Beyond Cost-Benefit Analysis. A Methodological.Approach to Access Transport Infrastructure Investments

European Union (EU) cohesion policy pursues the strengthening of economic, social and territorial cohesion between the different regions of the Member states. To this end, EU supports actions aimed at developing to climate-neutral economy (European Green Deal) and just and inclusive society (European Social Pillar), in the broader context of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. However, the choice of high-quality projects, which mainly guarantee the best cost-benefit ratio, often does not respond to the greatest impact on development and employment, and more generally the problems of marginalization and phenomena of demographic decline typical of the insular and internal areas of Italy highlighted by the National Strategy for Internal Areas (SNAI), effectively reducing the success of the overall strategy. From this perspective, the evaluation of projects based on Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA) with the related Risk Sensitivity Analysis (EU Regulation no. 1303/2013, Annex III), although essential, requires to be associated with other tools evaluation to support the decision-making process, especially for infrastructure projects included in the Operational Programs (OP) of 2021–2027 Programming cycle. This paper fits into this concise framework with the aim of developing a comparative methodological approach of the main complementary methods of CBA. In fact, the demographic challenges, the contrast between global development and local development require a renewed approach for the financial evaluation of mobility infrastructures, in particular with a focus on Sardinia Region (Italy).