Infrastructure, Construction and Transport

The growing importance of Environmental, Social and Governance concerns in the sphere of infrastructure, construction and transport is evident around the world. We expect to see a continued increase in investment into sustainable initiatives as companies introduce ESG policies and procedures to drive responsible infrastructure across the entire life cycle of projects.

ESG is central to the delivery of high-quality infrastructure, construction and transport projects everywhere. Forward-looking companies in the sector are already placing it at the core of responsible delivery. They are viewing every decision, action and initiative through the ESG lens in order to drive responsible engagement and sustainable infrastructure projects.

Infrastructure

Responsible investment throughout the life cycle of infrastructure is key. Responsible and sustainable investment choices affect not only the world around us now, but the future of our infrastructure, sustainable development and communities. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals highlight the importance of investment in infrastructure to increase productivity and incomes, as well as deliver improvements in health and education outcomes. However, the G20-backed Global Infrastructure Hub has identified a USD15 trillion gap in the USD94 trillion investment that will be needed by 2040 to fund global infrastructure. It is incumbent on us all to share knowledge and facilitate best practice discussions to assist with delivering this objective, with ESG at the very heart of our engagement.

Construction

The Construction sector has a huge impact on our environment, contributing significantly to greenhouse gas emissions, creating many types of pollution and destroying natural habitat. With sustainability and ESG agendas now a driving factor for both businesses and government, Construction needs to take short-term environmental and long-term climate factors into consideration during the project optioneering phase, through the use of detailed KPIs which are viewed through an ESG lens, including developing new techniques for the construction phase. The focus needs to extend across all aspects of construction, including in the procurement of materials, building green certified buildings to improve energy efficiency, considering carbon footprint on major engineering projects and investing in projects which can provide long-term community benefits.

Transport and mobility

Economies require a considerable amount of mobility to keep growing and thriving, but this mobility creates a large proportion of the world’s global emissions. Today, we are seeing a significant focus on reducing emissions and ensuring that essential mobility is sustainable. This includes a shift to more energy-efficient means of transport and clean energy sources for road and rail, as well as improvements in mass transit, to move people around more efficiently, and ride-sharing, to reduce the number of journeys taken. Electric mobility and smart cities are just some of the key trends we are seeing which are helping to lower energy usage and carbon impacts, while integrating renewable sources and energy efficiency into transportation. This is also fertile ground for new technologies and innovation. In the aviation industry, ESG is finding ways to extend beyond reducing carbon emissions from aircraft. The financing, leasing and building of modern aircraft as well as how we expand airports and travel to and from our airports are also key considerations for sustainable development in this sector.

To discuss the implications of these issues for your business, please contact our ESG leaders.