Sustainable Infrastructure
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Sustainable infrastructure is a key enabler of economic and social development, as well as environmental sustainability. Quality infrastructure enhances productivity and competitiveness, contributing to economic growth and employment as well as facilitating international trade. Broad coverage of infrastructure services promotes social inclusion and equity, and supports the formation of human capital. Green infrastructure safeguards local environmental quality, while at the same time contributing to the global decarbonization process. The challenge of delivering sustainable infrastructure services is a complex one that goes far beyond ‘bricks and mortar’ to encompass: good policy; sound planning; efficient procurement; smart regulation; transparent governance; affordable finance; and functional markets. The series will cover a wide range of policy topics relating to network infrastructure services, including energy, multi-modal transportation, ICT and digital development, water and sanitation, and urban and rural infrastructure, as well as irrigation and flood management.
Items in this collection
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Publication
The Economics of Electric Vehicles for Passenger Transportation
(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2023-03-13)"The Economics of Electric Vehicles for Passenger Transportation" provides answers to three critical questions: Why should developing countries pursue e-mobility? When does an accelerated transition to electric vehicles (EVs) make sense for developing countries? How can governments make this transition happen? A key finding from the research is that there is a strong economic case for EVs in many developing countries. This is news because, despite growing momentum and interest in the sector, 90 percent of EV sales are still concentrated in major markets such as China, Europe, and the United States. According to original models developed by the report’s authors, developing countries can look to electric buses as well as to two- and three-wheeled vehicles as entry points to this critical transition. Readers will find many examples of countries already benefiting from e-mobility solutions. For example, Brazil, Chile, and India are leaders in electric bus fleets. Their progress, made possible by innovative financing and procurement practices, is improving mobility in cities, reducing local air pollution, and reducing congestion in fast-growing downtowns. Readers will also see examples from Asian and East African countries, which are embarking on battery-swapping schemes to lower upfront costs of ownership for two- and three-wheeled vehicles. Based on the unique modeling, analysis, and benchmarking of results across 20 developing countries—complemented by a compilation of actual organic and diverse experiences of developing countries with electric mobility adoption—this report provides policy guidance on how governments can accelerate EV adoption, and when and where it makes economic sense to adopt electric mobility more quickly. This report is a critical read for anyone interested in the future of transport and its links with development progress. -
Publication
Off the Books: Understanding and Mitigating the Fiscal Risks of Infrastructure
(Washington, DC : World Bank, 2023)Developing countries face massive infrastructure needs, but public spending on infrastructure is inadequate, and public investment has been declining in recent years. Rising debt levels and tightening fiscal and monetary conditions are putting further pressure on the funds available for infrastructure, heightening the importance of increasing the efficiency of infrastructure spending. Off the Books: Understanding and Mitigating the Fiscal Risks of Infrastructure shows that however governments deliver infrastructure—through direct public provision, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), or public-private partnerships (PPPs), the risk of fiscal surprises is high in both good times and bad. As a result, infrastructure service delivery often ends up costing significantly more than expected, eroding limited fiscal space for productive spending. This book makes a unique contribution by quantifying the magnitude and prevalence of fiscal risks from electricity and transport infrastructure and identifying their root causes across a range of low- and middle-income countries. Drawing on important new sources of evidence and compiling many others, the analysis sheds light on how much is at stake in the good governance of infrastructure sectors. It allows policy makers to weigh the magnitudes of different types of risks and examine how they vary across contexts. Off the Books shows how a deeper understanding of the fiscal risks of infrastructure can help policy makers target reforms to areas where they can be expected to have the greatest impact. It lays out a reform agenda for mitigating the fiscal risks associated with infrastructure based on building government capacity; adopting integrated public investment management and integrated fiscal risk management; improving fiscal and corporate governance of SOEs; and ensuring robust PPP preparation, procurement, and contract management. The book will be of enormous value to policy makers, practitioners, and academics who have an interest in infrastructure and fiscal policy. -
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Laying the Foundations: A Global Analysis of Regulatory Frameworks for the Safety of Dams and Downstream Communities
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020-11-19)Dam safety is central to public protection and economic security. However, the world has an aging portfolio of large dams, with growing downstream populations and rapid urbanization placing dual pressures on these important infrastructures to provide increased services and to do it more safely. To meet the challenge, countries need legal and institutional frameworks that are fit for purpose and can ensure the safety of dams. Such frameworks enable dams to provide water supplies to meet domestic and industrial demands, support power generation, improve food security, and bolster resilience to floods and droughts, helping to build safer communities. Laying the Foundations: A Global Analysis of Regulatory Frameworks for the Safety of Dams and Downstream Communities is a systematic review of dam regimes from a diverse set of 51 countries with varying economic, political, and cultural circumstances. These case studies inform a continuum of legal, institutional, technical, and financial options for sustainable dam safety assurance. The findings from the comparative analysis will inform decisionmakers about the merits of different options for dam safety and help them systematically develop the most effective approaches for the country context. By identifying the essential elements of good practices guided by portfolio characteristics, this tool can help identify gaps in existing legal, institutional, technical, and financial frameworks to enhance the regulatory regime for ensuring the safety of dams and downstream communities. -
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Rethinking Power Sector Reform in the Developing World
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2020)A new paradigm for power sector reform emerged during the 1990s, under the influence of the Washington Consensus, and began to spread across the developing world. This approach advocated restructuring of national power utilities to create scope for competition, while delegating responsibilities to the private sector under a clear regulatory framework. After 25 years, few developing countries have managed to adopt the model in its entirety, while many others encountered political and economic challenges along the way. This book provides a comprehensive evaluation of developing country power sector reform, sifting the evidence of whether reforms have contributed to improved sector outcomes. It also examines to what extent the reform paradigm remains relevant to the new social and environmental policy agenda of the twenty-first century, and is capable of adaptation to emerging technological disruption. -
Publication
Lifelines: The Resilient Infrastructure Opportunity
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2019-06-19)From serving our most basic needs to enabling our most ambitious ventures in trade and technology, infrastructure services are essential for raising and maintaining people’s quality of life. Yet millions of people, especially in low- and middle-income countries, are facing the consequences of unreliable electricity grids, inadequate water and sanitation systems, and overstrained transport networks. Natural hazards magnify the challenges faced by these fragile systems. Building on a wide range of case studies, global empirical analyses, and modeling exercises, Lifelines lays out a framework for understanding infrastructure resilience—the ability of infrastructure systems to function and meet users’ needs during and after a natural shock—and it makes an economic case for building more resilient infrastructure. Lifelines concludes by identifying five obstacles to resilient infrastructure and offering concrete recommendations and specific actions that can be taken by governments, stakeholders, and the international community to improve the quality and resilience of these essential services, and thereby contribute to more resilient and prosperous societies. -
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Beyond the Gap: How Countries Can Afford the Infrastructure They Need while Protecting the Planet
(Washington, DC: World Bank, 2019-02-19)Beyond the Gap: How Countries Can Afford the Infrastructure They Need while Protecting the Planet aims to shift the debate regarding investment needs away from a simple focus on spending more and toward a focus on spending better on the right objectives, using relevant metrics. It does so by offering a careful and systematic approach to estimating the funding needs to close the service gaps in water and sanitation, transportation, electricity, irrigation, and flood protection. Exploring thousands of scenarios, this report finds that funding needs depend on the service goals and policy choices of low- and middle-income countries and could range anywhere from 2 percent to 8 percent of GDP per year by 2030. Beyond the Gap also identifies a policy mix that will enable countries to achieve key international goals—universal access to water, sanitation, and electricity; greater mobility; improved food security; better protection from floods; and eventual full decarbonization—while limiting spending on new infrastructure to 4.5 percent of GDP per year. Importantly, the exploration of thousands of scenarios shows that infrastructure investment paths compatible with full decarbonization in the second half of the century need not cost more than more-polluting alternatives. Investment needs remain at 2 percent to 8 percent of GDP even when only the decarbonized scenarios are examined. The actual amount depends on the quality and quantity of services targeted, the timing of investments, construction costs, and complementary policies. Finally, investing in infrastructure is not enough; maintaining it also matters. Improving services requires much more than capital expenditure. Ensuring a steady flow of resources for operations and maintenance is a necessary condition for success. Good maintenance also generates substantial savings by reducing the total life-cycle cost of transport and water and sanitation infrastructure by more than 50 percent.