KPMG Middle East, Global Infrastructure Basel and FAST-Infra partner to advance the global standard for sustainable infrastructure across the Gulf

KPMG Middle East, Global Infrastructure Basel and FAST-Infra today announced a partnership to support the adoption of the FAST-Infra Label, the global label for sustainable and resilient infrastructure across the Middle East, where infrastructure is being developed at an unprecedented pace and scale.

The partnership comes as Gulf countries continue to invest heavily in infrastructure. National development plans, from Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 to the UAE's long-term economic strategies, are driving major investments in new cities, transport networks, energy systems and water infrastructure. At the same time, investors increasingly expect clear evidence that these projects are both sustainable and resilient. In a market with multiple standards and frameworks, providing consistent and comparable assurance has remained a challenge

The FAST-Infra Label was created to address this need. Launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January 2025 by the FAST-Infra Group, Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation and Bloomberg L.P., it is a globally applicable label awarded to projects that demonstrate strong sustainability and resilience performance. It is built on 100 existing standards, making it familiar and practical for the market.

Projects are assessed across four areas: environmental, social, governance, and adaptation and resilience, using 14 criteria that cover topics including nature protection, pollution prevention, workers' rights, anti-corruption, and climate resilience. Since its launch, more than 390 projects across six continents have registered, 223 have completed their self-assessment, and labelled projects now represent a total investment value of US$40+ billion across more than 30 countries.

Under the partnership, KPMG Middle East will use its infrastructure advisory expertise to help governments, developers,and financiers to discover and adopt the label. This includes integrating the FAST-Infra Label criteria into project planning, financing, procurement, and reporting.

Fernando Faria, Partner and Head of Infrastructure at KPMGMiddle East, said: "The infrastructure being planned and built in this region today will define how people live for the next fifty years. Our clients, whether governments, developers or financiers, are asking the same question: how do we demonstrate that these projects meet the highest standards of sustainability and resilience? The FAST-Infra Label provides a credible, globally recognisedanswer, and we are proud to help bring it to a region where it can have a meaningful impact."

Louis Downing, CEO of the Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation (GIB), which serves as the FAST-Infra Label secretariat, reflected on this milestone, saying, "We welcome this partnership between FAST-Infra, Global Infrastructure Basel, and KPMG Middle East. It gives governments, developers, and financiers across the region a trusted partner to help them apply the FAST-Infra Label and unlock the confidence international capital is looking for. As the region pushes ahead with an extraordinary infrastructure build-out, this partnership helps establish a shared benchmark for high-quality, sustainable, and resilient infrastructure, in line with the ambitions of the national strategies across the Middle East."

The label provides practical value across the infrastructure ecosystem. Developers can strengthen project sustainability, reduce investment risk and access a broader pool of capital. Investors and asset managers can use it throughout the investment lifecycle, from screening to reporting. Governments can use it to plan and procure infrastructure that delivers long-term public value. The process is straightforward. Projects register free of charge through the FAST-Infra Label Application Portal, complete a self-assessment against the label's criteria, and can then undergo independent third-party verification to earn the FAST-Infra Verified Label.

As infrastructure investment continues to reshape the region's economy, the partnership aims to establish the Middle East as a leading market for independently labelled sustainable infrastructure. Developers, investors and public institutions can learn more at www.fastinfralabel.org.

-Ends-

About KPMG

KPMG is a global organization of independent professional services firms providing Audit, Tax and Advisory services. KPMG is the brand under which the member firms of KPMG International Limited (“KPMG International”) operate and provide professional services. “KPMG” is used to refer to individual member firms within the KPMG organization or to one or more member firms collectively.

KPMG firms operate in 145 countries and territories, with more than 236,000 partners and employees working in member firms around the world. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity and describes itself as such. Each KPMG member firm is responsible for its own obligations and liabilities.

KPMG International Limited is a private English company limited by guarantee. KPMG International Limited and its related entities do not provide services to clients.

For more details about our structure, please visit home.kpmg/governance

About the FAST-Infra Label

The FAST-Infra Label (Finance to Accelerate the Sustainable Transition-Infrastructure) is the global benchmark for sustainable and resilient infrastructure. Launched in 2025 and built by more than 200 organisations across the infrastructure market, the FAST-Infra Label brings together over 100 guidelines, taxonomies, and frameworks into one rigorous assessment.

Governments rely on the Label to strengthen procurement decisions. Developers use it to raise project quality and asset value. Financiers use it to screen and monitor transactions with confidence. The Label has now assessed projects in over 30 countries across every continent, spanning sectors from energy and transport to housing and public services. Together, these projects represent more than USD 38 billion in combined capital expenditure.

The Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation (GIB) serves as Secretariat for the Label, while Bloomberg hosts its data repository and application portal.

About the FAST-Infra Group

Launched under the auspices of the One Planet Summit, FAST-Infra Group is a permanent multi-stakeholder non-profit association incorporated in France in 2022 to effectively implement the FAST-Infra community efforts and deliver concrete results.  FAST-Infra Group brings together national and substate, private corporate and financial, multilateral, and civil society institutions to promote all concrete and inclusive solutions contributing to the development and improvement of sustainable, affordable and inclusive infrastructure services. FAST-Infra Group aims to make sustainable infrastructure a mainstream and liquid asset class, to integrate sustainability into the life cycle of infrastructure projects, and to attract private investment on the scale and pace required by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement, in alignment with the G20 Principles for Quality Infrastructure Investment (QII Principles).

About Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation (GIB)‍

GIB is a Swiss foundation based in Basel, working to accelerate a mainstream transition to sustainability and resilience in infrastructure around the world. Active since 2008, we work with stakeholders across the infrastructure value chain from city and national government to project developers and infrastructure financiers. GIB implements impactful programs to drive change in the sector and has core competencies in setting standards for sustainable and resilient infrastructure.