How the ICE can help countries tackle climate change

The infrastructure that we rely on works as a system.

Maybe a few people can go ‘off-grid’ and become completely self-sufficient. Some may grow their own food or use solar panels to generate their own power.

But for the most part, and especially in cities, we all depend upon networked systems for the infrastructure that we need:

• energy
• transport
• water
• sewage
• telecommunications
• flood protection

Our systems need to change

These systems deliver services through coordinated networks of technologies and people.

Those networks need to be designed, operated, maintained and upgraded to meet the needs of the future.

Our infrastructure networks need to change to reach net zero carbon emissions and become more resilient to the impacts of climate change.

At the same time, they must provide reliable, safe and affordable services for people.

That’s a big ask!

Watch Prof Hall's Presidential Address

Early decisions are incredibly important

Creating systems that work requires people to work together.

Infrastructure can take a long time to build. And, we hope that it will last for many decades into the future.

So it’s key that we make the right decisions.

That’s why it’s so important to carefully plan and design infrastructure systems.

Many of the critical aspects of infrastructure become locked-in early in the infrastructure planning process.

But I don’t think we spend enough time talking about how that happens. And actually, it’s a story that’s not always all that well documented.

Learning from countries that have done this well

Looking around the world, we can see places that have managed to create modern, high-quality and reliable infrastructure systems that apparently serve people well.

The World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report used to rank countries according to a several ‘pillars’.

One of these is infrastructure, and top of the most recent infrastructure league table are Singapore, the Netherlands and Hong Kong.

One might argue that Singapore and Hong Kong are, as city states, unusual cases from which we may not be able to generalise – and the Netherlands is quite a small country.

But actually, that is revealing.

One of the key ingredients in strategic infrastructure planning is the capacity to join up across different branches of government to achieve many objectives from infrastructure.

This is easier in smaller governments, which are less siloed into vast ministries.

But it’s possible in every government, regardless of how many departments and bodies it has.

This is where the ICE-led Enabling Better Infrastructure (EBI) programme can help.

Best practice in infrastructure planning

EBI has been learning lessons in strategic infrastructure planning from a wide range of international contexts.

In the first phase of EBI, a set of principles for strategic infrastructure planning were established, which have recently been updated.

Our emphasis in the second phase of EBI has been less on publishing documents and more on having dialogues.

These can help governments to think through the infrastructure planning challenges that they face and take steps in the right direction.

EBI has ongoing dialogues in New Zealand, Peru and Indonesia, with others in the pipeline.

Tried and tested

In each of these contexts we’re testing out the EBI principles and process.

We’re helping our partners to understand and implement them, and we’re learning about their application in very different contexts.

We’re writing up this learning. And in October next year, EBI will bring decision makers from around the world to the ICE headquarters in London to share their experiences.

A three-step process

In my presidential address in November, I set out the main steps in strategic infrastructure planning.

The EBI process starts with understanding a country’s infrastructure needs, now and in the future, based on its national objectives.

At the same time, we examine the existing infrastructure system to identify any gaps.

Next comes creative thinking about the policy and investment options for addressing this service gap.

And finally, these options are arranged into a strategy that demonstrates how objectives will be met, in a range of different future scenarios.

Importantly, this strategy is adaptable, making it resilient to change.

Putting principles into practice

Put like that, the EBI process sounds pretty straightforward.

The challenge is to apply it in practice: to create the culture of long-term systems thinking, and to drive strategy through to delivery.

That is what the EBI dialogues are seeking to achieve.

The UK’s plans for infrastructure

In the UK, the government has committed to publish a 10-year National Infrastructure Strategy in the spring of 2025.

And in the recent Budget, the chancellor committed to investing more in infrastructure.

In the coming months, the government needs to set out its programme for the infrastructure that is needed to achieve its missions.

Above all, its mission for growth and clean energy, which depends so much on infrastructure.

We need to see a set of priorities that include changes to our institutions, as well as investments and a better system for delivery.

Fortunately, the government has good advice to work with from last year’s second National Infrastructure Assessment.

How the ICE will help

The ICE will be supporting the National Infrastructure Strategy by providing policy advice and convening policy roundtables and discussions.

Many of the ICE members that I speak to, on ICE Council and in many other settings, want to see the ICE having a more influential role in shaping the future of infrastructure around the world.

EBI is one of our main ways of doing that – it’s not easy, but it’s bearing fruit.

And in the UK, the ICE will continue to work to support the government, not just in Westminster but also in the devolved governments and cities of the UK.

The ICE will help develop the infrastructure strategies that we need for a sustainable future.