Working Paper – Policies to Enable Sustainable Infrastructure
Working Paper – Policies to enable Sustainable Infrastructure
Sustainable and quality infrastructure is indispensable for delivering better and more inclusive economic, social, and environmental conditions and supporting growth by expanding access to vital services and improving economic opportunities for all. If executed well, infrastructure can lead to equitable and sustainable economic growth, skill development, employment, income growth, labor productivity, business competitiveness s, and trade. Thus, it has a critical role in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Current global discussions of sustainable infrastructure recognize the importance of adopting an integrated and systemic view, strategically considering long-term aspects, including risks and impacts on the people and planet that ignoring sustainability considerations within infrastructure development entails. The role of the public sector in sustainable infrastructure development is utmost, encompassing from guaranteeing a robust institutional and governance framework, to delivering well-developed project planning and development, while helping mobilize finance and ensuring absolute value for money from infrastructure projects.
This document describes challenges and opportunities on the application of a comprehensive life-cycle infrastructure approach on a modern, sustainable and proactive policy, including transparently monitoring the projects and mitigating financial, operative, and sustainable risks. It highlights actions initiatives and policies – by diverse stakeholders and at different implementation levels – for each infrastructure life-cycle stage (planning, procurement, designing, financing, construction, operation, maintenance, and end). We propose to adopt sustainable infrastructure from a life cycle approach at the city level, since their infrastructure needs as a starting point can help select and ultimately deliver and manage infrastructure developments in a sustainable manner.
