Addressing environmental, social and governance issues is not new to infrastructure investment and development. Before an airport adds a runway, a toll lane is added to an existing highway or a new pipeline is built across a landscape, investors and developers study the impact these projects will have on communities, the environment and individuals — and review continues throughout the lifecycle.

Infrastructure mega-funds — those funds raising $2 billion or more — have been responsible for approximately two-thirds of the capital raised by funds closing since 2013. In the past three years, 95 funds have closed with an aggregate total of $163 billion raised. Of that total, 29 mega-funds, or 31 percent of the total number of closed funds, have raised $110 billion, or 67 percent of the capital. 

Infrastructure needs money. Around $70 trillion, according to the OECD’s prediction of the likely amount that needs to be spent globally on infrastructure up to 2030.

Historically, the bulk of spending on infrastructure has come from governments and, in the past couple of decades, bank debt.