Online - 26 February 2021: First of all, let me congratulate the Italian Presidency for its leadership in putting such an ambitious G20 work program forward. The GI Hub fully supports the Presidency’s priorities for infrastructure investment, and we are committed to supporting the G20 in the recovery process.
While we recognise that countries are in different stages of this crisis, GI Hub’s work last year showed that infrastructure-related investments should and will become an important element of medium- to long-term stimulus measures to help drive the global economic recovery. This was echoed by the International Monetary Fund in their surveillance note.
Collectively, we have recognised that significant private sector investment in infrastructure is essential to help close the large infrastructure gap. We are now at a critical juncture in the need to mobilise private sector investment.
However, our Infrastructure Monitor report shows that worldwide private investment in new infrastructure only amounts to about USD100 billion a year and has declined over the past five years.
To help governments support infrastructure to enable a transformative recovery, we are currently developing InfraTracker, which is an infrastructure-dedicated stimulus tracker showcasing valuable case studies and frameworks from across the G20. This tracker and the two related compendia are key deliverables for infrastructure investment under the G20 Action Plan, and I look forward to sharing them with you soon.
We are also supporting the G20 Infrastructure Working Group with key deliverables to help enable more sustainable, resilient, digital, and inclusive infrastructure:
- First, we are very pleased to support progress on the implementation of the Quality Infrastructure Investment agenda, through the finalisation of the case study survey highlighting key developments and activities by G20 members.
- Second, in support of the digital infrastructure agenda we have launched the G20/GI Hub InfraChallenge competition to help identify practical technological solutions to improve the resilience of infrastructure across the project lifecycle.
- Third, as we collectively tackle the challenge of climate change and recognising that a significant portion of greenhouse gas emissions come from infrastructure-related activities, we are examining the role that adopting a circular economy approach in infrastructure could play and developing a roadmap that will be shared with the membership in June.
In addition to these deliverables, we are currently gathering evidence and exploring how potential reforms could support a green agenda for infrastructure, including on the justification and potential for differentiated regulatory capital requirement, especially for green infrastructure projects.
We look forward to working closing with all of you throughout this year on these important issues.
Infrastructure Monitor
