Let's Clean Up Our Act

This week marks the third week of Construction Sustainability Month at Highways.Today, and if you’ve been following along, you’ll know I have been exploring the practicalities, opportunities, and challenges of building a cleaner, greener future for infrastructure.

My featured article of the week – Accelerating the Green Transition to Drive Global Sustainability – explores how public-private partnerships are pushing the envelope on sustainable infrastructure around the world. Transport sits front and centre in this movement, but it’s encouraging to see energy, water, housing, and even agriculture pulling in the same direction.

Now, before I go any further, I’ll put my cards on the table. I’m not the preachy type. I’ve always been a little sceptical when it comes to some of the grand claims and politically charged targets around net-zero and climate timelines. They tend to overpromise and underdeliver. But here’s what I do believe, passionately: we’ve made a right mess of this planet. From air pollution in our cities, to rivers filled with microplastics, to the sheer volume of landfill we’ve normalised – it’s unsustainable, and quite frankly, unacceptable.

Whether or not you buy into the climate change narrative in full, surely we can all agree on this: we owe it to ourselves and future generations to stop polluting the environment we all depend on. Clean air, clean water, green spaces, and a functioning, future-proof infrastructure system – these are basic rights, not luxury ideals. And if that means smarter design, cleaner machines, and global collaboration to get there, then count me in.

In this week’s featured piece, we look at real progress: how transport is being electrified, how cities are switching to renewables, and how partnerships – not just technology – are making it happen. It's not just about idealism; it’s about pragmatism. Cleaner infrastructure is smarter, often cheaper in the long run, and definitely more resilient. And above all else, it’s what people want.

Also worth your time this week is my other long-read: Crypto’s Mainstream Embrace Reshapes Global Infrastructure Investment. While it may seem like an odd bedfellow to sustainability, crypto – or more specifically, blockchain technology – is now firmly embedded in the conversation around infrastructure finance. It’s changing how we fund projects, how we track carbon credits, and how transparency is finally entering the room. Love it or loathe it, crypto isn’t just about coins and speculation anymore. It’s reshaping the foundations of finance – and that includes the way we build.

So as we roll into week three of my sustainability spotlight, let’s keep our eyes on the goal. Whether your motivation is climate change, efficiency, profitability, or simply wanting to breathe clean air and enjoy a bit of green space, the point is the same: it’s time to clean up our act.

Creating a planet that’s liveable, beautiful, and built to last – that’s something we can all get behind.

Until next week, build smart, build green.

Thanks again!

Anthony Davis - Editor, Highways.Today