Development and environmental sustainability, infrastructure and economic growth are closely interconnected. The world will need to more than double investment in infrastructure from current levels to meet its growth and development objectives over the next 15 years. This means raising infrastructure investment to more than $6 trillion a year. Energy, transport and cities dominate infrastructure needs. As much as three quarters of the incremental investment requirements will be in emerging and developing economies. Developing this new infrastructure capacity in sustainable ways can be a game changer in the fight against climate change.

The agenda involves important transformations in the way infrastructure is developed and financed. It spans boosting investment in public and private sectors, and increasingly through public-private partnerships; reforming incentives to channel new investment toward efficient and sustainable infrastructure; strengthening institutions to ensure the feasibility and quality of investments; and promoting innovation in infrastructure technology to better address climate risks and sustainability, and in public and private financing modalities. Strong public policy leadership must be combined with new ways to catalyze private investment and financing, especially from institutional investors. More than half of the incremental financing will need to be mobilized from the private sector.

While much of this agenda is the responsibility of national governments, national-level actions must be supported with stronger international cooperation through collective actions, peer learning and technical and financial support. The G20 and the BRICS grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa have an important role to play in this effort, both through successful individual and coordinated actions within these groups and more broadly through strengthening the policy, financial and institutional framework for global cooperation.