Recognizing the role of infrastructure in growth, job creation, and productivity, the G20 established the GI Hub in 2014 as a knowledge-sharing hub with a mandate to work between governments, the private sector, development banks, and other international organizations to help implement the G20’s infrastructure agenda.

The GI Hub was established in Sydney, Australia, as a global entity, independent of commercial objectives and intent on the mission of supporting the G20 to drive an ambitious agenda on sustainable, resilient, and inclusive infrastructure through action-oriented programs. The GI Hub received funding support from G20 member and non-member countries, including Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Indonesia, Mexico, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and Northern Ireland.

In its first four-year mandate, the GI Hub completed major initiatives that quantified the global infrastructure financing gap, defined the infrastructure enabling environments of countries worldwide and recommended improvements, and published landmark guides to best practice in several areas of infrastructure development. In 2018, the G20 extended the GI Hub’s mandate, and in 2019 the GI Hub opened its second office in Toronto, Canada. In 2021, the G20 again extended the GI Hub's mandate.

In 2023, following a review by the G20 Infrastructure Working Group and the GI Hub Board of Directors that affirmed the GI Hub’s value, it was recommended that it be embedded in the international system to facilitate its delivery of multilateral, multi-year initiatives without a need to periodically renew its G20 mandate.

In April 2024, the GI Hub subsequently became an associated Global Knowledge Trust Fund of the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) with a funding contribution from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This new partnership positions the GI Hub as the global knowledge and data platform of PPIAF, which is supported by donors and administered by the World Bank.

This evolution aims to enhance and expand the reach and effectiveness of both organizations' existing knowledge resources with PPIAF's extensive in-country experience, client, and donor network, alongside the broader expertise of the World Bank. The integration will enable further development of GI Hub suite of data insights and tools to better inform both global forums such as the G20 but also the World Bank operations. The integration will also leverage the global partnerships and communication platforms developed by the GI Hub to accelerate the diffusion of best practices and innovations deployed by the World Bank.

The GI Hub remains closely involved at the political and technical levels with the G20's Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, the Finance Deputies, and the Infrastructure Working Group. In this capacity, the GI Hub continues to support G20 Presidencies’ infrastructure initiatives and provide the G20 with continuous data, inputs, advice, and monitoring of its priorities and initiatives – like the Roadmap to Infrastructure as an Asset Class and the G20 Quality Infrastructure Investment (QII) Principles.

Additionally, its G20 affiliation and private partner network will facilitate the dissemination of knowledge to a wider audience, contributing to the significant change required to enhance the enabling environment for private investment and foster quality infrastructure development in developing countries.

G20 documents establishing the GI Hub