The useful question is what changes for users, developers or buyers, and whether the announcement stays industry context or becomes something people can actually use.

Bentley Systems highlights its commitment to advancing the UN Sustainable Development Goals by emphasizing its 'handprint'—the positive impact of its software on infrastructure sectors—rather than solely reducing negative environmental and social effects. The company argues that sustainable infrastructure requires balancing economic, environmental, and social outcomes transparently, enabling professionals to design, build, and operate more resilient systems. Bentley’s approach integrates digital twin solutions to accelerate sustainable development, addressing the urgent need for rapid transformation in infrastructure to combat climate change.

The company notes that 70% of greenhouse gas emissions originate from cities, making urban areas both major contributors to and victims of climate change. Bentley advocates for leveraging existing, low-cost technologies to achieve quick wins, such as optimizing construction designs to reduce material use and carbon footprints. Digital twins are identified as critical tools for facilitating the clean energy transition and improving urban resilience, climate adaptation, and decarbonization efforts.

Bentley underscores the importance of circular economy principles in infrastructure, emphasizing waste reduction, pollution control, and resource regeneration. The company points to responsible mining and efficient water cycle management as key examples of increasing circularity in infrastructure. These strategies aim to mitigate the impacts of climate change, which has already affected at least 85% of the global population through extreme weather events and other disruptions.

Infrastructure construction and operations contribute 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions, making decarbonization and resilience immediate priorities. Bentley’s report examines how infrastructure owners and operators are evolving their resilience strategies, drawing on insights from senior executives across key sectors. The report assesses challenges in climate risk management, strategy maturity, and financial, technical, and organizational barriers to progress, while offering free learning resources to support sustainability in infrastructure engineering.