Maud de Vautibault

The last decade has seen a growing investor appetite toward sustainable infrastructure investments. However, there are challenges to accelerating these investments at the speed and scale needed. In this article we explore two projects - the Tibar Bay Port in Timor-Leste and the Clean Ganga Program in India - that illustrate how these challenges can be overcome.

Achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals will require massive investment in developing countries. Blended finance, which combines concessional public funds with commercial funds, can be a powerful means to direct more commercial finance toward impactful investments that are unable to proceed on strictly commercial terms

To close the infrastructure gap in a sustainable recovery, we need more greenfield infrastructure, with environmental sustainability at its core. This requires innovative funding models and public-private partnerships (PPPs), particularly in emerging economies where private investors are more reluctant to invest and greenfield infrastructure need is greatest.

With signs of increasing international cooperation on climate change, including the Biden Administration’s commitment to halve America’s net greenhouse gas pollution by 2030, we may finally see new levels of momentum for transnational or cross-border renewable energy projects, which the United Nations has cited as required for the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 7: Affordable and Clean Energy.