WEF in Davos: Green infrastructure spending vital

As the world’s political and business leaders congregated at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week, they have been urged to pump huge amounts of money into boosting the a global network of green infrastructure.

A new report published by the Green Growth Action Alliance, in partnership with consultancy firm Accenture, called on leaders to invest as much as $5.7trn a year to stimulate greener markets that could help fuel the necessary economic growth lacking in many economies.

Instead of spending the usual money on traditional infrastructure projects based around fossil fuels, the report wants leaders to divert the investment into cleaner technology projects. The former Mexican president and co-founder of the group, Felipe Calderon, said that the long-term economic growth was entirely reliant upon a refocus on green infrastructure.

He said: “Economic growth and sustainability are inter-dependent, you cannot have one without the other, and greening investment is the pre-requisite to realising both goals.”
The report also states that green infrastructure projects should not prove to be as expensive as previously thought, and the long-term benefits meant that they provided better financial value than traditional projects, and so should prove attractive to private investors.

It says: “Green infrastructure investment provides attractive long-term, risk-adjusted returns. Private investors should not wait for perfect public policies to remove any reasonable risk.”