Finland depends on sea transport for most of its foreign trade, and EU regulation is changing the economics of fossil-based shipping. The technical alternatives for green transport corridors are increasingly well understood. In our report Green transport corridors: from strategic need to commercial case we argue that the more challenging is how to make them work commercially.

Shipowners, ports, energy companies and cargo owners make separate investment decisions that depend on one another. Moving corridors from feasibility to investment requires coordination across these companies, concrete demand commitments, and public support that addresses first-mover risk.

This report was funded by the Shipowners’ Foundation in Finland and PBI Foundation .

Full report available here.

Infrastructure investments are important to keep Finland as a forerunner in the global race towards a more sustainable society. Finland must overcome the thresholds of constrained state budgets and find ways to engage the best possible expertise to maximize the societal value of investments. Current traditional models to procure and finance infrastructure may not be sufficient. In our report ‘Developing capability to secure sustainable infrastructure’ we argue that alternative financing and delivery models can be part of the solution. Our estimate is that alternative models have the potential to account for up to 10% of Finland’s future infrastructure projects.

International experience shows that the successful use of alternative models takes time and effort, and they require capabilities from both the public and private sector. Building Finland’s national-level market maturity in using alternative models will require political long-term acceptance and commitment. Finland needs a long-term roadmap on how to build this market maturity. Furthermore, clear guidelines and policies for selecting and evaluating infrastructure projects suitable for alternative models is a must. To motivate the private actors to invest in their capabilities to develop and manage infrastructure assets in the best possible way, a project pipeline of sufficient volume must be created.

This report was funded by TT-Säätiö and PBI Foundation. 

Full report available here.

A collaborative model where institutional investors and industrial companies invest directly into infrastructure assets alongside fund managers may lead to better and more sustainable infrastructure. The fund manager often has incentives to maximize the value of the investment during a clearly shorter time span than the life-time of the infrastructure asset and is generally focused on cost savings. A decreased dependence on the fund model in infrastructure investments should lead to lower costs for the investors and better outcomes for society. In our report, Infrastructure Investing -Beyond the Fund Model, we lay out the path towards new ways to procure infrastructure which we think lead to better infrastructure and increased returns for pension funds and other long-term institutional investors.

This report was funded by PBI Foundation. 

Full report available here.