A joint UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and Enabling Better Infrastructure (EBI) event explored how and why Rwanda and Peru invest in sustainable infrastructure.
To meet key national goals, such as becoming climate resilient, governments will need to finance the right projects.
Finding this budget isn’t always easy, and may require upfront work to identify the stakeholders, financing options, outcomes, and risks.
The UN Environmental Programme (UNEP) and the ICE-convened Enabling Better Infrastructure (EBI) programme recently hosted a virtual event to showcase how two countries scoped ahead to achieve this.
Speakers included:
- Fred Sabiti, technical advisor on environment and climate change mainstreaming, Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning (MINECOFIN), and technical advisor at the UN Development Programme (UNDP)
- Alvaro Quijandria, senior international consultant, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and the Independent Evaluation Group of the World Bank Group
The event aligned with the following EBI principles:
- Principle 1: Creating a clear economic vision to streamline buy-in from across government and the country.
- Principle 4: Scoping ahead to identify financial needs and remove bottlenecks further down in the infrastructure life cycle.
- Principle 8: Setting up data structures to regularly assess and monitor infrastructure needs.
Here are the key takeaways:
Rwanda: financing national plans to deliver sustainable infrastructure
Rwanda is working toward becoming climate-proof by 2050.
It has developed two national plans to deliver infrastructure that is climate resilient:
- National Investment Policy: a framework to guide public and private financing for sustainable infrastructure – including promoting public-private partnerships – to attract investments from national and international partners.
- The Green Growth and Climate Resilience Strategy: a long-term approach that outlines which infrastructure sectors (e.g., transport, energy, and road development) need improvements to respond to climate change.
To implement them, the Rwandan government has ensured there are enough resources in place to fund key activities.
Fred outlined four ways the government is doing this:
- Tracking progress on climate action: monitoring climate-related funding across sectors to advise policymakers on areas that need more resources.
- Identifying opportunities for green infrastructure: encouraging the private sector to invest in these initiatives by highlighting and promoting sustainable projects, such as flood management and water storage development.
- Encouraging skills building: providing engineers with on-the-job training to better understand the different ways that infrastructure can be more sustainable. This includes ways to deliver more resource-efficient solutions for road construction, such as using drainage systems to reduce flooding and protect ecosystems.
- Coordinating with stakeholders: running a public investment committee made up of experts to discuss finances before resources are assigned to projects. Working together ensures that enough financing is provided for all infrastructure projects and environmental issues are addressed.
Peru: learning from past climate events
In 2017, Peru suffered from the El Niño event, which disrupts normal weather patterns.
Heavy rainfall and flooding led to irreversible damage to infrastructure and opened discussions on how the country should respond to similar events or climate risks in the future.
This involved assessing the financial considerations upfront, finding ways to overcome any key challenges before they were implemented.
Alvaro outlined three ways that Peru is preparing for similar weather events:
- Providing expert guidance: bringing together external experts to identify new financial practices to help ensure sustainable infrastructure is delivered (e.g., bonds and loans), resolve any technical issues, and set out the success measures. This is all before resources are used.
- Supporting internal development: ensuring available funding is used towards sustainable infrastructure projects. Peru offers training that helps engineers with stakeholder management, risk assessment models, and the ability to identify sustainable solutions.
- Designing financing tools: using a resilience tool to assess the risks in existing buildings and the additional funding needed to strengthen infrastructure. This includes the use of cost-effective options and nature-based solutions.
To inform these activities, Peru used a World Bank report on how public financing can address climate risks while driving long-term economic growth.
About the ICE-UNEP joint event
This event was the second in a series of UNEP and EBI webinars on scoping ahead to drive success in 2025. Watch the event recording:
You can also register for the final session, which will take place on 24 September 2025.
Find out more about the EBI programme and its eight guiding principles.
Sustainable Development Goals:
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