Chapter 5: Improving Renewable Energy Governance: Insights from Low-Carbon Investment Community Stakeholders

Social and economic infrastructure are integral to maintaining a society’s quality of life. Infrastructure remains one of the few topics for which unanimous political support seems plausible, and every year, approximately $2.7 trillion are spent worldwide on infrastructure projects such as ports and bridges (Authers, 2015). Yet this seemingly enormous sum masks an infrastructure expenditure gap (i.e., the difference between what is spent and what should be spent) of at least $1 trillion per year — a number which may grow in the coming years. This is due to ongoing contributors such as exploding population and economic growth in emerging markets, historical underinvestment in infrastructure, and misalignment of the interests and needs of the private sector, the public sector, and civil society in infrastructure-related decisions (Authers, 2015)…