Community session: Sustainable infrastructure standards – “building back better together”?

This session is curated by the Nicholas Institute for Environmental Policy Solutions, Duke University and Heinrich-Boell-Foundation.

Promoting socially, economically and environmentally sustainable infrastructure is essential for “building back better”; it will be the enabler of a great transformation towards human well-being within planetary boundaries. Returns on investment should not only be assessed financially but should also serve people and keep the environment intact. Investors, including large investment firms and institutional investors, increasingly ask for transparency on non-financial impact. One way to incentivize sustainable infrastructure investments is to assess and monitor the sustainability aspects with labels or standards.

However, the fragmented landscape of standards hinders efforts to advance sustainable infrastructure efforts. To address this challenge, several independent initiatives are underway to develop a universal system that would provide more clarity and consistency. This panel will focus on two recently released frameworks: The Blue Dot Network (BDN) and FAST-Infra (Finance to Accelerate the Sustainable Transition-Infrastructure).

These initiatives have the potential be a game changer for the adoption of sustainable infrastructure across the globe. But what will be needed to ensure their success? Will the two initiatives leverage each other or might they conflict? What role can the G20 and G7 play to foster progress towards a common approach aimed at widespread sustainable infrastructure adoption.