Bali, Indonesia – 16 July 2022: As this is my first intervention, allow me to join my colleagues in thanking Indonesia for hosting this meeting and for the wonderful hospitality.
Allow me to also commend the Presidency on its commitment to continue to deliver on priorities that set a clear path to a more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable economic recovery in the light of many challenges we face today - with infrastructure as a key enabler.
The 2022 infrastructure work program is built around four inter-linked priorities that focus on accelerating the uptake of sustainable infrastructure to support a transformative recovery, with a clear emphasis on better leveraging the private sector. The GI Hub is supporting the Presidency’s ambitious infrastructure agenda through several activities:
- Firstly, we continue to monitor G20 governments’ shift to sustainable infrastructure, by expanding our InfraTracker, first built under the 2021 Italian Presidency. To date, the equivalent of USD3.2 trillion of infrastructure-dedicated stimulus has been announced across G20 economies. This includes 40% directed to environmentally sustainable outcomes. Supporting this is the report Infrastructure Transition Pathways, which highlights that substantial efforts have been made across G20 governments when it comes to increasing renewable energy generation, but areas such as lowering the carbon intensity of steel and cement productions – both major inputs into much of the world’s infrastructure – still require greater attention.
- Secondly, the GI Hub continues its work with G20 members and relevant partners to develop a Framework to scale private sector investment in sustainable infrastructure, which is due to be presented to this group in October. This framework will provide a concise, actionable list of recommendations across four key pillars. It builds on many of the existing activities and initiatives from relevant partners, including the World Bank and the OECD. This framework was also presented and discussed with investors yesterday as part of the 2022 G20 Infrastructure Investors Dialogue, which again saw private sector representatives call for coordinated public-private action on identifying and implementing concrete solutions.
- Thirdly, there is no doubt that the scaling up of sustainable infrastructure investments must be powered by digital and Infratech investments. Therefore, we have shared with you our joint work with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank on a Blueprint to scale up InfraTech and its financing to support government and private sector action.
Last but not least, following your endorsement of the extension of the GI Hub mandate in 2021, we have made substantial progress investigating options to strengthen our governance, secure full G20 member representation and ensure a sustainable funding model for the organisation. The options under consideration include hosting of the GI Hub within the OECD, or to evolve the organisation into an international body with fiduciary services provided by the UNDP.
This whole process has highlighted the strong support across the membership, and the value members see the GI Hub having created for the G20 and beyond. I want to thank you all for your support and reiterate that we will continue to develop these options to ensure they are inclusive of the whole membership while sustaining the GI Hub’s value.
I look forward to presenting you with a final recommendation for a governance and funding model by October for your endorsement.
Transformative Outcomes Through Infrastructure
