{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]],"date-time":"2026-05-28T16:06:21Z","timestamp":1779984381492,"version":"3.53.1"},"posted":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"group-title":"SSRN","reference-count":0,"publisher":"Elsevier BV","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:p>The Sustainable Markets Initiative's 2026 Lighthouse Report, Sovereign Infrastructure: The Global Asset Class for the AI-Industrial Era, proposes that sovereign infrastructure (SI) becomes a benchmark-compatible institutional asset class once eligibility, ratings visibility, and execution certainty converge. The proposed allocation mechanism is explicitly mandate-driven: once conditions converge, capital reallocates mechanically, and \"non-allocation becomes an active portfolio position.\" This paper accepts the conceptual contribution of the report-the framing of corridor-scale energy-to-compute infrastructure as a candidate sub-asset class within real assetsand asks a narrower methodological question: what evidentiary standard must the quantitative claims supporting the mechanism meet before mandate-driven allocation can operate as described? Four claims are load-bearing: return profile (14-22% IRR, 7-11% yield), correlation properties (low versus OECD infrastructure with negative tail correlation in geopolitical stress), foreign exchange volatility reduction (25-40% via platform hedging), and ratings migration (+1 to +2 notches per corridor). Each is presented in the report with explicit illustrative caveats. I formalise the evidentiary requirement for each claim under standard institutional due-diligence frameworks, examine the Lobito Atlantic Railway as the report's flagship near-live case using publicly disclosed financing details, and compute monthly proxy correlations (2019-2025) using three exchangetraded vehicles representing alternative interpretations of \"SI exposure\" against four reference benchmarks. The empirical exercise yields three findings that complicate the SI correlation thesis: all three proxies exhibit high correlation (0.69-0.83) with listed infrastructure, cutting against the \"low vs OECD infra\" claim; the COVID stress window shows positive correlation with equity (0.82-0.92) and negative correlation with Treasuries (-0.37 to-0.48), inverting the report's \"negative tail correlation in geopolitical stress\" framing; and proxies diverge by 0.30-0.40 on rates and commodity beta, confirming that single-proxy estimates cannot settle the SI correlation question. The paper also situates the proposed allocation timeline against the historical record of benchmark formation in adjacent asset classes (green bonds, private credit, EM sovereign debt), which suggests benchmark integration on a 2040+ horizon rather than the 2026-2030 phase the report implies. The argument is sympathetic to the asset-class framing but conservative on both the evidence and the timeline: mandate-driven allocation cannot follow from qualified inputs without violating the report's own logic.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.2139\/ssrn.6824279","type":"posted-content","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]],"date-time":"2026-05-28T15:51:14Z","timestamp":1779983474000},"source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Illustrative Until Proven Otherwise: Evidentiary Standards for Sovereign Infrastructure as a Benchmark-Eligible Asset Class"],"prefix":"10.2139","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0005-8477-9393","authenticated-orcid":true,"given":"Boon Chuan","family":"Lim","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"78","container-title":[],"original-title":[],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2026,5,28]],"date-time":"2026-05-28T15:51:14Z","timestamp":1779983474000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.ssrn.com\/abstract=6824279"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"references-count":0,"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.2139\/ssrn.6824279","relation":{},"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2026]]},"subtype":"preprint"}}