[copie] MEDITER

The MEDITER project (Measuring the Effectiveness of the Law. Impacts and Temporalities of Renewable Energies), initiated and scientifically led by the Centre de Recherches Interdisciplinaires en Droit de l'Environnement de l'Aménagement et de l'Urbanisme (CRIDEAU), is part of Axis II of the ITTECOP call for projects "Transformation and life of projects", and more specifically in the sub-axis: "Temporalities of infrastructures and biodiversity".
It follows on from the European Horizon 2020 project BISON (Biodiversity and Infrastructures Synergies and Opportunities for European Transport Network), in which legal analysis, led by CRIDEAU), focused only on the integration of biodiversity into linear land transport infrastructures. Given the massive deployment of renewable energy infrastructures, particularly in the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region (where the project will be based), we now need to examine the effectiveness of the environmental assessment process for such infrastructures over time and in various areas.

The environmental assessment process takes place over a specific period of time, involving a number of players at different stages (project owner, consultancy firms, advisory and decision-making authorities, etc.). Analysed in a specific context of time (and space), the measures contained in the impact assessment come up against the evolving nature of biodiversity, particularly given the lifespan of renewable energy infrastructures. This "clash of temporalities" is even more evident in a context of climate change (which influences the state of biodiversity) and the concomitant acceleration in the deployment of renewable energies. Environmental assessment is therefore faced, on the one hand, with ecological complexity and, on the other, with a new imperative to speed up the energy transition.

The aim of the project is to test, analyse and attempt to measure the effectiveness of environmental assessment, by adopting an approach necessarily multidisciplinary (lawyers, ecologists, sociologists, economists) and involving various stakeholders (renewable energy developers, consultancies, DREALs, environmental authorities, local authorities, the public).

The research will focuse on the case of wind and photovoltaic energy production and transport infrastructures. Three 'test' infrastructure cases will be selected, depending on the timeframes involved (project under appraisal, in operation, etc.) and the ecological and regulatory issues at stake (natural or built-up area, proximity to a Natura 2000 site, presence of protected species, etc.). In addition, wishing to go beyond the traditional academic legal approach, which is sometimes not enough connected to reality, the project will be based on case studies chosen from the territory of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, and more specifically from the territory of three regional natural parks (the French federation of regional nature parks is a partner in the project). In this respect, the research meets the objectives of the Neo terra regional roadmap, which is designed to support the transition in terms of energy, ecology and agriculture by 2030.

To analyse the effectiveness of the environmental assessment procedure, innovative methodologies will be implemented (combining the expectations of all the players involved, empirical approach to the law, comparative approach, organisation of off-site workshops within the regional natural parks).