Scores are strongest in the governance and planning pillar, suggesting many basic foundations of good infrastructure are in place. But better execution and financing are needed to achieve more consistent social, economic and environmental outcomes. Scores across the three outcome pillars show frequent gaps in performance, with only Canada and the UK achieving strong results across all of them. Foundations in need of work include early stage participatory planning, efficient project implementation, and institutional support and transparency to foster bankable projects.

Developed markets generally show strong rates of infrastructure investment, access to infrastructure, and environmental sustainability and resilience. However, they tend to lag when it comes to systemic coordination and conducting national needs assessments, two areas that could unlock more purpose-driven development.

The social and community impact pillar exhibits the weakest scores, often because of deficiencies in planning. Comprehensive measures are needed to ensure infrastructure is more inclusive, collaborative and generates widely shared benefits. Less than a quarter of countries conduct strategic social assessments or require new projects to assess social impact, and in over 60% of countries engagement with local communities is ad hoc.

There is mixed performance on environmental sustainability and resilience. Even though most countries do pay close attention to planning and strategies, translating these into effective infrastructure policies and outcomes is a widespread challenge. Countries across the board need to focus more on project-level tactics to improve monitoring and resilience, as well as systemic policies to protect ecosystems and mitigate climate change.

Most countries in the barometer enjoy relatively strong economic dividends from infrastructure, although outcomes in many markets often lag because of gaps in implementation and investment. Developed countries see significant competitive advantages from their robust infrastructure networks, while emerging markets lag in terms of connectivity and competitiveness. However, some are seeing strong job creation rates as a result of new infrastructure investment, particularly in clean energy.

Infrastructure investment gaps are generally smallest in the barometer’s European countries. But, in most places, attracting sufficient financing is a challenge—especially for projects prioritizing social or environmental returns. Many countries fail to provide sufficient institutional support to ensure pipelines of bankable projects and drive investment toward socially and environmentally exceptional infrastructure. These gaps underscore how infrastructure’s full societal benefits are far from inevitable and require targeted efforts to realize.

Efforts toward infrastructure for good can be amplified by thinking of infrastructure as an ecosystem rather than in silos. Interlinkages between sectors provide opportunities to achieve a “double dividend”—for example, using the transition to sustainable infrastructure as a chance to solve other pressing social challenges, including harnessing job booms in renewable energy.