How much does infrastructure cost?   

We spoke with Geoff Cooper from the New Zealand Infrastructure Commission, Te Waihanga about their National Infrastructure Plan to find out.   

We learned some interesting things.  

New Zealand spends more on infrastructure than most OECD countries. The infrastructure spend averages 5.6%, swinging between 5% to 7%.  Renewals run to 60 cents on the dollar.   

Right now, with aging infrastructure, maintenance and renewals are the megaproject New Zealand can afford.  

Rather than just look at what we want or need, the National Infrastructure Plan dug through the past 100 years to determine what we historically feel comfortable spending. We have far more projects we want than money we want to spend.   

As governments change and infrastructure priorities shift with them, everyone is looking for certainty. There is more certainty than we'd like to admit. "Nothing is more certain than maintenance and renewals."  

The aging population is equally certain. This changes our infrastructure needs dramatically, from shrinking cities to reduced emphasis on land transport as commuter numbers drop, lower school enrollment, and higher health care needs.  

Then there are the major shift happening that we need to recognize Decarbonization means a renewed investment in grid infrastructure and generation.  

Higher fuel prices mean higher prices for city centre development and falling values for developments outside the city centre.   

Click this link to read the National Infrastructure Plan for fascinating insight on where we're headed: https://tewaihanga.govt.nz/national-infrastructure-plan

 👉 We'd love to hear your feedback, share your questions or comments below.   

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LinkedIn:   / infrastructure-sustainability-council        

#infrastructureconnections #infrastructure #sustainability #investment #finance

S4E1 - How much does infrastructure cost and how much are we willing to spend? w/ Geoff Cooper

Can investors make a return on sustainability?   

"We see really good value creation investing in sustainability," said our guest in this episode of Infrastructure Connections. Alex Ayscough is an Investment Director at the infrastructure investment firm Morrison.  

"I think sustainability provided investment opportunities for us, and a lot of other infrastructure investors as well."  

Alex holds a Master of Applied Finance from Macquarie University, a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology Sydney, and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. She focuses on originating new investment opportunities and managing infrastructure assets across Australia and New Zealand. She also serves as a Director on several infrastructure-related boards, including Transgrid and Altogether Group. Alex was named Infrastructure Investor's 2024 Rising Star in Infrastructure Finance, saying, "Sustainability is both a driver of investment and foundational to long-term value creation." 

The ISC is focused on both valorising infrastructure sustainability and providing the framework to achieve it. In order to realize gains, proponents need to incorporate sustainability early, long before they start looking for funding. This allows funding institutions and private investors to align their own internal sustainability KPIs with the projects they invest in. This helps ensure that the projects carry through with sustainability initiatives and realise those returns.   

"What we've seen is that those more nebulous physical risks of climate change are translating now into very real commercial and financial risk. They are now starting to form much more a part of the core due diligence on a new investment."  

Sustainability can provide core value creation and returns through a strong focus on: 

Economic 

Environmental 

Governance 

Social   

Infrastructure is more than an investment in concrete and steel. It's an investment in our collective future. 

 👉 We'd love to hear your feedback, share your questions or comments below.   

👉 Like & Subscribe so you won't miss out on our upcoming episodes!   

👉 Keep up to date with the Infrastructure Sustainability Council:  

Website: https://www.iscouncil.org/ 

LinkedIn:   / infrastructure-sustainability-council        

#infrastructureconnections #infrastructure #sustainability #investment #finance

S3E12 - Infrastructure Finance w/ Alex Ayscough

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗱 𝟭𝟬 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘁 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗔𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗹𝗶a?

Ben Goldfarb found that roads are "the leading direct human cause of vertebrate mortality on land." More than hunting, wildfires, dams, and urban habitat loss combined.  

The costs are enormous.  

According to the @Insurance Australia Group Limited (IAG) animal-vehicle collisions cost Australia $7 billion every year through:   

• Vehicle damage   

• Towing and insurance costs   

• Human hospital bills   

• Almost 150 human pedestrian deaths each year   

• Road repairs  

But the real damage to animals and the environment is invisible.   

• Lost access to breeding grounds   

• Lost access to food sources   

• Impeded migration   

• Biodiversity loss as seeds fail to cross roads   

• Reductions in fertile females   

• Starvation   

• Functional extinction   

• Species extinction  

There is good news. Australia is increasingly leading the world in wildlife crossings, building:   

• Arboreal bridges   

• The Crab Bridges of Christmas Island   

• Koala log bridges through underpasses   

• Flying squirrel poles.   

Road ecologists continue to find ways to reduce the impact of roads on our environment. 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗿𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗿𝘂𝗰𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗶𝘁𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳.   

👉 We'd love to hear your feedback, share your questions or comments below.   

👉 Like & Subscribe so you won't miss out on our upcoming episodes!   

👉 Keep up to date with the Infrastructure Sustainability Council:  

Website: https://www.iscouncil.org/ 

LinkedIn:   / infrastructure-sustainability-council        

#infrastructure #podcast #infrastructureconnections #sustainability #crossings #roadecology

S3E11 - Road Ecology w/ Ben Goldfarb

𝗜𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗰𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗴𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘀𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆?  

Sustainability feels expensive and hard when it’s bolted on at the end.  

But when procurement is involved early, everything shifts: 

• Sustainability is embedded from planning, not post‑design 

• Procurement and sustainability teams work together 

• Suppliers help shape smarter, cost‑neutral solutions  

Public procurement is powerful — it influences 13–20% of global GDP and can shift entire markets.  

So… is it the most important stage?  

We explore this with Bec Timmings, Executive Advisor at ConnellGriffin and a leading voice in sustainable procurement.  

👉 We'd love to hear your feedback, share your questions or comments below.   

👉 Like & Subscribe so you won't miss out on our upcoming episodes!   

👉 Keep up to date with the Infrastructure Sustainability Council:  

Website: https://www.iscouncil.org/ 

LinkedIn:   / infrastructure-sustainability-council        

#infrastructure #podcast #infrastructureconnections #sustainability #sustainableprocurement #procurement

S3E10 - Sustainable Procurement w/ Bec Timmings

Do you take cars for granted?   

What if you learned they were responsible for an increased sense of isolation? 

A lack of trust in the community?  

A source of stress throughout your day? 

Even where you spend time in your home?   

Studies show all this and more, yet we often fail to see cars as anything but urban solutions.   Today we're speaking to Melissa Bruntlett, Co-Founder of Modacity Creative.   

She’s a well known cycling advocate, working worldwide to  bring cycling to a city near you. She’s written a wealth of knowledge into three books, Building the Cycling City, Curbing Traffic, and Women Changing Cities. She most recently appeared in The New York Times' Women in Leadership Special Report.   

Find out how simple it can be to improve a city, one bicycle at a time.  To make AI more useful, maybe it should tell us who to call? Right now it sends you to a website or Reddit. We need to make people a priority, and that means people who know.   

👉 We'd love to hear your feedback, share your questions or comments below.   

👉 Like & Subscribe so you won't miss out on our upcoming episodes!   

👉 Keep up to date with the Infrastructure Sustainability Council:  

Website: https://www.iscouncil.org/ 

LinkedIn:   / infrastructure-sustainability-council        

#podcast #infrastructure #sustainability #buildingtomorrow

S3E9 - Modes of Mobility w/ Melissa Bruntlett

Do you have someone to call when you don't know the answer?   

On carbon?  

On Nature Based Solutions?  

On sustainable finance?  

On circularity?   

With so many sustainability regulations and requirements, it's impossible for one person to know it all. But it takes hours to read up on these topics and, even then, do you qualify as an expert?   

When we spoke with Joan Ko, she suggested the simplest answer:   

Phone a friend.   

Today, your network is your most valuable tool. If you don't know, you know who to call. That's the value we add as knowledge professionals.   

Sure, AI can give you a summary, a crash course. But you can get far more history and context from a five minute phone call with an expert, and that's what matters.   

To make AI more useful, maybe it should tell us who to call? Right now it sends you to a website or Reddit. We need to make people a priority, and that means people who know.   

👉 We'd love to hear your feedback, share your questions or comments below.   

👉 Like & Subscribe so you won't miss out on our upcoming episodes!   

👉 Keep up to date with the Infrastructure Sustainability Council:  

Website: https://www.iscouncil.org/ 

LinkedIn:   / infrastructure-sustainability-council        

#podcast #infrastructure #sustainability #buildingtomorrow

S3E8 - Global Sustainability w/ Joan Ko

Richard Evans is the Founder and CEO of Talent Nation, Australia’s leading Sustainability, ESG, Environment, Sustainable Finance and Climate & Energy recruitment agency. The company is a B Corp and 100% employee owned. He serves part time on the Membership Advisory Group of the UN Global Compact Network Australia. He has a background in management consulting and banking, and joins us from Melbourne.  

Richard tells us about the risks and opportunities of a career in sustainability. The good news? The market is picking up after a two year doldrum and salaries are higher than they were a few years ago. The bad news? The focus is still on compliance over strategy. Expect more opportunities over the next nine months, but also expect to buckle down to the core needs of your organization rather than the more lofty goals of the profession.   

👉 We'd love to hear your feedback, share your questions or comments below.   

👉 Like & Subscribe so you won't miss out on our upcoming episodes!   

👉 Keep up to date with the Infrastructure Sustainability Council:  

Website: https://www.iscouncil.org/ 

LinkedIn:   / infrastructure-sustainability-council        

#podcast #infrastructure #sustainability #buildingtomorrow

S3E7 - The Value of Us w/ Richard Evans

Host Seth Scott interviews Cathy Bebelman.  

Cathy is the Chief Scientist: Head of Science and Sustainability with Auckland Transport in New Zealand. Cathy has an extensive background in the environmental impacts of infrastructure and transport networks, working as a researcher and consultant in the public sector for over 25 years. 

She advocates for a holistic approach to the management of climate and the environment.  Auckland Transport made changes to their approach to transport after the 2023 Auckland Anniversary and Cyclone Gabrielle storms.   

This month they published their Climate Adaptation Framework and Action Plan 2025 - https://at.govt.nz/media/iqebfs0r/at-climate-adaption-framework-and-action-plan.pdf   [https://at.govt.nz/media/iqebfs0r/at-climate-adaption-framework-and-action-plan.pdf]  

The storms caused 2,000 landslides across the region at a cost to repair of $360 million. Cathy discusses how they worked to resolve this as well as how their budget might need to change to incorporate climate related storm damage to come.  That hasn't slowed down AT's electrification efforts. 

Aucklanders now enjoy a fully electric train system, the largest electrified bus fleet in the South Pacific, and new electric ferries on the water.   

And there's a lot more to look forward to.  

👉 We'd love to hear your feedback, share your questions or comments below.   

👉 Like & Subscribe so you won't miss out on our upcoming episodes!   

👉 Keep up to date with the Infrastructure Sustainability Council:  

Website: https://www.iscouncil.org/ 

LinkedIn:   / infrastructure-sustainability-council        

#podcast #infrastructure #sustainability #buildingtomorrow

S3E6 - Transport Resilience w/ Cathy Bebelman

Host Seth Scott interviews David Clubb.

David Clubb is the Chair of the National Infrastructure Commission for Wales. He is also the Head of Climate Action at Cardiff Metropolitan University. He also founded Afallen, one of Wales' leading sustainability consultancies. Prior to that, he was Director of RenewableUK, the award-winning trade body for sustainable energy.

Wales is realising several outstanding infrastructure goals:

1. The Wellbeing of Future Generations Act looks out for the generations not yet born

2. Active travel modal shift implementation including a "cycle superhighway"

3. 65% national recycling rate, one of the highest in the world

4. An 80-year Infrastructure Investment Strategy that starts with “Our economic well-being is without any doubt tied to our environmental, cultural and social well-being."

5. Nature on the Board



👉 We'd love to hear your feedback, share your questions or comments below.  

👉 Like & Subscribe so you won't miss out on our upcoming episodes!  

👉 Keep up to date with the Infrastructure Sustainability Council: 

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LinkedIn:   / infrastructure-sustainability-council      

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S3E5 - The Wellbeing of Future Generations w/ David Clubb

Toby Kent is the CEO of the Infrastructure Sustainability Council. Prior to this, he worked for PwC Australia, where he served as a Partner in the Energy Transition. He co-founded and managed ResilientCo Consulting and has been an active board member of the Business Council for Sustainable Development Australia for four years. He was also Chair of the Future Business Council for three years.  

Today we're announcing all the exciting developments at the ISC: 

• 2025 Impact Report 

• ISC 2030 Strategy 

• IS v2.2 Design and As Built Tool 

• IS for Professionals Pathway Training  

👉 We'd love to hear your feedback, share your questions or comments below.  

👉 Like & Subscribe so you won't miss out on our upcoming episodes!  

👉 Keep up to date with the Infrastructure Sustainability Council: 

Website: https://www.iscouncil.org/ 

LinkedIn:   / infrastructure-sustainability-council       

#podcast #infrastructure #sustainability #buildingtomorrow

S3E4 - The ISC Impact w/ Toby Kent

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