While watching the NCAA basketball tournament this weekend, I saw a promotion for Denver International Airport (DIA). According to the spokesperson, DIA is one of the most environmentally sustainable airports in the world. It is the first international airport in the United States to have its Environmental Management System (EMS) certified to the ISO 14001 international standard. Looking up what this means, it turns out that this certification helps ensure that the airport’s EMS contains the most recent internationally accepted practices and procedures for identifying and managing environmental impacts. 

The following article is the third of several excerpts that will appear in I3 from Institutional Investment in Infrastructure in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies, a report commissioned by the World Bank and the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory reviewing the role of institutional investors in financing infrastructure in emerging markets and developing economies. The report with footnotes and references is available at www.georginderst.com, www.ppiaf.org or the SSRN.

Most people that make their living in the investment and finance world are familiar with the phrase “flight to safety.” It means that when markets are volatile and prices are plunging, investors look to “safe harbors” in the storm, often lower-risk, core investments, and the safest of all are generally U.S. Treasuries or cash. But have you ever heard the phrase “flight from safety”? Or, put another way, moving out the risk curve.