News and updates

Infrastructure, energy and environment expertise has been further strengthened at the National Infrastructure Commission, as they appoint new Commissioners, one of them being Prof. Jim Hall. The Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury, Helen Whately, said:

Ground-breaking technology developed to help countries most exposed to extreme weather events to become more climate resilient has been launched in Jamaica today by the global Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment (CCRI).

In an effort to mitigate the impact of climate change on Ghana’s infrastructure systems, the Government of Ghana and the Global Center on Adaptation, with support from the University of Oxford, the United Nations Office of Project Services and the United Nations Environment Program, undertook a national assessment to assess the impacts of climate change on Ghana’s National Infrastructure and identify adaptation measures to mitigate these impacts.

An estimated investment of ~$2 trillion is required under business-as-usual conditions to achieve universal broadband via terrestrial 4G infrastructure (delivering at least 10 Mbps) in developing countries. However, cost reducing measures could bring down this figure by up to half!

COP26 saw the launch of the Global Resilience Index Initiative, which is underpinned by new global infrastructure risk analytics developed by OPSIS for the UK Centre for Greening Finance and Investment (CGFI).

The Systemic Resilience event from the Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment (CCRI) in collaboration with the governments of Jamaica and the UK, and senior representatives from private and international financial institutions, focused on the challenges and progress in the field of systemic resilience to physical climate risks, with a particular emphasis on supporting the most vulnerable countries to attract capital for redefined resilience needs.

The OPSIS Systemic Resilience Assessment Tool creates a ranked set of investment opportunities for improved decision-making for long-term infrastructure decisions. Professor Jim Hall spoke on ‘Physical climate risk analytics to inform adaptation-aligned finance’ at COP26, representing the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water.

Modelling and analytics from Oxford University’s ‘Oxford Programme for Sustainable Infrastructure Systems (OPSIS)’, developed as part of the World Bank’s Disaster Risk Financing and Insurance Program (DRFIP) are driving essential infrastructure developments in Southeast Asia.

The importance of practical solutions to improve infrastructure decision-making have been recognised by the UN Secretary General, António Guterres, in a message to the Leaders of the Coalition for Climate Resilient Investment (CCRI).