The G20 Quality Infrastructure Investment (QII) Principles agreed in 2019 confirmed that ecosystem, biodiversity and climate considerations should be incorporated into infrastructure investing. Nevertheless, integration of environmental factors – especially related to biodiversity – into infrastructure investment remains inadequate, while infrastructure development continues to put natural capital and critical ecosystems at risk. This is due to insufficient government guidance and regulation, non-standardised requirements and metrics, lack of investor capacity to evaluate biodiversity, environmental data deficiency and lack of clarity regarding environmental impacts on investment performance. Considering infrastructure’s central role in recovery plans for the COVID-19 crisis, we must focus on policies and requirements for integrating environmental criteria in investments that support a nature-positive recovery. G20 policy guidance is key to strengthening the sustainability of infrastructure investments at the scale and speed needed. Building on the QII Principles, we therefore propose a policy-level harmonisation of international standards to promote net gain for nature. We propose regulatory reforms to create market-driven implementation of environmental criteria in infrastructure investments. Furthermore, we recommend standardised and comparable biodiversity impact disclosure to promote adoption of sustainable practices in a post-COVID-19 world.