Room CC1 The event is preceded by the high-level Leaders Dialogue on Monday 8 April, 17:00 -17:45. This meeting will focus on mobilising the private sector to incentivise quality infrastructure. It includes leaders from the Blue Dot Network Sterring Committee and the private sector. The Blue Dot Network (BDN) provides an internationally recognised certification to assist countries in pursuing investments that maximise the positive economic, social, environmental and development impact of infrastructure. The BDN network will be officially announced ahead of the Infrastructure Forum by the OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann together with the U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard R. Verma and the Swiss State Secretary for Economic Affairs Helene Budliger Artieda, as well as representatives of all Blue Dot Network member governments. This event is open to all participants of the OECD Infrastructure Forum.

Room CC1 With intensifying climate change, infrastructure is and will be increasingly affected by climate variability and extreme weather events. The resilience of infrastructure is a key determinant of a country’s overall economic and social resilience to climate risks. In addition to safety and security risks for citizens, resilient infrastructure has economic consequences for investors and for governments in terms of repairing or replacing infrastructure, downstream economic costs of infrastructure failures and the use of damaged or unusable infrastructure, leading to lost revenues and contingent liabilities. Speakers will highlight the strong interplay of institutional, policy, regulatory, technical and financial design that is needed to adapt infrastructure to the impacts of climate change and to make investments in climate resilience happen. A new OECD flagship report “Infrastructure for a Climate-Resilient Future” will also be launched in this session.

Auditorium Nature-based solutions (NbS) – whether standalone or in complement of grey engineering measures – can reduce infrastructure asset losses and extend their operational life. NbS offer flexibility and adaptability to climate change over time through the natural adaptive capacity of ecosystems, and provide a range of environmental, social, and economic co-benefits. This session will examine country experiences in using NbS for building climate-resilient infrastructure, and the enabling environment to encourage the use of NbS in infrastructure planning, design and maintenance.

Room CC1 Developing countries can be particularly vulnerable to natural disasters. Planning, building and managing infrastructure to make it resilient to natural disasters is crucial to ensure that developing countries can achieve sustainable development.   This session focuses on the latest strategies and best practices featured in the first edition of the OECD Compendium of Good Practices on Quality Infrastructure: Building Resilience to Natural Disasters, focusing on the three-pillar approach: PRR (Prevent- React- Rebuild). 

Auditorium The effective functioning of telecommunications, energy, transport and water sectors (network/infrastructure sectors) is vital for the delivery of essential services. Flexible and responsive regulation remains as relevant as ever to ensure network sectors remain resilient in the face of shocks and other threats. This session will discuss how the proliferation of new players involved in the provision of the services, technological changes or the challenges linked to climate change are affecting the role of regulators in bolstering network resilience? How can regulators respond to the increasing inter-dependence between network sectors and the interplay with resilience?

Room CC1 New certification schemes and labels such as Blue Dot Network, FAST-Infra Sustainable Infrastructure label, and PIDA Quality label enable infrastructure projects to demonstrate their commitment to sustainability and quality standards, and attract investors who prioritise responsible and sustainable investments. An OECD survey shows that leading private sector investors believe a trusted certification framework can increase infrastructure investments in emerging and developing economies. The session will discuss how certifications can be leveraged to bridge the infrastructure investment gap, and how to ensure consistency, complementarity and interoperability of related frameworks.

Auditorium By 2050, the global population living in cities is projected to reach 5 billion, up from 3.5 billion in 2015. Supporting this growth while mitigating and adapting to climate change requires new approaches to support more resilient infrastructure. This session will examine how innovative funding and financing approaches – e.g. land value capture, green bonds, public-private partnerships – can help regional and local governments.

Room CC1 Robust, reliable and standardised reporting is critical to coherence with infrastructure standards and ensuring that performance is in accordance with contractual and policy requirements. Without standardised reporting, data collection remains challenging at both the project and collective level. This session will highlight some of the challenges and actions that are needed to move the needle in reporting on the quality and resilience of infrastructure assets.

Room CC1 There is a compelling economic case for investing in climate-resilient infrastructure. Unlocking this potential will require concerted efforts to realise the value of enhanced climate resilience. Enhanced collaboration between the public and private sectors will be critical to enable finance to flow at the required scale. This plenary session will share experiences of how climate resilience has been financed, in particular for countries with limited fiscal space and how international investors and donors can support the discussion on improving climate resilience. This plenary session will share experiences of how climate resilience has been financed, in particular for countries with limited fiscal space and how international investors and donors can support the discussion on improving climate resilience.

Room CC1