New data on the long-term sustainable infrastructure plans of G20 economies

To show how countries are investing in infrastructure to address climate change and achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the GI Hub has today released new analysis of investment data from more than 250 long-term infrastructure plans across 25 G20 economies.

The data show that between 2020 and 2030, G20 economies (which represent around 85% of global GDP) plan to invest USD12.4 trillion in infrastructure. By mapping these investments across 15 transition pathways, 12 infrastructure sectors, and 140 infrastructure asset classes, we can see what infrastructure investments could look like over the next few decades and where there may still be gaps.

With the world currently not on track to reach net zero by 2050, now is a critical time for governments to review how their long-term infrastructure plans will achieve net zero targets and the SDGs. The GI Hub’s new data will give governments information for the first time on long-term global infrastructure investment trends and gaps, enabling them to benchmark their current and future infrastructure plans against those of the G20, in line with SDGs and net zero goals.

The data show several trends in the long-term infrastructure plans of G20 countries. Three of these trends are outlined below.

1. The highest investment trend is the targeting of social impact pathways by improving the accessibility, affordability, and quality of services. This highlights that, whilst achieving climate goals is critical to the world’s future, infrastructure is being created for people to use, and we must not forget the social imperative when it comes to developing infrastructure for 2050.
2. A trend that would benefit from innovation is the relatively low level of planned investment into climate resilience and adaptation, such as increasing circularity and restoring land and water ecosystems.
3. Across the long-term infrastructure plans of all G20 countries, much of the planned investment requires scaling up the adoption of InfraTech to implement those plans. However, most of the investments directed toward InfraTech are narrowly focused on low-emissions vehicles. More needs to be done to expand the scope of InfraTech to include all infrastructure sectors, including investment dedicated to the research and development needed to spur the growth of early-stage technologies.

View the data

The new data is now available on our website and complements the GI Hub’s research into G20 long-term infrastructure investment trends for climate goals and SDGs, which identified 15 strategies that align infrastructure development and delivery.

To explore the data, click here.