Explore every episode of the podcast Sustainable Infrastructure

Welcome to Episode 3 of Sustainable Infrastructure, the ORIS podcast where engineers, policymakers, and construction leaders share how the world can build infrastructure fit for the environmental and social challenges of the 21st century. Our guest is Alice Yiu, Head of Advocacy and Outreach at the International Road Federation (IRF), a Geneva-based not-for-profit representing the global road community across 118+ countries. Before joining IRF in 2025, Alice spent more than a decade at the SLOCAT Partnership on Sustainable Low Carbon Transport, where she represented the transport sector at UN Climate Summits and led the development of landmark Transport and Climate Status Reports. In this conversation with Nicolas Miravalls, co-founder and CEO of ORIS, Alice maps the full chain of influence, from Paris Agreement pledges to nationally determined contributions, down to project appraisals, procurement rules, and the standards engineers work with every day. She also unpacks IRF's Roadmaps for Change commitment under the UN Decade on Sustainable Transport, which ORIS is proud to support as an endorsing entity. The episode covers the barriers to green roads (spoiler: it's less about technology, more about how projects are evaluated), how IRF builds consensus across a membership that spans road agencies managing two-lane rural roads and city authorities piloting AI-based traffic management, and why Alice believes sustainability should be framed as practical problem solving, not philosophy.

Most infrastructure companies say they care about carbon. But how many actually measure it at the design stage? And of those who measure, how many actually act on the data? David Orr has spent the last three years answering these questions at global scale. As Product Lead for Mott MacDonald's Moata Carbon Portal, he has watched the platform grow from serving a handful of transport projects to supporting infrastructure assessments across 55 countries, spanning energy transmission, water networks, airports, and linear infrastructure. This isn't just another "we built a tool" story. It's a front-row view of what actually happens when engineering firms try to embed carbon thinking into existing workflows: the enthusiasm, the hesitation, the cultural barriers in a sector that doesn't easily share information. David brings an unusual perspective to infrastructure decarbonization: a political science background (MPhil from Cambridge) that led him through fieldwork in emerging markets such as India and Kenya before moving into product leadership at a B2B SaaS platform. He's seen both the policy side and the engineering trenches. In this conversation, Renaud de Montaignac (ORIS co-founder) and David explore the messy reality of scaling carbon measurement: from the moment a spreadsheet becomes insufficient to the point where AI can suggest real-time design alternatives. They discuss why water and energy sectors move at different speeds, what separates genuine transformation from "carbon theatre," and why Moata's name (Māori for "preparedness") captures the mindset needed to start before you're ready.

In this inaugural episode of Sustainable Infrastructure, I sit down with Costanzo Graffi, Europe Contractors Partnership Lead at AECOM. We delve into the pressing need for the construction industry to embrace sustainability, exploring how early decisions can significantly reduce carbon footprints in infrastructure projects. Costanzo shares insights on AECOM's ambitious goal of halving carbon emissions across major projects and the vital role materials play in achieving these targets. We discuss the ecosystem of data and tools necessary for effective decision-making and the evolving landscape of client expectations regarding sustainability. Join us as we uncover the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for sustainable infrastructure and how collaboration can drive meaningful change in the industry.