Article published in Challenges, December 11, 2025
By annulling the environmental authorization for the A69 motorway, the administrative court has revived a debate that economic expertise has never been sufficient to settle: beyond the figures, it is our system of values that is on trial.
At the Hinkley Point nuclear power plant, the British government forced EDF to build a sonar repellent system for fish. According to experts, this system cost 800 million euros to save, in terms of life expectancy, one salmon every ten years. In Montpellier, a court forced EDF this year to shut down a wind farm for several months, resulting in an economic loss of 2 million euros, to preserve, in expectation, four kestrel falcons. In France, it is possible to obtain exemptions from laws prohibiting harm to protected species...
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