In the recovery phase and beyond, public investment will be more crucial than ever to boost key industrial ecosystems such as construction, transport and mobility. Big public infrastructure projects will absorb large amounts of the funds made available under the reinforced MFF and ensuring their contribution to achieving the goals of green, digital and resilient Europe is of great importance. 

During this participatory workshop, we will discuss with relevant stakeholders how sustainability objectives can be embedded in every step of the development and implementation of public infrastructure projects. We consider it important to build a comprehensive approach to public investment, starting with early planning, identification, and formulation, and including project implementation and monitoring. 

Concrete topics will cover: 

• options to attract private finance into public projects (issuing green bonds; PPP),
• the use of the EU taxonomy by the public sector,
• preparing projects, with a special focus on the public procurement phase and the possibilities of using sustainable criteria in public tenders,
• sustainability during project implementation (construction) and monitoring. 

Participants will include representatives from diverse groups such as regional authorities, business organisations (construction associations, construction materials representatives, etc.), other Commission departments, etc. 

Katharina Knapton-Vierlich, Head of Unit (Acting), European Commission, Belgium.

Juan Manuel Díez Orejas, Strategic Planning & Innovation, Port Authority of Valencia, Spain.
Representative from Rijkswaterstaat TBD, Representative, Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Netherlands.

Code: 22PL1110V
Format: Participatory Lab - world café, ideas labs
Theme: Green Europe
Partner: European Commission
Language: English (EN)
Virtual platform: Zoom

More info on website