OXFORD, United Kingdom, April 20, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- via PRWEB - Scientists urge G20 to rethink $80 trillion infrastructure plan and adopt 'Flyvbjerg Proposal' to avoid 'doubling down on a dangerous vision'
Letter claims that mega-infrastructure projects are exacerbating effects of a failed economic model and crippling the planet
Saïd Business School, University of Oxford
A proposal by Bent Flyvbjerg, BT Professor and Chair of Major Programme Management at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, that could, if implemented, halt the 90% failure rate of industrial infrastructure projects, is at the heart of strong recommendations made to the G20 ahead of its November meeting in Turkey and the Climate Summit in Paris.
In an open letter to the heads of the G20 nations, organised by Foundation Earth, 88 of the world's top scientists, environmentalists, and opinion-leaders have warned that the G20's pursuit of privately financed mega-infrastructure projects could have catastrophic economic and environmental consequences.
'Corporate-led economic globalisation hasn't delivered nearly enough for at least two of the more than seven billion people on Earth,' said the letter. 'It has transferred and consolidated power, effectively crippling the people's governing rights. It has concentrated wealth within the top 1 percent and caused record-setting gaps between rich and poor. While many accomplishments have been made in raising living standards and advancing technologies, they have also come at a great price to the health of the planet … Developing more infrastructure in support of this failed economic model is doubling down on a dangerous vision.'
Quoting Professor Flyvbjerg's research, which shows that over the past 70 years, nine out of ten infrastructure projects have experienced cost overruns, delays, and benefit shortfalls, the letter claims that, 'Trillions of dollars spent in pursuit of typical mega-projects in the energy, transportation, agriculture, and water sectors could put in place infrastructure that eliminates wildlife habitat, destroys fisheries, undermines vital ecosystems, and further destabilises the Earth's climate. This process is beset with other problems like corruption, cost overruns, fiscal accountability, and human rights abuses.'
The letter's authors have recommended that mega-infrastructure projects should be replaced by "smaller-scale, ecologically smarter and more flexible" projects. In line with what they have called the "Flyvbjerg Proposal", they have argued for the creation of an independent body which would compare any proposed infrastructure project to the historical record of project types of the same size on cost estimates, completion dates, and benefit projections. Any proposal that falls outside this range should be rejected, they say.
'I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments and recommendations of the Foundation Earth letter,' said Professor Flyvbjerg. 'As they have argued, infrastructure mega-projects are a relic of governmental grandiosity and developer hubris that historically have never delivered the benefits they promised. My research has revealed no evidence that either the commissioners or developers of these large-scale projects have learnt from the mistakes of the past – and yet the G20 unaccountably seems set on a path of replication and intensification. I hope that the recipients of this letter have the courage to make the bold changes recommended, for the good of mankind and the planet.'
See the full letter to the President of the G20 nations here: http://bit.ly/1xt3HwG
Article on top environmental website Mongabay here: http://bit.ly/1MFPuFq
Professor Flyvberg's paper, "Survival of the unfittest: why the worst infrastructure gets built – and what we can do about it," here: http://oxrep.oxfordjournals.org/content/25/3/344
For more information or to speak with Bent Flyvbjerg please contact the press office:
Josie Powell, Senior Press Officer, Saïd Business School
Mobile +44 (0)7711 387215; Tel: +44 (0) 1865 288403
Email: josie(dot)powell(at)sbs(dot)ox(dot)ac(dot)uk or pressoffice(at)sbs(dot)ox(dot)ac(dot)uk
Jonaid Jilani, Press Officer, Saïd Business School
Mobile: +44 (0)7860 259996; Tel: +44 (0)1865 614678
Email: Jonaid(dot)jilani(at)sbs(dot)ox(dot)ac(dot)uk
Notes to editors
About Saïd Business School
Saïd Business School at the University of Oxford blends the best of new and old. We are a vibrant and innovative business school, but yet deeply embedded in an 800 year old world-class university. We create programmes and ideas that have global impact. We educate people for successful business careers, and as a community seek to tackle world-scale problems. We deliver cutting-edge programmes and ground-breaking research that transform individuals, organisations, business practice, and society. We seek to be a world-class business school community, embedded in a world-class University, tackling world-scale problems.
In the Financial Times European Business School ranking (Dec 2014) Saïd is ranked 10th. It is ranked 14th worldwide in the FT's combined ranking of Executive Education programmes (May 2014) and 22nd in the world in the FT ranking of MBA programmes (Jan 2015). The MBA is ranked 7th in Businessweek's full time MBA ranking outside the USA (Nov 2014) and is ranked 5th among the top non-US Business Schools by Forbes magazine (Sep 2013). The Executive MBA is ranked 21st worldwide in the FT's ranking of EMBAs (Oct 2014). The Oxford MSc in Financial Economics is ranked 7th in the world in the FT ranking of Masters in Finance programmes (Jun 2014). In the UK university league tables it is ranked first of all UK universities for undergraduate business and management in The Guardian (Jun 2014) and has ranked first in nine of the last eleven years in The Times (Sept 2014). For more information, see http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/
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Said Business School, University of Oxford Josie Powell +44 1865288403
