Contracts for Sustainable Infrastructure: Ensuring the economic, social and environmental co-benefits of infrastructure investment projects

By Martin Dietrich Brauch, Published by International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), December 2017

To achieve the sustainable development goals (SDGs) and the objectives of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the infrastructure to be upgraded and built must be sustainable—it must be specifically designed to mitigate economic, social and environmental risks, and to generate economic, social and environmental co-benefits. Public–private partnerships (PPPs) are among the modes that government may adopt to structure infrastructure projects. Bridging IISD’s experience in public procurement and infrastructure finance and investment, this report defines sustainable infrastructure, outlines its expected characteristics and co-benefits, and presents why governments must and how they can integrate sustainability into infrastructure contracts. Available at https://www.iisd.org/library/contracts-sustainable-infrastructure-ensuring-economic-social-and-environmental-co-benefits