The time for sustainable big picture ecosystem thinking is now. Post-Covid recovery programmes need to be structured to address wider impacts than just economics and job creation. The "building back better" everyone talks about should involve "building back" from a new, much more aspirational, model, not be about reinstating the old system and ways of thinking.
Incrementalism will not do. The scale of the investment required for economic recovery means if we don't take the chance to do something bold now, the opportunity may be lost. Post-Covid we have this pincher movement of rising public awareness around the urgency required to address climate change and resilience, and a social licence and regulatory landscape that is rapidly changing. Consumers and employees are more attuned to the nuances of organisational action. They will select and deselect on the basis of purpose and authenticity.
Investors are alive to this, the risks of redundant assets and the call to properly value what have traditionally been regarded as externalities (the negative costs to society of an organisation's activity) — a clarion call answered with the Task Force on Climate-related Financial Disclosures (TCFD-like) requirements recently imposed on financial institutions.
Coupled with the clear articulation of risks in the National Climate Change Risk Assessment, New Zealand directors now have quite a different risk profile to consider.
It's no different in infrastructure. There are winds of change at play. For a long time what we celebrated was the asset itself and the amazing engineering and technical competency that delivered it. Then we started to realise the asset could do more than be, it could be an enabler for people and communities and their aspirations and maybe even designed to create wider good. Now more than ever, we need our Infrastructure projects and assets to be that vehicle for good.
Successful organisations will be those that seize this opportunity and deliver prosperity and better outcomes for people and planet.