Financing green infrastructure: challenges, barriers and risks

Abstract

The objective of this article is to outline some steps to create and/or improve national living conditions in order to attract and increase private investment in infrastructure as part of the national agenda to transition towards a green economy. In this context, the importance of investment in infrastructure low in carbon and resilient to the impacts of climate change (IBCRC) is analyzed, as well as the barriers that exist to investors and the risks that they must confront. The article underlines the important role of government to strengthen investments in green development and to attract private capital to this area through minimizing risks and guaranteeing reasonable returns.

While many studies focus only on the role of environmental and climate policies to support the transition towards a BCRC economy, this article concludes that there are also other factors of primordial importance needed for the transition.  The most important is to understand that climate policies and their efficiency cannot be studied in isolated fashion, but rather must be considered in a wider context of national policies that are focused on created propitious conditions to attract investment.