The Investment Plan for Europe, the Program for Infrastructure Development in Africa, and the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative all seek to promote infrastructure investment - but involve significant risks regarding environmental sustainability, social impacts, and unfavorable technological lock-ins for the next decades.
Infrastructure is essential to the achievement of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and to the success of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Our partner IISD presents why governments must invest in sustainable infrastructure and how they can integrate sustainability into infrastructure contracts.
Infrastructure development acts as a gateway to natural resources and markets, powers industry, and provides key services to citizens around the world. However, the OECD’s infrastructure investment advice to the G20 is “out of sync” with recent achievements of the global community, such as the new UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The world is running out of time when it comes to limiting global warming to 2°C. In this paper, Nora Rohde examines whether the master plans for energy mega-projects in three regions contributes to that goal.
Some claim that the biggest obstacle to boosting investment levels and reviving the global economy as the absence of regional "pipelines of bankable projects". In this paper, Nora Rohde describes the "solution" --Project Preparation Facilities (PPFs) to accelerate the launch of (mega)projects.
Worldwide, the essential role of infrastructure is being rediscovered. However, mega-projects -- including in the energy sector -- need good governance in order to deliver benefits and avoid harm to communities, ecology and the climate. The 20+ authors in this anthology describe the challenge and imperative of achieving democratic and responsible governance of infrastructure. This publication is available in English and Spanish.
Will PIDA accelerate the colonial patterns of resource extraction or foster the economic diversification required for Africa to prosper and expand job opportunities?
Nancy Alexander and seven contributing authors present "Responsible Investment in Infrastructure: Recommendations for the G20," which responds to the G20's efforts to mobilize financial support for public-private partnership (PPPs) in large infrastructure projects in order to promote regional integration.
The World Bank's May 2012 volume on "Inclusive Green Growth" has some positive solutions to offer, but falls short in several crucial ways: the lack of emphasis on poverty reduction, equality and human rights; an uncritical regard for market mechanisms to govern asset markets, and a view of infrastructure as the “heart of green growth,” among other things.
On November 3-4, when the G20 Leaders gather for their Summit in Cannes, they will review recommendations from a High-Level Panel (HLP) on Infrastructure, which proposes a global process for scaling up and streamlining public-private partnerships (PPPs) for large-scale, regional infrastructure projects. This paper describes this top-down initiative, which is disconnected from efforts to promote sustainability and, instead, takes a “bigger is better” approach to development.
