Consolidated Contractors Company’s Post

🌍The OECD - OCDE event in Paris on the 9th of April 2024 on Certification and Labelling of Sustainable Infrastructure Projects convened various leaders and experts in the field to discuss how labelling systems offer a way forward for sustainable infrastructure investments. The panellists included the CEO of the FAST-Infra Group Francois BERGERE, Head of Strategy and Corporate Development, Bloomberg LP, Liz Rich along with Edwin Lau, Amine IDRISS A. KARAMA and Francesca Cerchia, the discussion was moderated by Matthew Jordan-Tank. The event served as a platform for insightful discussions and exchanges on the role of labelling in fostering investment in sustainable infrastructure. Here are the key insights derived from these discussions: 𝟭. 𝗟𝗮𝗯𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗖𝗮𝘁𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝘁: The preliminary discussion between the FAST-Infra Label & BDN signals a maturing market, attracting diverse investors. 📈 𝟮. 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗕𝗼𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁: Collaboration streamlines labelling systems, simplifying investment processes. 🤝 𝟯. 𝗗𝗮𝘁𝗮-𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗱𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻-𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴: Emphasis on actionable datasets that enhance investor confidence. 📊 𝟰. 𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆 & 𝗘𝗻𝘃𝗶𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗙𝗼𝗰𝘂𝘀: Sustainable infrastructure is not just about the environment; it is also about delivering tangible benefits to local communities, aligning with global sustainability goals. 🌱 Take a deeper dive into the insights of the event by reading our blog post: https://lnkd.in/dJctfBsc Business and Finance at the OECD I FAST-Infra Group | Global Infrastructure Basel (GIB) Foundation | Bloomberg | Blue Dot Network | EBRD | SGS | African Union Development Agency-NEPAD #SustainableInfrastructure #InvestmentOpportunities #CollaborativeFinance #DataDrivenDecisions #CommunityEngagement #EnvironmentalImpact #CertificationSolutions #InfrastructureDevelopment

#Published and open to all: a comprehensive resource, the product of a 2-year-long effort led by Grid Engineers in collaboration with the World Bank Group, with the contribution of several experts across industry and academia: #Checkout our Climate Toolkits for #Infrastructure PPPs – a suite of documents designed to equip stakeholders in tackling climate sustainability and resilience challenges, including 📑 A high-level guidance document offering strategic insights, 🔧 Five sector-specific toolkits equipped with user-friendly tools, sector-specific look-up libraries, real-world examples, and case studies: 🛣️ Roads ☀️ Renewable Energy 💧 Hydropower 🚰 Water Production and Sanitation 📡 Information and Communication Technology. 🔗Link to all documents: https://lnkd.in/dsF-Y96t  #ClimateToolkits #PublicPrivatePartnerships #EnergyPPPs #WaterandSanitationPPPs #TransportPPPs #EnergyPPPs  #DigitalInfrastructurePPPs #ClimateRiskManagement #InfrastructureProjects  #InfrastructureDevelopment #ClimateResilience

Infrastructure is both critical to how we work and live, and has an outsized carbon footprint. Approximately 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions come from infrastructure construction and operations according to the World Bank (2018). How should #Governments, Ministries, and PPP Units in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies #EMDEs build climate considerations, including global climate frameworks and national policies and regulations, into their project plans? Our collaboration with Grid Engineers on a climate toolkit for digital infrastructure PPPs aims to answer just that question, and sits alongside a range of toolkits focused on other sectors too. We loved working with Grid, bringing together our combined expertise in engineering, policy, climate, information ecsystems, and economics to address this major public need. The toolkit offers step-by-step guidance, embedded with examples and case-studies, to: 1️⃣ Assess the #alignment of an infrastructure project with global climate frameworks and the national climate agendas 2️⃣ Perform a preliminary assessment of climate #risks. 3️⃣ Plan high-level #adaptation strategies 4️⃣ Leverage green #financingoptions 5️⃣ Measure resilience and include relevant provisions in #tendering 6️⃣ Assess actions and their impact based on #KPIs 🔗 Link below!

💲🛣Across #infrastructure sectors, governments face a pressing #challenge: traditional public procurement falls short of bridging the gap between available public finances and infrastructure development needs. #PublicPrivatePartnerships (PPPs) are a promising solution. However, their viability, technical as well as financial, is conditional on #climateproofing. 💡After a very fruitful #collaboration with the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) of the #WB, the Global Infrastructure Facility, and the IFC Public-Private Partnerships Advisory, we have #published: 📄 An umbrella framework guiding stakeholders in embedding #resilience and #sustainability into the entire PPP lifecycle, from inception to procurement and monitoring. Link to official pdf: https://lnkd.in/gZsUGYqi 📑 Five #sector-specific, stand-alone documents: #renewables | https://lnkd.in/dPCxKRFe #hydropower | https://lnkd.in/dP3gBGc9 #water | https://lnkd.in/dS7QFBYT #roads | https://lnkd.in/dUfydr8F #ICT | https://lnkd.in/dRgZPKG9   Who can use this toolkit? 🏛️ #Governments, Ministries, and PPP Units in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies #EMDEs 💼 Development finance officials at the #WB and affiliated institutions 🔍 Technical and financial advisors involved in private investment and PPPs   The toolkit offers step-by-step guidance, embedded with examples and case-studies, to: 1️⃣ Assess the #alignment of an infrastructure project with global climate frameworks and the national climate agendas 2️⃣ Perform a preliminary assessment of climate #risks. 3️⃣ Plan high-level #adaptation strategies 4️⃣ Leverage green #financingoptions 5️⃣ Measure resilience and include relevant provisions in #tendering 6️⃣ Assess actions and their impact based on #KPIs 🙏 to the #team of authors: Rallis Kourkoulis, Fani Gelagoti, Konstantinos Kotoulas, Elena Bouzoni, Diana Gkouzelou, Marianna Loli, Liza Bensasson, Tanya Filer and Eszter Czibor, Leon Kapetas, Antonis Mantakas, Agamemnon Giannakopoulos. The World Bank team: Philippe Neves, Jade Shu Yu Wong, Khafi Weekes, Mariana Carolina Silva Zuniga, Carmel Lev, Christina Paul, Helen Gall, Gisele Saralegui, and Guillermo Diaz Fanas. #ClimateToolkits #IFC #PPIAF #EnergyPPPs #WaterandSanitationPPPs #TransportPPPs #EnergyPPPs  #DigitalInfrastructurePPPs 

Some food for thought. With global shifts and opportunities we have an opportune moment to be intentional and strategic about infrastructure investment. The construction of railways lay at the root of Canada’s history of nation building strategies … and they are still needed (along with modernized, high capacity rail adjacent infrastructure) to meet the unique challenges of today's world.

Launch of the Blue Dot Network The Blue Dot Network (BDN), the first global certification framework for sustainable and high-quality infrastructure projects, was launched earlier today at the OECD. It’s name is inspired by the photo of Earth taken by Voyager 1, on the 14 February 1990, at a distance of 3.7bn miles from the sun. It inspired Carl Sagan’s famous book, and some of his most famous quotes, including:   “Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives….There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we've ever known.”   This initiative, which is supported by the United States, Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Spain and Türkiye, is also supported by Canada and Czechia, and will aim to provide assurance to investors and other stakeholders of the robustness, resilience, and positive impact of infrastructure projects. This mark of quality is aligned with 10 elements, based on existing international standards: 1.     Promote sustainable and inclusive economic growth and development. 2.     Promote market-driven and private sector-led investment, supported by judicious use of public funds. 3.     Support sound public financial management, debt transparency, and project-level and country-level debt sustainability. 4.     Build projects that are resilient to climate change, disasters, and other risks, and aligned with the pathways towards 2050 net-zero emissions needed to keep global temperature change of 1.5 degrees Celsius within reach. 5.     Ensure value-for-money over an asset's full life-cycle cost. 6.     Build local capacity, with a focus on local skills transfer and local capital markets. 7.     Promote protections against corruption, while encouraging transparent procurement and consultation processes. 8.     Uphold international best practices of environmental and social safeguards, including respect for labour and human rights. 9.     Promote the non-discriminatory use of infrastructure services. 10. Advance inclusion for women, people with disabilities, and underrepresented and marginalised groups. The BDN Secretariat, which will be hosted by the OECD, will now oversee the global roll-out of a certification framework which aims to help mobilise investment into projects that maximise the positive economic, social, environmental and development impact of infrastructure. Certifications will be awarded by independent, third-party certification bodies, which will be responsible for ensuring the credibility of sustainability commitments. More detail about the initiative, including certification, can be found at the website: https://lnkd.in/eSdQdB4h.

Join the discussion on the importance of integrating sustainability, resilience and quality into infratsucture projects.

📢 International Transport Forum Summit 2024 #ITFSummit2024 in Leipzig 📆 Save the date for the official open-side event on “The power of digitalisation in ensuring Financing of Green and Resilient Linear Transportation Infrastructure” to be held on 23 May 2024, 16:30 to 18:00, Hall 4 📌 In the framework of the 2024 ITF Forum, #UICrail in collaboration with the International Road Federation (IRF), the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and ORIS Materials Intelligence, will examine in this panel session the intricate challenges confronting public authorities. It will spotlight how #digitalisation presents an innovative avenue for addressing these challenges, emphasising the crucial equilibrium required to sustainably #finance linear #infrastructure while maintaining budgetary discipline, ultimately promoting a #sustainable future for all. 💡 Bringing together representatives from public authorities, development banks, and industry experts ensures a well-rounded discussion that considers various perspectives and experiences. Real-life case studies will further enrich the dialogue, providing tangible examples of how these innovative solutions can be applied in practice. The emphasis on the pivotal role of digitalisation in financing climate-ready infrastructure underscores the urgency of addressing the climate crisis through practical and scalable solutions. By leveraging digital tools, infrastructure projects can be designed and executed in a manner that not only reduces environmental impact but also maximizes cost-efficiency and resilience. 👉 Read more about the event here: https://lnkd.in/d3-CFuyK

There have been several recent articles highlighting growing funding challenges for UK infrastructure projects (This latest article identifies a £700bn funding gap to 2040 in the UK infrastructure sector). Here are the five key actions I believe we can take as an industry to help address these challenges: 1) Remove Planning and Consenting Barriers: Planning and consenting hurdles are a major source of delays and frustrations. We must streamline these processes to remove bottlenecks and ensure projects stay on track. 2)Attract Private Investment & Equitable Contracting: Closing the funding gap requires innovative funding models and attracting private sector investment. Additionally, adopting equitable contracting models with fair risk-sharing will foster stronger partnerships capable of managing complex projects. 3)Expand Resourcing and Capacity: The skills gap is a pressing issue. We must train new resources and apprentices to expand the talent pool, addressing labour inflation that could drive up project costs and disrupt investments. 4) High-Quality Business Cases: We need to ensure every project is backed by a high-quality business case. Focusing on projects that deliver smart solutions and maximize value will ensure our investments provide the greatest benefit to society and the economy. Adopt Digital Technologies and Automation: Embracing digital technologies and automation will drive efficiency, boost productivity, and enhance the quality of our infrastructure delivery. This transformation is essential if we are to deliver projects at the scale and pace required. The above are in my view, some of the key areas we need to focus on to close the funding gap and move forward.

The UK is confronting a potential infrastructure funding gap of £700 billion by 2040. According to an EY analysis, approximately £1.6 trillion worth of infrastructure projects are planned, but a significant portion remains unfunded. Key areas impacted include transportation, energy, and digital infrastructure, which are essential to supporting the nation’s growth and competitiveness. Economic headwinds, such as rising inflation, increasing interest rates, and other financial pressures, are inflating project costs, further complicating the situation. Without significant government intervention and new investment strategies, the gap threatens to stall essential developments. This shortfall risks leaving critical sectors of the economy underdeveloped, potentially affecting long-term sustainability and resilience. If left unaddressed, the funding shortfall could lead to missed opportunities for modernization, putting the UK's infrastructure on a precarious path as demand continues to rise in the coming decades. #infrastructure #capitalinvestment #government #funding