International lenders, or development banks, play a significant role in territorial development in the global South. When territorial development projects are financed by these actors, project promoters are subject to a number of conditions that must be met in order to benefit from the funding. Among these conditions are the World Bank's Environmental and Social Standards, established to guarantee the sustainability of urban projects and serving as a reference for many international lenders.

This thesis focuses on the impact of these international standards. It examines the importance attached to them and the extent to which they are taken into account by local project stakeholders. It assesses the strengths and limitations of these standards, and what they reveal about contemporary territorial development practices in the global South, particularly in terms of relations between stakeholders.

This work is based on an environmental and social audit project carried out as part of an internship with Groupe Huit, a consulting agency. The audit was carried out on behalf of KfW, a German development bank wishing to contribute to the financing of the Fonds d'Accompagnement des Reformes du Transport routier urbain et interurbain (FART). Three Moroccan public transport projects were studied: the first BRT line in Agadir, the T3 and T4 tramway lines in Casablanca, and the extension of the tramway network in Rabat.