Infrastructure: can roads ever be sustainable?

Roads can belong in a sustainable infrastructure portfolio when their environmental and social impacts are actively managed across the asset lifecycle.

• Roads generate carbon, land-use and environmental risks, but they also provide connectivity, access to essential services and economic support.
• Sustainability can be improved through low-carbon concrete, recycled steel, electrified construction, renewable power, rail logistics, electric-vehicle charging and smarter traffic management.
• Design and operation should also address safety, biodiversity, water resources, community disruption, displacement, indigenous peoples and cultural heritage.
• ALiS, the operator of France’s A28 Rouen–Alençon motorway, replaced fossil-fuel boilers, electrified operational vehicles, purchased more renewable electricity and installed photovoltaic systems.
• Between its 2021 baseline and 2024, ALiS reduced Scope 1 emissions by 58% and location-based Scope 2 emissions by 48% while continuing to provide economic connectivity.

Takeaway: Investors should not exclude roads automatically, but should select and manage assets that can reduce lifecycle emissions, protect nature, improve social outcomes and preserve long-term cash flows and value.