ADEME MOBEX

Context and objectives / challenges for research and public policy

The project will use a bibliographic approach, fieldwork and various existing studies to propose a methodology for evaluating the social and territorial externalities (including the effects on the environment) of ecological, economic and social transition strategies (TEES), in the case of companies and territories that have adopted circular economy initiatives, in particular the functional economy. These externalities support the creation of value based on these new economic models. Knowledge of these externalities (identifying, qualifying and, if possible, quantifying them) can inform corporate and territorial strategies and establish a replicable methodology. Insofar as these externalities are co-constructed through collective action and cannot be appropriated by public or private actors (Maillefert and Robert, 2017), analysing the interplay of actors is a necessary prerequisite for understanding how these externalities are constructed and monetised for businesses and for the territory.
 

Work programme / methodological elements

Based on a detailed territorial diagnosis, the project proposes building a methodology to identify externalities and to qualify them using an appropriate theoretical approach. For example, can they be linked to the question of services rendered to the territory or should they be associated with economic approaches focusing on internalisation, particularly through costs? Following the diagnosis and interviews with the stakeholders, evaluation criteria will be proposed and then tested in representative territories in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, Hauts-de-France and Provence-Alpes Côte d’Azur. The project will draw on previous work (Industrial and Territorial Ecology, New Economic Models, the interplay between actors), new expertise (detailed analysis of eco-industrial synergies, Life Cycle Analysis, experiences relating to the social and solidarity economy) and works on territorial development to initiate a new body of knowledge to support the strategies of actors and territories towards the TEES, by focusing research work on the question of inhabitants and uses.
 

Facilitating dialogue between researchers and stakeholders

The research will be performed in close partnership with the actors in the field, to define and understand the challenges faced by the territories, to identify the externalities and to evaluate them. The partner territories will be involved in the diagnosis, but also in identifying externalities and in constructing a methodology to evaluate them.