Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation

Sustainability and resilience are the two core values heading the partnership between the UN Global Compact – Cities Programme and the Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation (GIB), which was formalised in a Memorandum of Understanding in August 2016.

As an independent, non-for-profit Swiss Foundation based in Bagel, GIB has the vision of delivering sustainable and efficient infrastructure design on a global scale to help tackle many of the world’s biggest challenges concerning population growth, rapid urbanisation, social inequalities, excessive use of finite resources and carbon-intensive lifecycles.

With shared goals and similar tools, the partnership is naturally a synergetic one. Much like our City Scan—which gathers data and perspective on City Development, City Sustainability and City Governance—GIB’s Standard for Sustainable and Resilient Infrastructure (SuRe) aims to establish a common language and understanding of sustainable and resilient infrastructure projects.

Both online platforms provide users, especially city governments, with valuable guidance on how to address individual key challenges and with the facilities to monitor the progress, priorities and plans of each active project throughout its life cycle.

It is clear that GIB shares the Cities Programme’s endorsement of cross-sectoral collaborations. For example, SuRe is being used to leverage public and private investments in infrastructure in a way that ensures cost-effective access to critical services while strengthening resilience, maximizing social benefits and limiting environmental footprints.