This paper summarises efforts in two West African countries – Mauritania and Guinea-Bissau – to mobilise international finance to sustain the marine biodiversity upon which fisheries depend, and to establish conservation trust funds. The countries study draws on the 2017 OECD report The Political Economy of Biodiversity Policy Reform.

We are losing diversity of life on Earth at an alarming rate – one tenth of the world’s terrestrial biodiversity and one third of freshwater biodiversity has been wiped out since 1970. And we’re on course to lose another 10% of terrestrial species by 2050.

Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, will be in Brasilia on 21st March 2018 to attend the World Water Forum.

This Policy Paper summarises key messages about the economic case for water investment, the barriers to investment and the financing gap. It charts a course for action to better value water and to facilitate water investment at scale. The Roundtable on Water Financing, a joint initiative of the OECD, the World Water Council and the Netherlands, will continue to deepen the evidence base and broaden engagement on these issues.

This report examines what would be needed to achieve zero CO2 emissions from international maritime transport by 2035. It assesses measures that can reduce shipping emissions effectively and describes possible decarbonisation pathways that use different combinations of these measures; and reviews under which conditions these measures could be implemented and presents concrete policy recommendations.

This paper reviews the existing literature on modelling the macroeconomic consequences of the transition to a circular economy. It provides insights into the current state of the art on modelling policies to improve resource efficiency and the transition to a circular economy by examining 24 modelling-based assessments of a circular economy transition.

The OECD proposes to conduct a first-of-its-kind review of Indonesia’s green growth policies, with the co-operation of four Ministries.

Hungary has made progress in greening its economy and cutting emissions, but it needs to speed up efforts to replace fossil fuels with renewable energy sources, improve energy efficiency in buildings and promote sustainable transport, according to a new OECD Review.

Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, will be in Prague on 16 July 2018 on an official visit. He will present the 2018 OECD Economic Survey and the Environmental Performance Review of the Czech Republic.

The Czech economy is thriving, with robust employment, expanding exports and falling government debt. Efforts should now focus on boosting workforce skills and innovation to improve labour supply and productivity, further reduce poverty and inequality, and green the economy, according to two new OECD reports.

10-12 July 2018 - Within the margins of the meeting of the Subsidiary Body on Implementation under the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Forum examined the opportunities and challenges with regard to biodiversity mainstreaming in national economic and development policy and across different sectors (e.g., agriculture, forestry, fisheries, energy and mining).

This Policy Paper comprises the Background Report prepared by the OECD for the G7 Environment, Energy and Oceans Ministers (19-21 September, Canada). It provides an overview of current plastics production and use, the environmental impacts that this is generating and identifies the reasons for currently low plastics recycling rates, as well as what can be done about it.

This Policy Paper comprises an Issue Brief and Background Report prepared by the OECD for the G7 Environment, Energy and Oceans Ministers (19-21 September 2018, Canada). It outlines the rising risks faced by coastal communities, which are being exacerbated by climate change; and shows how governments can harness innovation to help improve resilience and emphasises the need for close engagement with coastal communities.

Public support for metal extraction and processing has received little attention relative to that for the agriculture, energy, or fisheries sectors. This report addresses this knowledge gap by mapping out the most common forms of support provided for primary metals (produced from mineral ores) and secondary metals (produced from scrap).

The transition towards a resource efficient and circular economy has linkages with international trade through the emergence of global value chains as well as trade in second-hand goods, end-of-life products, secondary materials and waste. This paper highlights the interaction of international trade and the circular economy in order to map out potential issues to address and to guide further research areas to explore on this topic.

The world’s consumption of raw materials is set to nearly double by 2060 as the global economy expands and living standards rise, placing twice the pressure on the environment that we are seeing today, according to a new OECD report.

OECD Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Masamichi Kono, and Shardul Agrawala, Head, Environment and Economy Integration Division, OECD Environment Directorate, presents the key findings of the forthcoming OECD report "Global Material Resources Outlook to 2060: Economic Drivers and Environmental Consequences".

This summer, we witnessed record-breaking heat and extreme weather events across the globe. To address the urgent climate challenge, and meet our broader development goals, trillions of dollars need to be invested in low-emissions and resilient infrastructure.

17-22 November 2018, Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. The OECD actively participated in this Conference through an official OECD side event and by taking part in a number of workshops, seminars and other events throughout the conference. Read more on the OECD side-event, participation at the High-Level Segment and the OECD work on biodiversity.

This paper explores the consequences on the labour markets of structural changes induced by decarbonisation policies. These policies are likely going to have consequences on labour-income distribution given i) existing rigidities in the labour markets, and ii) their different impacts on sectors and on job categories.

22 November 2018, London - Hosted by the Department of Geography and Environment, this panel reflected on the use of cost benefit analysis (CBA) and took stock of recent developments in environmental CBA and the challenges this presents to policy makers. The panel was comprised of some of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) authors of the CBA report published by OECD as well as policy practitioners.

This report investigates the effects of select climate policies, non-climate policies, as well as political economy factors on the decarbonisation of electricity in OECD countries from 2000 to 2015. Effects are analysed on the three phases of decarbonisation: (1) increasing the share of renewables installed, (2) increasing the use of renewables in generation, and (3) reducing the emissions from electricity.

The large need for investments in sustainable infrastructure will require investments from the private sector, including institutional investors. This paper contributes to scaling up investments by analysing public project-level interventions for projects involving institutional investors; and presents findings from an updated database on institutional investments in environmentally sustainable infrastructure.

Meeting the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement requires a transformational change in our infrastructure systems. This working paper aims to shed light on the extent to which current electricity generation projects under construction at the global level - the "pipeline" - are consistent with what a low-carbon transition requires.

Emissions curbs set by the European Union’s Emissions Trading System, Europe’s main tool for reducing carbon emissions, have not hurt revenue, profits or employment at firms subject to the cap-and-trade programme over 2005-2014, according to a new OECD report.

A co-ordinated policy response is needed to ensure that new and existing infrastructure networks are resilient to climate change. This Policy Paper outlines a framework for achieving this based on the experiences in OECD and G20 countries. It shows how governments and businesses can collaborate to mobilise investment for climate-resilient infrastructure.

On 10 December in Katowice, the 9th annual High-Level Breakfast on Institutional Investors and the Low-carbon Transition, co-hosted by the OECD and the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), highlighted significant progress in mobilising green institutional investment, as well as important remaining challenges.

This report provides an overview of methodologies to evaluate the effectiveness of policy instruments for biodiversity, covering impact evaluation, cost-effectiveness analysis and other more commonly used approaches. It also provides an inventory of biodiversity-relevant impact evaluation studies, across both terrestrial and marine ecosystems.

At a time when nationalism is rising and individual countries are facing a growing array of threats, it is critical that we recognize a shared and unprecedented global challenge: We need to double our infrastructure in the next decade to meet global development needs, while achieving a systematic shift away from business-as-usual, carbon-intensive options to low-emissions, resilient infrastructure, to avoid catastrophic climate change.

Extended producer responsibility is a policy approach that aims to increase waste recovery and recycling. Extended producer responsibility systems aim to make producers responsible for the environmental impacts of their products throughout the product chain, from design to the end-of-life phase. This report focuses on free-riding of producers or retailers, which the fast expansion of online sales in recent years has been exacerbating.

Australia has made some progress replacing coal with natural gas and renewables in electricity generation yet remains one of the most carbon-intensive OECD countries and one of the few where greenhouse gas emissions (excluding land use and forestry) have risen in the past decade. The country will fall short of its 2030 emissions target without a major effort to move to a low-carbon model, according to a new OECD report.

An update of the OECD database on transboundary movements of wastes is now available for download. Since 1992, transboundary movements of recyclable wastes between OECD countries are regulated by the Council Decision C(2001)107, which was established by the OECD Council, and designed as an agreement under Article 11 of the Basel Convention.

Turkey will see its greenhouse gas emissions continue their steady rise of recent years without concrete actions to improve energy efficiency and increase the use of renewable energy sources, according to a new OECD report.

This report offers a guide on potential reform pathways towards sustainable agriculture water use, based on a thorough review of selected past water and agriculture reforms and extensive consultation with policy experts.

This event focused on the implication of COP24 outcomes and the implementation of the Rulebook, as well as on upcoming work on unresolved issues such as Article 6. Discussions covered Common Tabular Format (CTF) for climate finance and tracking progress towards the mitigation targets and updating and implementing NDCs, with a particular attention to the power sector and carbon markets.

This paper shows how women and men may use infrastructure differently according to their needs, social roles or preferences; and provides a framework to help countries align their infrastructure policies and projects with other societal and environmental goals, including supporting gender equality.

The OECD welcomes the release of voluntary G20 peer reviews of Indonesia and Italy’s efforts to phase out and rationalise their inefficient fossil-fuel subsidies at the 2nd meeting of G20 Energy Transitions Working Group under the Japanese Presidency in Toyama, Japan.

Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, will be in Mexico on 2-3 May 2019 to present the 2019 OECD Economic Survey of Mexico.

Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, will be in Metz on 6 May 2019 to attend the G7 Environment Ministerial. He will deliver remarks to present the OECD report Biodiversity: Finance and the Economic and Business Case for Action.

Mr. Angel Gurría, Secretary-General of the OECD, will be in Riga on 29 May 2019 to present the 2019 OECD Economic Survey of Latvia and the 2019 OECD Environmental Performance Review of Latvia, alongside Messrs. Ralfs Nemiro, Minister of Economics of Latvia and Juris Pūce, Minister for Environmental Protection and Regional Development of Latvia.

The Latvian economy is thriving, with strong job growth driving convergence with more advanced economies. Efforts should now focus on reducing inequality, responding to the challenges posed by population ageing and making growth stronger, inclusive and greener, according to two new OECD reports.

At their Summit in Osaka this weekend, G20 leaders agreed on a range of priorities for which analysis and support from the OECD and other international organisations are playing a crucial role.

On 3rd July 2019, in his fourth biennial climate change lecture, OECD Secretary-General, Angel Gurría focused on how countries can overcome the numerous political, economic and social barriers to achieve the rapid reductions in greenhouse gas emissions needed to safeguard our common future. Follow this link to watch the full lecture and the press release.

OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría today said governments must face up to mounting anger, particularly among youth, on climate inaction.

Policy instruments can be applied to improve the sustainability of plastics, including regulations, market-based instruments, information and voluntary tools. The report reviews the use of these instruments, provides good practice examples, such as product taxes and charges, eco-design standards, extended producer responsibility and environmental product labels, as well as discussing opportunities for their future applications.

Policy instruments can be applied to improve the sustainability of plastics, including regulations, market-based instruments, information and voluntary tools. The report reviews the use of these instruments, provides good practice examples, such as product taxes and charges, eco-design standards, extended producer responsibility and environmental product labels, as well as discussing opportunities for their future applications.

Based on an in-depth literature review and responses to a survey among OECD member countries, this paper discusses the use of flexibility mechanisms in environmental regulations. The literature on these issues is limited, but it is clear that some such mechanisms can have important environmental and economic impacts.

Embracing new technologies that could enable drastic reductions in GHG emissions will be key to delivering low-emissions pathways for growth, but it is not always obvious what the big breakthroughs will look like. This report looks at how blockchain technology can be applied to support sustainable infrastructure investment that is aligned with climate change objectives.

This paper focuses on how national and sub-national governments can align subnational financial flows to transition towards low-carbon, resilient and inclusive cities. The paper is a contribution from the OECD Champion Mayors for Inclusive Growth initiative and to the OECD Programme on Subnational Finance and Investment.

The UN Climate Action Summit on 23 September marks a potential inflection point ahead of the start of the implementation of the Paris Agreement in 2020. This event will gather and encourage Heads of State and Government to deliver concrete actions to address climate change. Our planet is witnessing dramatic changes in its life-support ecosystems, demanding accelerated action and co-operation among interlinking policy areas...