On 22-23 March 2018, UN Environment, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) and the University of Geneva (UNIGE) are hosting the Geneva Forum for Sustainable Infrastructure in Gland, Switzerland.
Infrastructure investment, if done right, can potentially contribute to the delivery of many SDGs. Farmers, for example, have no way of getting out of poverty if there is no transport facility connecting them to the market. Boys and girls can hardly get quality education without adequate lighting. Fighting climate change while ensuring sustainable energy for all requires a massive shift towards renewable energy systems.
Infrastructure investments, however, can also pose significant challenges to the natural environment. Highway and railway projects, for example, can cut across wildlife habitats and other fragile ecosystems. Sea port construction can affect marine ecosystems. Dam projects can alter ecosystems and displace local population. Investments in fossil fuel energy projects, especially, coal-fired power generation, can undermine the gains from investment in renewable energy.
An increasing number of infrastructure projects are expected to be built in many parts of the world in the decades to come, offering opportunities as well as challenges for sustainable development. By fostering a sustainable infrastructure community, this Geneva Forum will offer up-to-date science and policy tools for informing infrastructure development globally.
This forum will share experiences and ideas of making infrastructure projects contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It will start by placing infrastructure development in the context of the SDGs, followed by a discussion of the lessons learned from past infrastructure projects. A major part of the forum will be devoted to the sharing of cases illustrating the application of science and policy tools for making existing or new infrastructure sustainable, covering the economic, social, and environmental dimensions. An update of the most relevant tools for sustainable infrastructure investment will also be provided. The forum will end with a call for follow-up steps.
The target participants are investors in infrastructure projects, stakeholders from countries where such projects take place, and representatives from institutions interested in the delivery of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The forum’s objective is to enable key stakeholders in infrastructure development to work together in an effort to turn infrastructure into a driver for delivering SDGs.
For further information, please contact Mr.Rowan Palmer ([email protected]).
Download the conference summary report. (Report)/(Report - photo_free)
Day 1 - March 22, 2018
0830-0900 Arrival and Registration
0900-0915 Opening: Welcome remarks by IUCN and UN Environment
0915-1030 Session 1: Infrastructure and SDGs
(moderated by Mr. Fulai Sheng, UN Environment)
- Infrastructure and SDGs ( Mr. Vito INTINI, UN-DESA) (presentation)
- Global infrastructure investment: facts & trends (Mr. Guoyong LIANG, UNCTAD) (presentation)
- Mapping the environmental impacts of large-scale infrastructure (Ms. Han MENG, UNEP-WCMC) (presentation)
- Infrastructure under the Belt and Road Initiative (Mr. Zhou Jun, China-ASEAN Environmental Cooperation Center) (presentation)
1100-1230 Session 2: Understanding the Impacts of Large Infrastructure Projects
Panel discussion: environmental & social impacts (moderated by Ms. Oshani PERERA, IISD)
Panelists:
- Ms. Giulia Carbone, IUCN
- Dr. Delfin Ganapin Jr., WWF International
- Dr. Simon BUCKLE, OECD
- Dr. Matthew Webb, E3G
- Dr. Pascal Peduzzi, UNEP/GRID-Geneva (presentation)
- Ms. Luisa BERNAL, UNDP
- Mr. Maikel R. Lieuw-Kie-Song, ILO (presentation)
1400-1515 Session 3: Evaluating Infrastructure Projects– Transport sector
(moderated by Ms. Weikang WANG, Global Green Growth Institute)
1. The Euro-Asian Transport Links (EATL) project: making 9 international road and 9 rail corridors along Europe and Asia operational (Mr. Konstantinos Alexopoulos, UN ECE)
2. Sustainable Asset Valuation (SAVi) tool for valuing sustainable Infrastructure and the case of a Morocco road project (Ms. Oshani PERERA, IISD) (presentation)
3. Cruise shipping and urban development: the port of Piraeus (Mr. Olaf MERK, OECD) (presentation)
4. Greening Economic Corridors under the Belt and Road: experience from China and beyond (Mr. Sze Ping Lo, WWF China) (presentation)
1530-1645 Session 4: Evaluating Infrastructure Projects–Integrated Systems and Solutions
(moderated by Dr. Alexandre Hedjazi, University of Geneva)
5. Green Airport Assessment Framework: a case study of Beijing Capital Airport (Dr.Xin WANG, UNEP-Tongji Institute of Environment for Sustainable Development) (presentation)
6. Infrastructure system integration: case of Geneva (Dr. Matteo Tarantino, University of Geneva) (presentation)
7. Water-Energy-Food nexus: Aral Sea basin case (Ms. Saltanat Zhakenova, CAREC) (presentation)
8. District Energy system for combined cooling, heating and power: the case of Nanjing Hexi New City (Mr. Wu Zheng, Broad Group) (presentation)
1645-1700 Summary
Day 2 - March 23, 2018
0900-0915 Recap of Day 1
0915-1045 Session 5: Evaluating Infrastructure Projects – Energy & Water
(moderated by Mr. Ben Simmons, Green Growth Knowledge Platform)
9. Renewable Energy Assessment and Implementation: demonstrating the 1st low carbon town in Sri Lanka (Ms. Qingchan YU, Global Environmental Institute) (presentation)
10. Investment in multi-purpose water infrastructure (MPWI): the case of Shardara Dam in Kazakhstan (Mr. Matthew Griffiths, OECD) (presentation)
11. Energy infrastructure siting: case studies from US (Ms. Linda KRUEGER, TNC) (presentation)
12. Solar PV for Poverty Alleviation in China and Pakistan (Zonergy Co Ltd.)
13. Green industrial park: China experiences (Dr. Han SHI, Hong Kong City University) (presentation)
1100-1200 Session 6: Towards Sustainable Infrastructure - relevant tools
(Moderator: Ms. Han MENG, UNEP-WCMC)
- An international framework on “Eco-industrial Parks” (Ms. Nilguen TAS, UNIDO) (presentation)
- The SuRe Standard for Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure (Ms. Jiong Yong, GIB-Foundation) (presentation)
- Multilateral Environnental Agreements (Ms. Sarangoo Radnaaragchaa, UN ECE) (presentation)
- Responsible Business Conduct guidelines (Ms. Tihana BULE, OECD) (presentation)
- Sustainable Map (Ms. Annegret Brauss, International Trade Center) (presentation)
1200-1300 Session 7: Towards Sustainable Infrastructure – greening the investment
(Moderated by Ms. Yuki Yasui, UNEP FI)
Greening the BRI Investment: GGGI’s in-country approach (Ms. Weikang WANG, GGGI) (presentation)
- Ms. Katharine Lu (Friends of the Earth, US)
- Dr. Guo Peiyuan (China Sustainable Investment Forum);
1430-1530 Session 8: Future engagement
(moderator: UN Environment)
- draft text of Call for Action
Report back to Plenary
1530-1600 Closing (UN Environment and University of Geneva)
- Dr. Alexandre B. Hedjazi, Executive Deputy Director International Affairs, University of Geneva
- Mr. Fulai Sheng, head of Economic and Fiscal Policy Unit, Economy Division, UN Environment