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The Slovak Republic has reduced some environmental pressures over the past decade. However, it needs to do more to reduce air pollution, improve waste and wastewater treatment and move towards carbon neutrality. Since 2011, the country has taken important steps to improve its biodiversity policy. Slovakia needs to now align its strategy with the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework and the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. Most species and habitats are in an unfavourable state and biodiversity considerations are not sufficiently integrated into sectoral policies.
This is the third Environmental Performance Review of the Slovak Republic. It provides an evidence-based assessment of the country's progress towards its environmental goals over the past decade. The 29 recommendations aim to help Slovakia improve its environmental performance, giving special focus to biodiversity and forests in the context of climate change.
Chile has made important strides on its environmental agenda in recent years with the passage of the Framework Law on Climate Change, the establishment of the Biodiversity and Protected Areas Service and the ratification of the Escazú Agreement. However, the country has made limited progress in decoupling environmental pressures from economic growth. Greenhouse gas emissions have continued to rise and the country is not on track to reach its legally binding target of net zero by 2050. Chile is well-positioned to achieve its targets for biodiversity, while air pollution remains a serious public health challenge and waste management relies heavily on landfilling. Chile is facing a severe and deepening water crisis that requires concerted action to improve water allocation and water quality, and to strengthen water governance. The review provides 36 recommendations to help Chile improve its environmental performance, with a special focus on water management and policies.
This is the third Environmental Performance Review of Chile. It provides an independent, evidence-based evaluation of the country’s environmental performance since the previous review in 2016.
This report presents developments of the work of the Inclusive Forum on Carbon Mitigation Approaches (IFCMA) to the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, and reflect on the IFCMA’s achievements one year on from its launch in February 2023.
This new web format for Country Notes on Fossil Fuel Support provides interactive on-line access to the latest data from the OECD Inventory of Support Measures for Fossil Fuels by country – identifying and estimating the value of support arising from policies that encourage the production or consumption of fossil fuels. The web version allows users to download, share and play with the data. Interactive graphics enable data visualisation, in national currency, by beneficiary and by energy product. These Country Notes provide, for each of the 50 economies covered in the Inventory, a snapshot of energy market structure, the current state of energy prices and taxes, and recent developments and trends in fossil fuel support. Data and country notes for the EU Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries have been collected and prepared as part of the GREEN Action Task Force.
Despite commitments to scale up and speed up climate action, the fiscal cost of government support for fossil fuels almost doubled in 2022 to reach more than USD 1.4 trillion as governments across the OECD and partner countries introduced substantial initiatives to mitigate high energy costs on households and firms, caused in part by Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. This rising trend is a real threat to our collective net zero goals and highlights the challenges of staying on track with net zero commitments in the face of geopolitical and economic disruption. Going forward, it will be critical that support measures are reformed to better target those most in need. Support for fossil fuels should also be phased out as soon as possible. This will help free up much needed resources for the transition towards net zero emissions and accelerate innovation to improve energy efficiency.
The Australian economy rebounded robustly in the wake of the pandemic. However, inflation has risen and fiscal pressures are on the horizon due to population ageing and climate change. Monetary policy should remain restrictive until underlying inflation is clearly on track to meet the central bank target, while fiscal buffers need to be rebuilt through reducing tax exemptions and improving public spending efficiency in areas such as health. In the medium-term, achieving inclusive and sustainable economic growth requires an ongoing focus on key social objectives such as reducing gender inequality and achieving the climate transition. Gender inequalities have steadily declined but remain visible in the labour market. Further reforms to tax, childcare, education, social benefits and parental leave can improve labour market opportunities for women, promote more equal sharing of unpaid work between genders and help more vulnerable women, notably single mothers. The climate transition is also underway, but further policy measures are needed to meet emissions goals, support the reallocation of workers and adapt to climate change. Given the abundance of renewable energy resources and a large wealth of critical minerals, Australia can secure the energy transition while remaining a key player in international energy markets.
SPECIAL FEATURES: FULLY REALISING THE ECONOMIC POTENTIAL OF WOMEN; ACHIEVING THE TRANSITION TO NET ZERO.
A megadiverse county, Costa Rica is known globally for its success in reversing deforestation and pursuing a growth model based on the sustainable use of its environmental resources. However, energy use and related greenhouse gas emissions increased in the last decade. Private cars are a major and growing source of emissions affecting climate and air quality. Waste disposal still relies on landfills, and much wastewater is untreated. Costa Rica’s extensive protected area network and pioneering programme of payments for ecosystem services have helped reduce biodiversity loss and extend forests’ carbon sequestration capacity. However, more should be done to tackle pressures on biodiversity from development of infrastructure and settlements, tourism, farming and fishing. The sheer scale of investment needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals calls for improving the efficiency of public spending, mobilising private finance, strictly enforcing regulations and providing adequate incentives.
This is the first OECD Environmental Performance Review of Costa Rica. It evaluates the country’s progress towards sustainable development, with a special chapter focusing on biodiversity, and provides 52 recommendations.
The Inclusive Forum on Carbon Mitigation Approaches (IFCMA) is the OECD’s flagship initiative to help optimise the global impact of emissions reduction efforts around the world. This report presents developments since the first meeting of the initiative in February 2023, including the latest updates in terms of country membership and technical work, and outlines next steps.
The United States, the world’s largest economy, has made progress in reducing several environmental pressures while maintaining one of the highest Gross Domestic Products per capita in the world. It has decoupled emissions of greenhouse gases, air pollutants, water abstractions and domestic material consumption from economic and population growth. However, high consumption levels, intensive agricultural practices, climate change and urban sprawl continue to put pressure on the natural environment. Despite the recent acceleration of action to address climate change, further efforts are needed to achieve the goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. The United States is also among the major contributors to marine litter with serious consequences for communities and the environment. The review provides 30 recommendations to help the United States improve its environmental performance, with a special focus on marine litter and a cross-cutting focus on environmental justice.
This is the third Environmental Performance Review of the United States. It provides an independent, evidence-based evaluation of the country’s environmental performance over the past decade.
Chemical accidents with serious consequences continue to happen in OECD Member countries and worldwide. Over the past decades, successive major accidents have caused deaths, injuries, significant environmental pollution and massive economic losses – from the hydrogen fluoride leak in Gumi (Korea) in 2012, the ammonium nitrate explosion in West, Texas (United States) in 2013 or, recently, the blow-up of a chemical facility in Tarragona (Spain) and the explosion at the port of Beirut (Lebanon) in 2020, and the blast in Leverkusen (Germany) in 2021. This third edition of the OECD Guiding Principles for Chemical Accident Prevention, Preparedness and Response provides guidance for the safe planning and operation of hazardous installations. It aims to support public authorities and industry in taking appropriate actions to prevent chemical accidents and to mitigate impacts of accidents that do nevertheless occur. These guiding principles apply to fixed installations at which hazardous substances are produced, processed, handled, stored, used or disposed of, in such a form and quantity that there might be a risk of occurrence of a chemical accident. These guiding principles constitute the technical guidance supporting the implementation of the Decision-Recommendation of the Council concerning Chemical Accident Prevention, Preparedness and Response adopted in 2023.
Israel’s rapid economic and population growth along with a high degree of urbanisation continue to exert significant pressure on the environment. Israel has raised its climate ambitions in recent years, though is not on track to reach greenhouse gas reduction targets. Enhancing biodiversity protection, addressing water pollution and adapting to the impacts of climate change require further action. Israel has taken a number of key steps to advance its zero waste and circular economy agenda. However, further efforts are required to improve waste management and introduce an economy-wide shift to a circular economy. The review provides 24 recommendations to help Israel improve its environmental performance, with a special focus on waste management and circular economy.
This is the second Environmental Performance Review of Israel. It provides an independent, evidence-based evaluation of the country’s environmental performance over the past decade.
Die Umweltergebnisse haben sich in Deutschland in den vergangenen zehn Jahren weiter verbessert. Das Land verfolgt ehrgeizige Klimaziele, um bis 2045 Klimaneutralität und nach 2050 Negativemissionen zu erreichen. Dennoch muss Deutschland seine Klimamaßnahmen vor allem im Gebäude- und im Verkehrssektor weiter beschleunigen und sich ganzheitlich mit der Energie-, Klima- und Biodiversitätskrise auseinandersetzen. Als Reaktion auf die Energiekrise wurde eine Reihe von Maßnahmen ergriffen, deren Größenordnung und Reichweite historisch sind. Diese dürften die Energiewende in den kommenden Jahren deutlich schneller voranbringen. Außerdem verstärkt Deutschland sein Engagement in der Klimaanpassung auf allen staatlichen Ebenen und hat ein ehrgeiziges Förderprogramm für Investitionen in naturbasierte Lösungen aufgelegt. Dies ist die vierte Ausgabe des OECD-Umweltprüfberichts Deutschland. Er enthält 28 Empfehlungen, die Deutschland helfen sollen, seine Umweltergebnisse weiter zu verbessern.
Germany has continued to improve its environmental performance over the past decade. It has ambitious climate targets with the aim to reach climate neutrality by 2045 and achieve negative emissions after 2050. Nevertheless, Germany will need to further accelerate climate action, particularly in the buildings and transport sectors, and address the triple crisis of energy, climate and biodiversity in an integrated and holistic manner. As part of its energy crisis response, Germany has taken a series of measures, which are historic in size and scope. They are set to massively accelerate its green energy transition in the coming years. It is also scaling up its engagement on climate change adaptation across all government levels and has initiated an ambitious programme to foster investments in nature-based solutions. This is the fourth OECD Environmental Performance Review of Germany. It provides 28 recommendations to help Germany further improve its environmental performance.
Sociotechnical systems in areas like energy, agrifood and mobility need to transform rapidly to become more sustainable and resilient. Science, technology and innovation (STI) have essential roles in these transformations, but governments must be more ambitious and act with greater urgency in their STI policies to meet these challenges. They should design policy portfolios that enable transformative innovation and new markets to emerge, challenge existing fossil-based systems, and create windows of opportunity for low-carbon technologies to break through. This calls for larger investments but also greater directionality in research and innovation, for example, through mission-oriented policies, to help direct and compress the innovation cycle for low-carbon technologies. International co-operation will be essential, but rising geopolitical tensions, including strategic competition in key emerging technologies, could make this difficult. OECD Science, Technology and Innovation Outlook 2023 explores these and other key issues and trends that present STI with a new operating environment to which it must adapt.
Portugal managed to decouple several environmental pressures from economic growth over 2013-19. It played a leading role in the approval of the European Climate Law and adopted the Portuguese Framework Climate Law in 2021. This needs to be swiftly implemented to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, improve climate resilience and protect ecosystems. Portugal has stepped up adaptation efforts but needs to do more to address multiple threats, including coastal erosion, floods, droughts and forest fires. The country is lagging behind in waste management. Meanwhile, the increase in freshwater abstractions in water-scarce southern regions is a concern.
This is the fourth Environmental Performance Review of Portugal. It provides an evidence-based assessment of the country's progress towards its environmental goals over the past decade. The 26 recommendations aim to help Portugal improve its environmental performance, giving special focus to carbon neutrality.
Tourism has been hit hard by the depth and duration of the crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic. Just as the sector was starting to rebound, the economic fallout from Russia’s aggression against Ukraine has dealt a fresh blow to recovery prospects. The 2022 edition of OECD Tourism Trends and Policies analyses tourism performance and policy trends to support recovery across 50 OECD countries and partner economies. It examines the key tourism recovery challenges and outlook ahead, and highlights the need for co-ordinated, forward-looking policy approaches to set tourism on a path to a more resilient, sustainable and inclusive future. Evidence on the significance of the tourism economy is presented, with data covering domestic, inbound and outbound tourism, enterprises and employment, and internal tourism consumption. Tourism policy priorities, reforms and developments are analysed and examples of country practices highlighted. Thematic chapters provide insights on building resilience in the tourism ecosystem and promoting a green tourism recovery.
OECD Regions and Cities at a Glance presents indicators on individual regions and cities since the turn of the new millennium. It provides a comprehensive picture of past successes and likely challenges that regions and cities in OECD members and partner countries will face in their efforts to build stronger, more sustainable and more resilient economies. By relying on a combination of traditional and more innovative data sources, OECD Regions and Cities at a Glance describes the evolving nature of spatial disparities within countries from a multidimensional perspective. New topics covered by this edition include the economic impact of recent shocks, such as the pandemic and the energy crisis, housing affordability, climate change and digitalisation.
This guidance sets out elements of credible corporate climate transition plans, which aim to align with the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement. Such plans are needed to address the growing risk of greenwashing in transition finance and facilitate a global, whole-of-economy climate transition. Based on extensive stakeholder consultations, including an industry survey, the guidance provides market actors, policy makers, and regulators with a comprehensive overview of existing transition finance approaches, identifying the main challenges and solutions. The guidance is relevant to: (i) policy-makers and regulators seeking to develop or revise relevant policy frameworks or regulations; (ii) corporates developing transition plans and seeking to identify the most salient elements of existing initiatives; and (iii) financial market participants planning to provide finance for the implementation of net-zero strategies. The guidance emphasises greater transparency, comparability and granularity in corporate transition plans, and the need for adequate environmental and social safeguards. In light of challenges for some corporates, especially in emerging markets and developing economies, and the risk of excluding key actors from transition finance, the guidance highlights the need for policy-makers to take stronger action to bolster domestic enabling environments for transformative investments.
Much has changed in the space economy over the past decade, with an ever-growing number of countries and business enterprises involved in space activities. Despite progress made in the quality and availability of data, the international comparability of space economy statistics remains limited. A decade after its first publication, it is therefore time to provide an up-to-date revision of the OECD Handbook on Measuring the Space Economy to reflect the changing landscape of space activities, space technologies and subsequent evolving user needs. This new edition aims to encourage and facilitate data collection among both incumbents and new actors involved in space activities, respond to the needs of the public agencies that still fund the bulk of space programmes, and support industry and private decision-takers who will also benefit from improved statistics on the space economy.
Over the past decade, the United Kingdom has reduced several environmental pressures while growing its economy. Ahead of its presidency of the 2021 UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties, it has led the way by raising its national ambition. However, air pollution, deteriorating natural assets and missed biodiversity targets are all concerns. Further efforts are needed to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, prepare for climate change, reverse biodiversity loss and ensure a more resource-efficient circular economy. Strengthening co‑ordination between the United Kingdom and devolved governments, as well as enhancing coherence between sectoral and environmental policies will be key.
This is the third Environmental Performance Review of the United Kingdom. It evaluates progress towards green growth, with a special chapter focusing on waste, materials management and the circular economy.