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In the context of sustainable development policies, decision making in the energy sector should be based on carefully designed trade-offs which take into account, insofar as feasible, all of the alternative options’ advantages and drawbacks from the economic, environmental and social viewpoints. This report examines various aspects of nuclear and other energy chains for generating electricity, and provides illustrative examples of quantitative and qualitative indicators for those chains with regard to economic competitiveness, environmental burdens (such as air emissions and solid waste streams) and social aspects (including employment and health impacts). It offers authoritative data and references to published literature on energy chain analysis which can be used in support of decision making.
Low-emission hydrogen is expected to play an important role in the energy transition to tackle the climate crisis. It can decarbonate “hard-to-abate” sectors still relying on fossil fuels, turn low-carbon electricity into a fuel that can be transported using pipelines and provide a green transport alternative, in particular for heavy-duty and long-distance transport. Given its potential to combat climate change, it can allow for a net reduction in societal risks if managed responsibly. However, while its potential is widely acknowledged, its application is not yet meeting ambitions. Regulation is crucial to facilitate its application and ensure its safety. This report analyses trends, risks, and regulation of hydrogen technologies across economies. It supports the use of low-emission hydrogen as part of the energy transition, by making recommendations for effective risk-based regulation, regulatory delivery and governance.
We expect governments to protect citizens from the adverse consequences of hazardous events. At the same time it is not possible or necessarily in the best interest of citizens for all risks to be removed. A risk-based approach to the design and implementation of regulation can help to ensure that regulatory approaches are efficient, effective and account for risk/risk tradeoffs across policy objectives. Risk-based approaches to the design of regulation and compliance strategies can improve the welfare of citizens by providing better protection, more efficient government services and reduced costs for business. Across the OECD there is great potential to improve the operation of risk policy as few governments have taken steps to develop a coherent risk governance policy for managing regulation.
This publication presents recent OECD research and analysis on risk and regulatory policy. The chapters discuss core challenges today. They offer measures for developing, or improving, coherent risk governance policies. Topics include: challenges in designing regulatory policy frameworks to manage risks; different cultural and legal dimensions of risk regulatory concepts across OECD; analytical models and principles for decision making in uncertain situations; key elements of risk regulation and governance institutions; the use of management-based regulation to help firms make risk-related behavioural changes; an analysis of the risk-based frameworks of regulators in five OECD countries (Australia, Ireland, Netherlands, Portugal, United Kingdom) and across four sectors: environment, food safety, financial markets and health and safety; and the elements for designing formal guidelines for risk prioritisation, assessment, management and communication.
Taking risks is a fundamental driving force in business and entrepreneurship. To reap the full rewards of risk-taking, however, firms need to have in place effective risk management practices. This publication provides a stocktaking of ways in which SOEs and those exercising the state’s ownership role address the issue of risk management from the perspective of corporate governance (“risk governance”), as recommended in the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises. The report looks at this issue from three perspectives: by taking stock, first, of national legal and regulatory SOE risk management frameworks, and then by taking stock of risk-management practices at the level of the SOE and then at the level of the state.
This sixth peer review of the OECD Principles of Corporate Governance analyses the corporate governance framework and practices relating to corporate risk management, in the private sector and in state-owned enterprises. The review covers 26 jurisdictions and is based on a general survey of all participating jurisdictions in December 2012, as well as an in-depth review of corporate risk management in Norway, Singapore and Switzerland.
The report finds that while risk-taking is a fundamental driving force in business and entrepreneurship, the cost of risk management failures is often underestimated, both externally and internally, including the cost in terms of management time needed to rectify the situation. The reports thus concludes that corporate governance should ensure that risks are understood, managed, and, when appropriate, communicated.
This report presents the governance framework in Kazakhstan for managing disaster risks. A wide range of disaster risks are present throughout the national territory, primarily floods, landslides, avalanches, but also extreme cold and heatwaves. The report reviews how the central government sets up a national strategy to manage these disaster risks, and how a national risk governance framework is formulated and executed. It examines the role of the private sector and other non-governmental actors in contributing to resilience at a national and subnational level.
Colombia has launched an ambitious reform to improve its risk governance and boost resilience to disasters. This OECD Disaster Risk Governance Scan reviews Colombia’s progress in implementing the reform against the 2014 OECD Recommendation on the Governance of Critical Risks. The report identifies success factors and good practices in implementing the disaster risk reform agenda, focusing on central government policies and their implementation, and provides a set of recommendations to strengthen Colombia’s efforts in the future.
The OECD contributes to the improvement of the financial management of major catastrophes both through the activities of the International Network on the Financial Management of Large-Scale Catastrophes and through the leadership of its High-Level Advisory Board. This publication compiles a series of reports reflecting the OECD’s extensive work in this field over recent years. These reports include: 1) a stocktaking of initiatives to promote natural hazard awareness and disaster risk reduction education, resulting in the publication of a policy handbook; 2) a review of and recommendations on catastrophe-linked securities and the role of capital markets in supporting the financial mitigation of large-scale risks, aimed at governments promoting these instruments; 3) a review of current mechanisms used to quantify catastrophe losses within the OECD; and 4) a review of hazard risk mapping efforts in South East Asian countries.
This report presents the latest information on the nature and scope of the refugee crisis as well as the policy response in OECD countries. The latter covers information on the entry and stay conditions for Ukrainian nationals as well as information on the reception support available in terms of housing, subsistence means, and access to social services and to integration measures.
This guidance document was originally published in 2012 and updated in 2018 to reflect new and updated OECD test guidelines, as well as reflect on scientific advances in the use of test methods and assessment of the endocrine activity of chemicals. The document is intended to provide guidance for evaluating chemical using standardised test guidelines. Specific objectives include providing a description of the OECD conceptual framework for evaluating chemicals for endocrine disruption, background on the standardised test methods used, and guidance for interpreting the outcome of individual tests. The general approach taken by the document is primarily to provide guidance on how test results might be interpreted based on the outcome of standardised assays. Key questions addressed in the document concern likely mechanisms of endocrine action and any resulting apical effects that can be attributed to such action. The document is not proscriptive but provides suggestions for possible next steps in testing (if any) which might be appropriate for a regulatory authority to take, given the various data scenarios. The guidance document is focused primarily on endocrine modalities included in the conceptual framework; estrogen, androgen, and thyroid mediated endocrine disruption and chemicals that interfer with steroidogenesis.
This report presents a revised anlaysis of responses received from member countries to the Questionnaire on Data Requirements for Acute Oral Toxicity.
This OECD Review of the Danish university system examines such aspects as governance, funding, the Research Council System, the Danish knowledge system, the university system itself, universities' interaction with society, and outcomes. It finds that training and research is of high quality, but that the system needs to change in response to rapidly changing demands. A number of recommendations are put forward, particularly in the area of university governance and steering of the system by the government.
OECD reviews of national education policies provide a well-established means for member countries to engage their peers in reviewing their country’s policies. This report is divided into two parts: a background report, prepared by the Swiss authorities, and the OECD examiners’ report. This review makes recommendations for further improvements to the tertiary education system in Switzerland as it grapples with national and global challenges emerging from the transition to a knowledge society.
Portugal’s tertiary education sector has expanded significantly over the last 20 years, but participation and overall educational attainment levels remain below European standards and enrolment rates have begun to decline. The OECD review recommends that Portugal’s national government should focus on strategic direction and leave higher education institutions wider latitude for accomplishing public priorities consistent with their mission. Among its proposals for reform, the review calls for the creation of a National Council on Higher Education to oversee Portugal’s higher education strategy. The review also calls for major changes in the governance and management of higher education institutions to bring them into line with national goals, encourage their responsiveness and efficiency, and improve their quality. Improving research and innovation is a key strategic objective of the Portuguese government, and the OECD review suggests a number of qualitative changes in Portugal’s tertiary education system to enhance performance in this area.
In Colombia, the beginning of a new century has brought with it a palpable feeling of optimism. Colombians and visitors sense that the country’s considerable potential can be realised, and education is rightly seen as crucial to this process. As opportunities expand, Colombians will need new and better skills to respond to new challenges and prospects.
The government is therefore determined to address key challenges confronting tertiary education in the country: expanding enrolment and improving equity, increasing quality and relevance, and making governance and finance more responsive. Colombia has more than a decade of progress under its belt, and the energy to reach ambitious policy goals. Getting there in practice will involve dialogue and consensus-seeking among all stakeholders, as well as new resources and new rules.
This joint OECD and World Bank review gives a brief overview of post-secondary education in Chile and describes its development over the past twenty years. It presents an analysis of the system and identifies key directions for policy reform in light of the challenges encountered by officials, communities, enterprises, educators, parents and students. It concludes with a set of key recommendations concerning the structure of the system and its labour market relevance; access and equity, governance and management; research, development and innovation; internationalisation; and financing.
The speed, nature and uncertainty of economic, social and political developments in the Russian Federation continue to pose enormous challenges for tertiary education and research activities in universities, higher level vocational schools and institutes of the academies of sciences. These challenges are shaping the strategies for needed reforms to widen further learning opportunities at the tertiary education level, improve the quality and extend the reach of research and boost the contributions of tertiary-level education and research to improved economic performance and social well-being. This book is based on one of the most recent, broadly-based and forward-looking analyses of these developments and pressures and takes account of the specific structures, strengths and traditions in tertiary education and research in the Russian Federation. It offers a set of general directions and specific recommendations for policies to address key issues of access, quality and standards in teaching; new directions to diversify and deliver tertiary education; the quality of research in academic and research establishments; and reforms in the governance, management and financing of teaching and research. This review of tertiary education and research policies follows an earlier examination of general education, Reviews of National Policies for Education: Russian Federation.