As COVID-19 vaccinations rise and mobility and travel restrictions are lifted, traffic volumes are, in some cases, rebounding sharply. However, because the disease has not been completely contained and more virulent strains are emerging, uncertainty remains as to when traffic volumes will achieve pre-pandemic levels.

Amsterdam-based GRESB, a global environmental, social and governance (ESG) benchmark for capital markets, has released the results of its 2021 Infrastructure Assessment. Despite the continued challenges posed by COVID-19, total participation in the Infrastructure Fund Assessment grew by 26 percent, to 149 funds completing the management component.

This year, many countries have launched projects to accelerate hydrogen as a medium for energy storage and transport. What are some of the highlights of these efforts? Governments are recognizing the important role hydrogen can play in national emission reduction strategies. They also seek to capture the economic benefits of large-scale hydrogen production and utilization, focusing initially on the most financially viable options for their particular regions.

Not long ago, it would have been the rare investor who looked at bridges, roads, airports, cell towers, and other large bulky edifices and thought, “That looks like something I should add to my retirement portfolio.” But after months of hearing about the proposed $2 trillion (now $1 trillion) of infrastructure investment being bandied about in Congress, and reading almost daily of bridges and roads needing repairs to prevent collapse — a 2021 report by the American Society of Civil Engineers found that more than 20,000 concrete bridges across the United States are structurally deficient and nearly half the nation’s public roadways are in “poor” or “mediocre” condition — investors are beginning to realize that infrastructure assets might present a very attractive opportunity.

The GLIO Index of infrastructure companies fell back in September, (–5.4 percent) during the month. Year-to-date, the GLIO Index remains up 4.5 percent. Passenger rail (5 percent), airports (3.5 percent), marine ports (4.5 percent), energy transportation and storage (3.8 percent), and satellites (11.4 percent) all ended the month on positive ground. On the flip side, the electric (–7.6 percent), gas (–5.7 percent) and water (–7.4 percent) utilities finished the month well down. Railroads (–6.5 percent) and toll roads (–1.7 percent) also reversed.

During the past two pandemic-disrupted years, the world grew more reliant on cybernetworks. Criminals, some of them backed by sovereign states, had time and motive on their hands. Cyberattacks ramped up significantly both in number and scope.

The private equity asset class has grown rapidly since 2008, attracting institutional investors in need of higher returns than those expected from public markets. But while most investors would say they have been rewarded with good performance, this success is hard to objectively demonstrate due to intransitive metrics and unmeasured risks. It is our belief that there is a pressing need to substantiate the economic case for private equity. In this article, we describe a new transparency framework, which we situate in our research agenda on ‘organic finance’.