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At the global level, civic space is narrowing and thus efforts to protect and promote it are more important than ever. The OECD defines Civic Space as the set of legal, policy, institutional, and practical conditions necessary for non-governmental actors to access information, express themselves, associate, organise, and participate in public life. This document presents the Civic Space Scan of Finland, which was undertaken at the request of the Finnish government and is the first OECD report of its kind. OECD Civic Space Scans in particular assess how governments protect and promote civic space in each national context and propose ways to strengthen existing frameworks and practices. The Scan assesses four key dimensions of civic space: civic freedoms and rights, media freedoms and digital rights, the enabling environment for civil society organisations, and civic participation in policy and decision making. Each respective chapter of the report contains actionable recommendations for the Government of Finland. As part of the scan process, a citizens’ panel – also overseen by the OECD – was held in February 2021 and generated a wide range of recommendations for the government from a representative microcosm of Finnish society.

IUCLID (International Uniform Chemical Information Database) is a software application designed to record, store, maintain and exchange data on chemicals. It is a key software application for both regulatory bodies and the chemical industry where it is used in the implementation of various regulatory programmes. IUCLID can be customised and configured to manage chemical data in different contexts and is a platform employing globally harmonised data elements pertinent to chemicals. It is continuously updated to provide greater customisation, extension and integration with other tools. This second edition provides the latest updates on IUCLID features and processes, including visual “working” contexts for the preparation and management of data according to regulatory contexts or data processes, possibilities for data entry in multiple languages, and a matrix view of the use of IUCLID in OECD countries.

Electricity is an integral part of all modern economies, supporting a range of critical services. Secure supply of electricity is of paramount importance. The power sector is going through fundamental changes with increasing pressure from climate change. Climate change directly affects every segment of the electricity system altering generation potential and efficiency, testing physical resilience of transmission and distribution networks, and changing demand patterns. Effective policy measures and co-ordinated action among key actors play a central role in building resilience to climate change. This report provides an overview of the climate impacts on electricity systems. It describes how climate change affects each segment of the electricity value chain – generation, transmission and distribution, and demand – with case studies around the world. It proposes a step-by-step application of measures for policy makers and key stakeholders to build the climate resilience of electricity systems.

Germany has a strong skill development system. The country’s 15‑year‑old students performed above the OECD average in the last (2018) edition of the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), continuing a trend of significant improvement since PISA’s first edition in 2000. Its adult population also has above‑average literacy and numeracy skills, according to the OECD Survey of Adult Skills (PIAAC). A strong and well-respected vocational education and training system is seen as one of the success factors behind these achievements. However, participation in learning beyond initial education lags behind other high-performing OECD countries and varies considerably across different groups of the population. This is problematic in a rapidly changing labour market, where participation in continuing education and training is a precondition for individuals, enterprises and economies to harness the benefits of these changes. This report assesses the current state of the German continuing education and training (CET) system. It examines how effectively and efficiently the system prepares people and enterprises for the changes occurring in the world of work, and identifies what changes are necessary to make the CET system more future ready. The report makes recommendations for the further development of the CET system based on international good practice.

Conflicts in North and West Africa have become more violent and widespread than in the past. They have also become more difficult to resolve due to the complex relationships between a growing number of belligerents with diverging agendas. Building on a dataset of more than 36 000 violent events over a 23‑year period and three case studies (Lake Chad, Central Sahel and Libya), this report maps conflict networks and the evolution of rivalries and alliances in 21 North and West African countries. It applies an innovative approach, Dynamic Social Network Analysis, to explain the types and evolution of relationships across actors in conflict. Finally, the report analyses the impact of military interventions on the re‑composition of violent groups and the shifting nature of insecurity. This new analysis, based on temporal and spatial approaches contributes to the creation of strategies that will ensure long‑term political stability and serves as a reminder that there is a need for co‑ordinated regional approaches and place‑based policies.

Career guidance for adults is a fundamental lever to help adults successfully navigate constantly evolving labour markets. As labour markets in Latin America are hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic and mega trends such as globalisation and digitalisation continue to impact labour demand, support is urgently needed. Millions of adults have lost their jobs and need to identify new career options. However, career guidance for adults is still rare in Latin America. More common are vocational guidance programmes for young people, or labour intermediation services for adults. This report analyses career guidance initiatives for adults in four Latin American countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Mexico). It emphasises the need to establish career guidance higher up on the policy agenda of the region. Lessons are drawn on how to strengthen the coverage and inclusiveness of career guidance, provision and service delivery, quality and impact, as well as governance and funding. The findings build on information collected through the 2020 Survey of Career Guidance for Adults (SCGA), an online survey of adults’ experience with career guidance.

The Swiss economy is innovative and knowledge-intensive. Consequently, it relies heavily on intellectual property rights. Swiss industries are also export-oriented and solidly integrated in the global economy. At the same time, the threats of counterfeiting and piracy are growing, and Swiss industries are vulnerable. This report measures the direct economic effects of counterfeiting on Swiss industry and the Swiss government. It estimates the impact of the global trade in fake products that pose as “Swiss made” in terms of lost jobs, forgone profits and lower tax revenues.

This report, commissioned by France’s Ministry for the Ecological Transition and written jointly by the International Energy Agency and RTE, the French Transmission System Operator, examines the conditions and requirements needed to assess the technical feasibility of scenarios with very high shares of variable renewable energy in France’s power system. The report looks into trends for energy demand and renewable resource availability in the 2020 National Low-Carbon Strategy (Stratégie nationale bas-carbone, or SNBC). Several scenarios of high shares of renewables are examined: mainly based on onshore wind, mainly based on offshore wind expansion and mainly based on distributed PV. Building on these scenarios, the report looks at changes in the system’s flexibility needs and how the range from short-term to long-term flexibility can be satisfied by new technologies such as flexible charging of electrified transport, battery storage, demand-side flexibility and sector coupling. The report then looks to essential questions on electricity security, i.e. addressing the issue of keeping system stability in the context of decreasing system inertia, ensuring adequacy of the system and the sizing available reserves under a scenario of large shares of variable renewables. Finally, the report evaluates the VRE integration capacity of the existing French transmission network, as well as necessary modifications and expansion beyond 2035. The recommendations and findings of this report form the basis for further detailed technical and economic assessments that are to be carried out by RTE in 2021.

The COVID-19 crisis has reiterated the importance of adult learning and career guidance services as many adults have lost their jobs and now require upskilling and reskilling opportunities in order to keep pace with the rapidly evolving world of work. To foster the development of responsive and more widespread adult learning opportunities in Japan, this report analyses several policy options to expand access to training, remove the barriers to training participation, and ensure that the training provided is aligned with Japan’s labour market needs. It also discusses the importance for Japanese workers of receiving guidance and support from their employer to facilitate career progression and the need for externally provided guidance services for workers who want to change jobs. Based on this analysis, this report provides actionable policy recommendations as well as good practice examples from OECD countries.

This report explores the accessibility challenges that people face in remote areas. It demonstrates how state support can ensure access to essential services and reduce social and economic isolation where private markets fail to provide adequate transport connections. It provides a classification of policy interventions in different countries and reviews common design and implementation challenges. Finally, it analyses different approaches to determine the appropriate level of state support for transport in remote communities.

Career guidance is a fundamental policy lever to help adults successfully navigate a constantly evolving labour market through advice and information on job and training opportunities. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored the importance of career guidance services. Many adults have lost their jobs and require assistance navigating their career options in a changing labour market, where firms are likely to accelerate the adoption of digital technologies in the name of pandemic-proofing. But compared to career guidance services for youth, services for adults receive relatively little policy attention, and little is known of how often existing services are used. This report scopes out initiatives in the area of career guidance for adults in OECD countries, drawing lessons on how to strengthen adult career guidance systems in terms of coverage and inclusiveness, provision and service delivery, quality and impact, and governance and funding. The findings of the report build on the information collected through the 2020 Survey of Career Guidance for Adults (SCGA), an online survey of adults’ experience with career guidance.

Coal 2020 highlights recent global and regional trends in coal demand, supply and trade, and an outlook to 2025. The extraordinary circumstances in 2020 impacted coal markets and lend uncertainty to how they will be tailored in a post-Covid-19 economic recovery. Therefore, Coal 2020 spotlights developments in 2020 and expected conditions in 2021. It also provides an analysis of the evolution of coal supply costs, prices and investment in mining projects. China – the world’s largest coal producer and importer as well as consumer of more than half of global coal – is highlighted. In addition, Coal 2020 includes forecasts of coal demand, production and trade by region and coal grade, and a compilation of coal mining projects in the main exporting countries in its annexes. Coal 2020 is an integral component of the International Energy Agency’s annual market report series that also includes oil, natural gas, renewables, electricity and energy efficiency.

This report provides a broad and evidence-based analytical perspective of the debate around the possible role of a Border Carbon Adjustment (BCA) to deal with climate change. The new context of divergent climate ambition has led to a resurgence of interest in BCAs. The paper provides an overview of different policy instruments that can limit carbon leakage, with a particular focus on the BCA option, and offers a technical review of the literature and of the legal specificities around BCA as well as of alternative instruments. The report also analyses the issue of fragmented climate policies in the broader perspective of the trade-climate nexus and discusses how other policy measures – especially those related to trade – can help support climate objectives (for example, reducing the existing barriers to trade in environmental goods, and removing environmentally harmful and trade distortive subsidies).

This study’s primary aim is to explore ways to reduce heating-related residential sector emissions using a scenario analysis approach as the basis of a roadmap for Kazakhstan. The purpose of this roadmap is to help Kazakhstan formulate a policy framework and conditions to enable a household energy-use transition. It is intended to support and guide key government authorities as well as other stakeholders.

Consumption Tax Trends provides information on Value Added Taxes/Goods and Services Taxes (VAT/GST) and excise duty rates in OECD member countries. It also contains information about international aspects of VAT/GST developments and the efficiency of this tax. It describes a range of other consumption taxation provisions on tobacco, alcoholic beverages, motor vehicles and aviation fuels.

At a moment when many countries of the MENA region are looking to accelerate economic growth and build more stable, open societies, this report argues that greater women’s economic empowerment holds one of the keys. It asserts that despite challenges some countries are facing in guaranteeing women equal access to economic opportunity, progress is underway and can be further nurtured through targeted, inclusive and coordinated policy actions. Building on the conclusions of a first monitoring report released in 2017, the report analyses recent legislative, policy and institutional reforms in support of women’s economic empowerment in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco and Tunisia and seeks to identify success factors that have helped anchor reform. Moreover, it delivers actionable examples and practical tools for policy makers to help them transform policies into effective actions for women’s economic empowerment.