Sustainable development analysis of national methods of assessing potentially contaminated sites

Abstract: In this thesis, several national methods used for investigating and/or assessing potentially contaminated sites have been analysed from a sustainable development perspective. To add a practical perspective to the analysis, a case study of the Swedish method’s initial site investigation was performed. The aim was to see how the national methods take the sustainable development aspects into consideration and based on the results see which method that would be most suitable when working towards sustainable development. The results showed that the methods do take the aspects of sustainable development into consideration. Based on how the aspects were taken into consideration, the methods used in the United Kingdom (England and Wales) and Norway are considered to be the most suitable when working towards sustainable development. The case study showed that differences between the theoretical and practical work can be found, and that the economic aspect in particular is given more priority in praxis.