Building a bridge to sustainable infrastructure: Mapping the global initiatives that are paving the way by Mercer and the Inter-American Development Bank The complete report, which was published in 2016, is available at https://www.mercer.com/our-thinking/building-a-bridge-to-sustainable-infrastructure.html Excerpt: With increasing volumes of literature and mobilization efforts focused on this challenge, the Inter-American Development Bank commissioned Mercer to undertake an assessment of all current industry initiatives which categorize their efforts, review gaps and consider if they may be able to work together to more effectively bridge the sustainable infrastructure funding gap.

The global road network is one of the largest systems ever built by man. In the United States alone, the total length of roadway exceeds 4.1 million miles — enough to circle the Earth 165 times. While relatively simple to build as compared to other structures, such as skyscrapers or dams, the sheer scale of the global network makes road construction one of the largest sources of material consumption on our planet.

Let’s trace, briefly, the overall trajectory of how we’ve come to build houses today. The first homes that humans occupied, and those for centuries to come, were built on-site, with whatever materials were available. Under these circumstances, homes didn’t have any set patterns or parameters, but were built up against topography and the elements however best the builders could.