To meet global development needs and adapt to the ongoing social and environmental structural changes, we must transform our infrastructure and make it sustainable. According to the OECD, humanity must invest an estimated USD 6 trillion annually until 2040 to meet the SDGs and Paris agreement targets.

Finance To Accelerate Sustainable Transition-Infrastructure (FAST-Infra) started as a collaboration between HSBC, the OECD, the IFC, the Global Infrastructure Facility, and the Climate Policy Initiative under the auspices of the One Planet Summit. Over time, it expanded to become a broad and inclusive public-private partnership.

Supported by more than 80 public and private institutions, FAST-Infra aims to close the current investment gap in sustainable infrastructure. Its strategy now revolves around three complementary axes:

  • Certifying the sustainability of infrastructure projects (Sustainable Infrastructure Label)
  • Increasing the volume of bankable/financeable projects (FAST-Infra Platform)
  • Accelerate innovation in the field of sustainable infrastructure (FAST-Infra Beyond)

FAST-Infra is now incorporated as FAST-Infra Group (FIG), a multi-actors non-profit association under French law.

FAST-Infra Group | One Planet Summit

Harness the power of collective action

FAST-Infra Group is a permanent FAST-Infra structure now set up in France as an international, multi-stakeholder, not-for-profit entity.

The purpose of FAST-Infra Group is to promote all concrete and inclusive solutions:

  • Contributing to the development and improvement of sustainable, affordable and inclusive infrastructure services
  • Making sustainable infrastructure a mainstream and liquid asset class
  • Integrating sustainability into the life cycle of infrastructure projects
  • Attracting private investment

The Association brings together state, public, private corporate and financial, multilateral and civil-society institutions committed to deploying sustainable infrastructure globally.

A member-based organisation, FAST-Infra Group, is governed by a Board that will include three representatives from countries listed in Annex I to the Kyoto Protocol, three from other countries, four from the private sector and two from multilateral banks/NGOs.

Based in Paris, it is expected to open representation offices in several other countries soon.

FAST-Infra Sustainable Infrastructure® label | One Planet Summit

Certify the sustainability of new and upgraded infrastructure assets

FAST-Infra Sustainable Infrastructure® Label is a globally applicable label for infrastructure projects/assets demonstrating significant positive sustainability performance. It is designed to enable developers and operators to show the positive impact of an infrastructure asset and attract investors seeking assets which positively contribute to sustainable outcomes.

A multistakeholder working group led by Global Infrastructure Facility (GIF) and Macquarie designed a framework based on four ‘dimensions’ of sustainability: Environmental, Social, Governance, Adaptation & Resiliency. Each ‘dimension’ includes a series of ‘criteria’ (14 criteria in total) that, taken together, define ‘sustainability’ under the label.

The purpose of the FAST-Infra Sustainable Infrastructure Label is not to reinvent the wheel, but rather to harmonize existing standards, frameworks, and taxonomies and enable the transformation of sustainable infrastructure into a mainstream, liquid asset class. Specifically, the FAST-Infra Sustainable Infrastructure Label is intended to:

  •     Define and measure sustainability contribution and credentials
  •     Increase market trust and confidence around the sustainability of infrastructure assets
  •     Inform investment decision-making and attract private investment into infrastructure
  •     Encourage new financial product development (e.g. sustainable infrastructure funds and platforms)
  •     Enable the development of a secondary financial market (e.g. indices, bonds, securitisation)
  •     Support alignment with regulatory compliance and disclosure initiatives (e.g., EU Taxonomy, Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regs, TCFD etc)

In 2021, several coalitions endorsed the FAST-Infra Sustainable Infrastructure Label, including - GFANZ, ICLEI, Investor Leadership Network (ILN), Long-term Infrastructure Investors Associations (LTIIA) and Sustainable Markets Initiative (SMI).

Since 2023, the SI Label is operated by Global Infrastructure Basel (GIB) and Bloomberg LP, has implemented and now runs the FAST-Infra Sustainable Infrastructure Label secretariat and data repository.

FAST-Infra Platform - CPI

Scale up the pipeline of bankable and sustainable projects

FAST-Infra Platform (FIP) is the digital collaboration platform that will support all stakeholders in preparing, developing, financing and deploying large-scale sustainable infrastructure programmes, particularly in developing countries.

In connection with the MDB led platform for sustainable infrastructure preparation (SOURCE), eight public and private institutions, led by HSBC, designs and develops an innovative, collaborative platform, FIP. FIP is a unique digital environment that synergises complementary users’ capabilities across the sustainable infrastructure lifecycle by (i) enhancing their cooperation around project data and (ii) mobilising third-party technologies and innovation (e.g. NowCM's technologies for automating contractual documentation and data rooms) to leverage such data.

Expected benefits for all stakeholders in the value chains are:

  • Project data collection and authentication
  • Process automation
  • Accelerated lead time
  • Lower transaction costs
  • Enhanced project quality and bankability
  • Increased volumes with higher likelihood of reaching financial close
  • Easy project portfolio analysis and aggregation

FAST-Infra Group intends to set up, incubate and develop FIP as a stand-alone for purpose entity.

FAST-Infra Beyond | One Planet Summit

Accelerate innovation to enhance public and private capabilities

FAST-Infra Beyond, the sustainable infrastructure innovation hub, will incubate and accelerate digital, tech, financial, legal, regulatory and governance innovations and help institutions de-risk, aggregate and automate projects across the sustainable infrastructure value chain.

FAST-Infra Beyond currently supports thinkings on blended finance applications such as:

  • Sustainable Infrastructure Warehousing Financing Facility (SIWFF), an open-source version of the successful Managed Co-Lending Portfolio Program (MCPP) run by the World Bank’s International Finance Corporation (IFC)
  • Global Renewable Energy Guarantee (GREG), a revenue guarantee mechanism to de-risk IPP projects against the offtaker failing to pay on time.
fast infra logo
6 trillion
USD 6,000,000,000,000 annually

According to the OECD, humanity must invest an estimated USD 6 trillion annually until 2040 in sustainable infrastructure to meet the SDGs and Paris agreement targets.

eolienne sunset
FAST-Infra

Harness the power of collective action