MAJOR INITIATIVES
WE ALL RECOGNIZE WHEN INFRASTRUCTURE FAILS, BUT WE RARELY INVEST IN NEW SYSTEMS TO PREVENT DISASTER.
At re:focus when we see systemic failures, we develop multi-year programs and bring together innovative partnerships to solve big problems and find transformational opportunities to protect and improve the lives of vulnerable and underserved populations.
PROCURING RESILIENCE
Communities across the US are looking for ways to leapfrog to smarter, more sustainable infrastructure systems. But government procurement — the process of actually buying products and services, like smart sensors and flood barriers — is often a stumbling block. Procuring Resilience Opportunities (PRO) is a workshop-based project to help small and medium-sized cities use innovative procurement tools to jumpstart upgrades to their legacy water infrastructure systems.
CATALYZING LEGACY WATER SYSTEM UPGRADES THROUGH PROCUREMENT INNOVATION
RE.BOUND
Resilient infrastructure finance is complex. The benefits of projects, like seawalls and green infrastructure, are often diffuse and realized far into the future. RE.bound is a global collaboration designed to link insurance solutions with investment in resilient infrastructure systems. The aim of this program is to develop a new type of Resilience Bond, based on insurance industry Catastrophe Bonds, to finance local resilience projects.
LEVERAGING CATASTROPHE BONDS FOR RESILIENT INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT FINANCE
BUILD IT GREEN
Over 800 older towns and cities across the US have combined water and sanitary sewers. When it rains, these combined systems can overflow, carrying untreated sewage into regional waterways. New regulatory requirements to dramatically reduce overflows or CSOs offer an opportunity to jumpstart green infrastructure investments that have long-term environmental, health, and social benefits. The Build it Green (BIG) Competition is a two-year (2016-2017) state-level program designed to provide technical assistance and engineering support services to New Jersey communities to develop integrated, financeable infrastructure projects to reduce CSOs and generate multiple local environmental and health benefits.
DESIGNING FINANCEABLE STORMWATER MANAGEMENT PROJECTS
RE.INVEST
Cities across the US are facing challenges with rebuilding aging and failing infrastructure. RE.invest is a two-year (2013-2015) public-private collaboration to provide technical assistance to eight US cities with the aim of mobilizing private investment in more resilient and integrated local urban infrastructure systems and creating a replicable process for designing and financing new $100 million+ scale resilient infrastructure projects in cities around the world.