Building 21st century sustainable infrastructure (part 1): time to invest

Headline issue: The new UK Government under Prime Minister Theresa May has committed to boosting UK productivity, to addressing the widening wealth gap, and to supporting the transition to low-carbon economic growth. Achieving all this will require the right investments by both the public and private sectors, particularly in sustainable infrastructure, at a time of heightened economic uncertainty. This is the first of two policy briefs that seeks to address this issue by considering whether money is available for such investments, particularly in light of the referendum vote to leave the European Union (EU) on 23 June 2016. An accompanying brief considers institutional reforms to promote long-term investment utilising private capital and to what extent such investments need to be focused on sustainable infrastructure.