 The use of cost–benefit analysis in environmental policies: Some issues raised by the Water Framework Directive implementation in FranceSarah Feuillette, Harold Levrel, Blandine Boeuf, Stéphanie Blanquart, Olivier Gorin, Guillaume Monaco, Bruno Penisson and Stéphane Robichon Environmental Science & Policy, 2016, vol. 57, issue C, 79-85 Abstract: This paper aims to practically contribute to the literature on the use of cost–benefit analysis (CBA) and economic evaluation in environmental decision-making through a practical case study: the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) in France, for the first cycle (2010–2015). The WFD requires that Member States achieve “good status” for all water bodies in 2015. However, exemptions can apply, if justified, on natural, technical or economic reasons. For the latter, EU guidance documents recommend to use CBA. In France, the water agencies carried out 710 CBAs on proposed restoration projects for water bodies. This article reports on this experience. Issues concerning these analyses are discussed, especially the assessment of non-market benefits. Finally, this article questions the use of economic analysis in the implementation of environmental policy. Keywords: Environment; Institutional systems; Water; Economic valuation; Disproportionate costs; Cost–benefit analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:enscpo:v:57:y:2016:i:c:p:79-85 DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2015.12.002 Access Statistics for this article Environmental Science & Policy is currently edited by M. Beniston More articles in Environmental Science & Policy from Elsevier |
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