MORPHEE

Morphology, tools and methods of the environmental assessment market

In France, tools and methods for environmental assessment are poorly standardized, which complexifies the work of environmental bureaucrats in charge of the examination of impact assessment studies and questions the ability to act in an equitable manner for all land developers. The MORPHEE project aims at exploring this diversity in order to highlights its economic, social and technical dimensions. It is based on the following assumption: in France, environmental assessment is carried out through a market economy within which environmental consultants and NGOs can provide scientific studies to land developers. Due to this, analyzing both offer and demand of the environmental assessment market is required in order to explore the diversity of tools and methods and their explanatory factors. The project consists of two analytical dimensions. First, it questions the role of concurrence on the environmental assessment market on differentiation strategies from environmental consultants and NGOs. Second, it looks at correlations between land development project type, ecosystems, tools and methods that are proposed within environmental assessments, for two study cases (transport infrastructures and commercial land development in Occitanie and Hauts de France). The project is thus an interdisciplinary project, that gathers social and environmental sciences for the completion of an ambitious empirical investigation. A steering committee and a scientific committee will follow the project so as to ensure a timely coordination between empirical and analytical framework of both research dimensions.