News

14 March 2022: The FAST-Infra Platform has won an award for ‘Visionary CleanTech Financial & Investment Institution’, after being nominated under the under the Visionary CleanTech Businesses of the year category. The award was announced at the 5th CBC Annual Leadership Forum “Leading Together The CleanTech Decade!”, an event that brought together over 150 trusted leaders of solar and cleantech industries with the leaders of the financial communities and investors, top corporations, energy and utility companies, as well as policy makers from across the world.

02 November 2021: FAST-Infra is pleased to announce the launch of the Sustainable Infrastructure (SI) Label – a consistent, globally applicable labelling system designed to identify and evaluate sustainable infrastructure assets. Read the press release.

What is FAST-Infra?

FAST-Infra — the ‘Finance to Accelerate the Sustainable Transition-Infrastructure’ initiative — aims to close the trillion dollar sustainable infrastructure investment gap, with urgency, by transforming sustainable infrastructure into a mainstream, liquid asset class.

FAST-Infra was conceived in early 2020 by Climate Policy Initiative (CPI), HSBC, the International Finance Corporation (IFC), OECD and the Global Infrastructure Facility under the auspices of President Macron’s One Planet Lab. Over 50 global entities, representing governments at all levels, the financial sector, investors, DFIs, insurers, rating agencies and NGOs are now actively participating in developing the FAST-Infra initiative.

Hear from supporters of the FAST-Infra initiative:

FAST-Infra background

People need access to energy, transport, sanitation, hospitals and schools to thrive. Unfortunately, the way we have built much of this infrastructure over the last century has been extremely carbon intensive. Worse still, we will need to build much more of it in the coming decades, particularly in emerging and developing economies. Unless we quickly develop a new generation of sustainable infrastructure, it will be impossible to meet our national and global decarbonization goals.

Yet progress has been slow to close a sustainable infrastructure investment gap estimated to be in excess of $3 trillion a year over the next 10 years. The generation of bankable projects involving renewable power, green transport, sustainable water and waste, and green buildings is expanding but remains inadequate and sub-scale. Financing of infrastructure projects is limited and lacking sufficient investment from the private sector, which is crucial to bridging the investment gap. Institutional investors are keen to invest in sustainable infrastructure, which can offer stable, long-term returns. However, there is currently no way for them to verify which assets are genuinely sustainable.

The FAST-Infra solution

FAST-Infra proposes to establish a consistent, globally applicable labelling system for sustainable infrastructure assets. Alongside the labelling work, FAST-Infra is developing financial mechanisms to mobilize private investment at scale for the financing of labelled projects.

The labelling system will allow the market to easily signal the sustainability of the asset. Investors can trust that their money is going to projects that meet environmental, social, resiliency, and governance needs and contribute to the SDGs.

A sustainable infrastructure label will also ensure that governments and project developers embed high environmental, social, governance and resiliency standards into new infrastructure at the design and pre-construction phases, on the grounds that only assets incorporating such standards will obtain the label. The label will also attract private finance at the construction stage and new institutional investors at the post-construction phase.

FAST-Infra structure

FAST-Infra is comprised of an overarching group focused on the development of a sustainable infrastructure label, and four sub-groups focused on developing financial interventions that connect back to the sustainable infrastructure label. These all support the development of sustainable infrastructure into a deep and liquid asset class, helping to scale-up private investment in sustainable infrastructure in emerging and developing economies.

The groups are organized as the following:

• FAST-Infra Sustainable Infrastructure Label: Underlying standards, reporting requirements, terms of award, and governance

• FAST-Infra Platform: Infrastructure Data Platform with centralized tools, attached to a project finance loan exchange / marketplace

• GREG (Global Revenue Guarantee): Guaranteeing timely payments from the off-taker (temporarily), through a mix of private and public finance

• Sustainable Infrastructure Warehousing Financing Facility (SIWFF): Syndication structure allowing for participation from a wide range of NDBs in emerging markets.

FAST-Infra Leadership Group

• Barbara Buchner, CPI
• Vikram Widge, CPI
• Towfiqua Hoque, GIF (World Bank)
• Vivek Pathak, IFC
• Christian Deseglise, HSBC
• Michael Ridley, HSBC GAM
• Robert Youngman, OECD
• Thierry Deau, Meridiam
• Rudi Lang, Mazars
• Robin Grenfell, Macquarie
• Hayden Morgan, Morgan Green Advisory
• Fuat Savas, JP Morgan
• Alexandra Basirov, BNP Paribas
• Brett Orlando, Net Zero Capital Advisory Ltd
• Rashad Kaldany, Blue Like an Orange Capital

FAST-Infra Events

Upcoming Events

21 March ESG & Sustainability Forum

The FAST-Infra initiative will feature in the Infrastructure Investor ESG & Sustainability Forum Global Summit 2022

• What is the FAST-Infra initiative? 14.40 – 15.00

Past Events

1-12 November FAST-Infra @COP26:

• Mobilising Climate Finance, 3 November 10.30am-11.15am, Blue Zone, UK Presidency Pavilion, Organised by BEIS
• Creating a Step Change in Private Capital for Emerging Markets and Developing Countries, 3 November 1.15pm-1.45pm, Blue Zoe, Action Zone Pavilion, Organised by UNFCCC, High Level Champions and Marrakech Partnership session
• FAST-Infra: Mobilizing Private Capital Towards Global Sustainable Infrastructure Projects, 3.10pm-3.45pm, Blue Zone, French Pavilion, as part of the One Planet Lab programme

15 September 2021: FAST-Infra Global Conference

June/July/August 2021: FAST-Infra Sustainable Infrastructure Label (SI Label) consultation period.

Learn more

Read the FAST-Infra Overview.

To get involved or learn more, please contact fastinfra@cpiglobal.org