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Meet three women leaders who are transforming infrastructure development in Latin America.

The urgent need for resilient infrastructure is widely acknowledged as pressure mounts on governments around the world to drive a post-pandemic recovery that embodies the promise of ‘building back better.’ Today, we look at what the pandemic has shown us about resilience in infrastructure and what resilient infrastructure might look like in the future.

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.

Latin American and the Caribbean countries have a large, and increasing, infrastructure quantitative, qualitative and efficiency gap. The lack of sufficient physical assets, inadequate maintenance and poor service provision negatively impacts the quality of life of its population and the competitiveness of its economies.

In this blog, Svetlana and Roberto discuss the major cross-border projects currently being planned and delivered with Russia’s involvement, and the importance of comprehensive quality assessment in delivering these projects. Their discussion practically illustrates several elements of successful cross-border project delivery that are detailed in the GI Hub’s cross-border reference guide, Connectivity Across Border.

Institutional investors are facing growing calls for a stronger engagement in development, in particular for infrastructure, climate and social investments. The investment requirements for global sustainable development are huge. State budgets are already stretched in most emerging markets and developing countries (EMDE), with tax bases weakened and public debt piling up.

Transparency International Australia is launching a new project to identify the loopholes that enable corruption to thrive in the infrastructure sector in the Asia-Pacific region. The first step in this project is the development and testing of a new tool, to help understand corruption risks in transnational infrastructure projects in the Asia-Pacific region. The Infrastructure Corruption Risk Assessment Tool will help its users identify, assess and address corruption risks in the process of approving infrastructure projects. The global demand for infrastructure, and many governments’ eagerness to facilitate large volumes of infrastructure spending, means this tool comes at a critical time. Many countries, including the UK, Australia and France, as well as countries in the Asia-Pacific, have responded to the economic downturn caused by the coronavirus pandemic with commitments to boost infrastructure spending. While this increased funding is welcome, it comes with an increased risk of corruption.

In March 2021, the Global Infrastructure Hub (GI Hub) and Infrastructure Australia hosted the inaugural International Forum of Infrastructure Bodies (I-Bodies). The golden thread running throughout the forum was the pivotal role I-Bodies play in either strategic planning for infrastructure or funding and financing infrastructure in their jurisdictions.

Infrastructure projects are capital-intensive and emerging countries often rely on private investment to implement them. As projects generate revenues in local currency (usually escalated by local inflation), the mismatch between the revenues and the debt service in foreign currency represents a major risk. Without a reliable mechanism to properly mitigate the foreign exchange (FX) risk, relevant sources of potentially long-term and less expensive funding are not accessible. A deep assessment of the FX risk and the development of innovative mitigatory solutions is critical to amplify the offer of long-term credit facilities for infrastructure financing.

Delivering quality infrastructure will increasingly become a key priority for governments globally, requiring substantial investment from both the public and the private sectors.

As countries announce major infrastructure packages to stimulate their post-pandemic recovery, the sector faces two substantial and related challenges: climate change and a funding shortfall, writes Marie Lam-Frendo, Chief Executive Officer of the Global Infrastructure Hub.

With a USD3.7 trillion global infrastructure investment need that continues to widen, and government debt levels substantially higher than they were after the global financial crisis, recent infrastructure bond issuances offer valuable lessons.

Infrastructure is one of the least technologically transformed sectors of the economy and there is a global consensus that our industry needs innovation to solve big challenges like the resilience of infrastructure during future pandemics, the rise of climate change, urbanisation, and an ageing population

Cities are at the forefront of the pandemic crisis and are key players in the fight to achieve net-zero emissions targets. The recovery choices they make today will set urban agendas for years to come.

The pandemic increased inequalities among vulnerable people and highlighted gaps in access to financing and services in every country. Simultaneously, the climate crisis is still at ‘code red’. From every vantage point, it is clear that we need to get the most possible out of the unprecedented level of infrastructure as a stimulus.

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.

Pension investment in infrastructure is moving mainstream, at a time when this move will have even greater potential to help drive positive impacts

Alexandra Bolton, Executive Director of the Centre for Digital Built Britain shares why we need to invest in digital capabilities to improve infrastructure delivery.

The global pandemic and climate change concerns raised at COP26 have elevated awareness of the need to build sustainable and resilient infrastructure, in tandem with implementing adaptation strategies and governance through innovative and collaborative partnerships between the public and private sectors

Low-income countries must maintain the necessary focus on basic goals such as improving energy access, providing safe and quality transport services, water, food security, and education - while forgoing opportunity, dealing with additional risks, and prioritising climate-smart investments.