A webinar on Improving infrastructure project preparation and access to critical data, co-hosted by United Nations-supported Principles for Responsible Investment (UNPRI) and the Sustainable Infrastructure Foundation (SIF), took place on 22 January 2018 and was attended by over 60 participants. The webinar, moderated by Archie Beeching, Head of Real Assets, UNPRI, focused on the opportunities that the platform offers to long-term investors to facilitate their involvement in the development of infrastructure and the integration of their Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) procedures. Rana Ghorayeb, Vice President and Head of Infrastructure Transactions, Europe and the Americas, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), highlighted the following key benefit of the platform.
“Time spent ciphering through information is not the right use of my team nor our time. SOURCE addresses this, because it facilitates standardization through its templates. We therefore spend time analyzing the project rather than gathering information. Time is money for us.” Rana Ghorayeb
Other conclusions included the value of SOURCE providing a standardized and transparent source of information, allowing long term investors to make a sound investment decision.
“SOURCE, we see as a way to help educate government officials on what is project preparation is necessary in order to get the project to the market” Laurence Carter, Senior Director, Public-Private Partnerships, World Bank
The webinar is available online at the following link.