Bankability as a Mechanism for Sustainability Implementation in Public–Private Partnerships

Infrastructure public–private partnerships (PPPs) may formally incorporate sustainability commitments while lacking the financial capacity required to support their implementation over long concession horizons. This paper examines project‐level financial architecture as a structural condition shaping that capacity. Using an analytical single‐case study of a Mediterranean port redevelopment PPP, we combine project finance simulation with sensitivity and scenario analyses. The findings analytically illustrate how a project may be economically profitable yet remain below a minimum analytical financeability threshold, thereby creating financial pressure on non‐revenue‐generating sustainability components and increasing their exposure to potential deferral or renegotiation. Sensitivity analyses identify debt tenor and cost of debt as threshold parameters, while scenario analyses indicate that dependence on a dominant revenue stream may create incentives to prioritize commercial activities over non‐revenue‐generating commitments. The study contributes to sustainability strategy research by conceptualizing bankability as an enabling financial condition - rather than a guarantee - of sustainability delivery and by framing commercial drift as a potential structural risk associated with concentrated revenue architectures. The implications for public authorities, environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investors, and development finance institutions are framed as conditional implications requiring comparative and longitudinal testing.