United Nations Sustainable Infrastructure Project Preparation and Investment Facility
Brian Field, a Senior Research Fellow in the Omega Centre and Visiting Professor at the Bartlett School of Planning, has recently become involved in a proposed initiative for a new UN Sustainable Infrastructure Project Preparation and Investment Facility.
In December 2020, Professor Brian Field, an Omega Associate who teaches on the Bartlett’s MSc Infrastructure Planning, Appraisal and Development (IPAD) programme, was invited by the President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) to participate at a meeting to launch a new initiative for a proposed UN Sustainable Infrastructure Project Preparation and Investment Facility. The raison d’être for the Facility is self-evident from its title, and the meeting was convened to not only launch the Facility but to also agree on an appropriate modus operandi for expeditious delivery on its ambitions. The meeting included representatives from the UN’s member states, international financial institutions, development agencies, the private sector, and other key stakeholders. Professor Field was one of three academics invited to the meeting to serve as independent expert commentators to both critique the proposals and advise more generally on the efficacy of the strategy and associated policies. The other two academic experts were Amar Bhattacharya, Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution, and Stephany Griffith-Jones, Financial Markets Director at Columbia University.