Are large-scale industrial projects good for the environment?

Land, a rare, strategic commodity, as part of a drive to reindustrialize.

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We might instinctively be wary of "big" projects, often perceived as land-hungry. 💡And yet, they could be the least land-consuming of all.

By examining nearly 2,000 projects (all sectors and countries combined, between 2016 and 2024), for which we have both the land area and the amount invested, it emerges that, for the same investment, major projects occupy significantly less land area per million dollars invested.

The graph below ⤵️ illustrates this general downward trend: the higher the amount invested in a project, the less land it consumes for the same amount.

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Of course, project typologies vary from one sector to another.

For example, aeronautical projects, which are often highly capital-intensive, stand out in their category.

However, the scattered nature of the data suggests that one large project may require less surface area than two smaller projects combined.

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This observation opens up some interesting perspectives:

✔️Pour ecological thinking, which could include the fact that major projects are not intrinsically bad;

✔️Pour industrialists looking for sufficient space for their large-scale projects;

✔️Pour promoters and developers, both public and private, who are becoming aware of the lack of French supply of large-scale real estate, which is penalizing our attractiveness.

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⚡All these data come from the Trendeo mondedatabase, available by subscription.

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