, and science needs to serve all. ESIIL’s research community generates discoveries and novel approaches through: 1) cutting-edge team science, 2) innovative tools and collaborative cyberinfrastructure, 3) data science education and training, and 4) building inclusive participation and diverse groups. These activities advance the frontier of environmental data science, a rapidly evolving discipline bridging the computational, biological, environmental, and social sciences.