FINANCING SUSTAINABLE MARINE AND FRESHWATER INFRASTRUCTURE

9 February 2023 - Conference Financing Sustainable Marine and Freshwater Infrastructure

How can private capital accelerate the green transition in marine and freshwater infrastructure? This was the overarching question explored at the IADC conference Financing Sustainable Marine and Freshwater Infrastructure on Thursday 9 February 2023 at the Mövenpick Hotel Jumeirah Beach in Dubai, UAE.

Professionals in the fast changing world of finance, dredging or related sectors attended the event.

Breaking the deadlock!

The conference was based on the report by the same name, Financing Sustainable Marine and Freshwater Infrastructure: A joint study to explore financing of green coastal, river and port projects.

Increasingly around the globe, government sustainability policies often require translation in order to be put into practice. For marine and freshwater infrastructure projects this means:

• conceiving projects that contribute to the UN’s 17 Strategic Sustainability Goals (SDGs);
• ensuring funding from sustainable sources for these projects; and
• putting the projects out to public tender in such a way that they comprehensively contribute to the SDGs.

In many ways, the above criteria implies that projects need to be thought out and implemented with a different set of parameters in mind. The parameters should come from methodologies that take into consideration a broader set of value creators compared to the past, for example, creating value in various ways over the lifetime of a project.

All stakeholders recognise the importance of sustainable projects. Investors have greenlabelled funds, governments have a green taxonomy in place and contractors are continually developing nature-based solutions. Everyone it would appear is committed to sustainability, however parties face insurmountable difficulties in bringing it all together in executing projects. How then can parties break the deadlock in the funding of sustainable projects?

Aim of the conference

The 1-day conference Financing Sustainable Marine and Freshwater Infrastructure was designed for professionals in the fast changing world of finance, dredging or related sectors. All participants recognised the importance of sustainable projects. Investors have green-labelled funds, governments have a green taxonomy in place and contractors are continually developing nature-based solutions. However, parties face difficulties in bringing it all together in executing projects. How then can parties break the deadlock in the funding of sustainable projects? This was the overarching question at the conference.

Who needs to do what and what is needed to break this deadlock.  During the event different obstacles experienced by stakeholders were recognised. The final result of the day was a prioritised list of activities to break down these obstacles.

We made a short video with highlights of the event.

2021 - Panel discussion at CEDA Dredging Days 2021

Financing Sustainable Marine and Freshwater Infrastructure: building the bridge between the dredging field and private investors.

At the backdrop of the global investment gap in marine and freshwater infrastructure, a sector in which the dredging sector plays a central role, there is increasing interest in attracting more private investment. On the other hand, the private sector is increasingly ambitious to redirecting investments away from fossil fuels towards sustainable projects. In this talk show, which was held during the CEDA Dredging Days 2021, we will continue building the bridge between the players in the dredging field and the private investment industry, to increase the investability of sustainable projects.

Moderator: Sien Kok, Economist, Deltares.
Panellists including: Paolo Alemanni, B Capital Partners, Switzerland; Torsten Thiele, Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies, Germany; Lotte Vandekeybus, DEME, Belgium.

The introduction to the panel discussion was given by Arjan Hijdra, Managing Director of Vital Ports.