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UNECE PPP and Infrastructure Evaluation and Rating System (PIERS)

An Evaluation Methodology for the SDGs
Logo PIERS

The UNECE PPP and Infrastructure Evaluation and Rating System (PIERS) is a new assessment platform that puts people and sustainable development front and centre.

Documents

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PPP and Infrastructure Evaluation and Rating System (PIERS): An Evaluation Methodology for the SDGs pdf pdf pdf
       
PIERS Self-Assessment Tool xls1   xls
       
User’s Guide to the Self-Assessment Tool pdf   pdf
       
Video video    
       

(1) Note: If you are using Chrome or Firefox browsers, you might have to use the right-click button and select option "Open link in a new tab" to download the Excel files.

 

What is PIERS?

PIERS is a unique platform to scoring infrastructure projects against the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) for the SDGs criteria. Put simply, it ensures projects create “value for people” and “value for the planet,” with a focus on the world’s most vulnerable. Integrating considerations of resilience, sustainability and circularity, PIERS brings together five PPP for the SDGs outcomes: access and equity; economic effectiveness; environmental sustainability and resilience; replicability; and stakeholder engagement. PIERS is currently available online, free of charge, to enable efficient self-assessment.

Why is PIERS necessary to help achieve the SDGs?

PIERS is designed as a key mechanism to mobilize the efforts of governments, the private sector and civil society to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through PPPs for the SDGs. The impact of infrastructure projects on people’s lives and livelihoods is at the very core of this new methodology. It is a tool to help the world respond to the challenges brought by the pandemic and make progress in delivering on SDGs. Think better access to healthcare and job opportunities, improved housing affordability and women’s economic empowerment. With PIERS, diverse stakeholders, from governments and policy-makers to planners and PPP units to lenders and investors, will be able to put infrastructure decisions in place informed by a deep understanding of the project’s contribution to solving the world’s most pressing challenges.

Why is your participation important?

The SDGs are a global roadmap to make the world a better place for everyone, with a shared language across borders and a vision that’s measurable. That’s where PIERS comes into play. Using this new methodology, you:

  • Join a growing global movement to accelerate the achievement of SDGs as part of the Decade of Action through PPPs for the SDGs. 
  • Show leadership in finding sustainable solutions to the world’s biggest social and economic challenges, from the spread of infectious diseases to extreme poverty to climate change. 
  • Demonstrate the value of your project in delivering positive, measurable, intentional and tangible human impacts aligned with SDGs – and track your progress. 
  • Enhance your reputation with PPP projects for the SDGs, which can help you facilitate access to finance, successfully bid for projects and build the trust of local communities where you do business. 
How was PIERS developed?

PIERS was developed in 2020 and 2021 by a global team of experts to assist governments, private sector and investors in designing and implementing projects that meet the PPP for the SDGs outcomes and comply with the SDGs. The goal was to evolve infrastructure solutions to focus on the “value for people” with a best-in-class evaluation methodology led by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE).

The international project team consisted of over 100 experts from public and private sectors, academia and civil society organizations. Their work was undertaken as part of the UNECE’s ‘PPP for the SDGs' programme to make the PPP model fit for purpose for the SDGs.