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Economic regulators are responsible for ensuring that infrastructure services are delivered efficiently, where competition on its own is unable to achieve this outcome. Based on a survey of 34 economic regulators covering 77 sectors and subsectors including energy, transport, communications and water, this report explores how economic regulators carry out this task, and suggests how this experience can be usefully applied in the governance of infrastructure more broadly.
Sovereign wealth funds manage a large share of the world’s invested capital. The action or inaction of these funds on climate finance is of crucial importance to the world’s ability to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement, and restrain global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius. However, sovereign wealth funds have so far played a very limited role in climate finance. This report provides guidance on how governments can support their sovereign wealth funds in becoming climate-aligned commercial investors. The establishment of synergies between sovereign wealth funds and strategic investment funds can help scale up investments in clean-energy infrastructure.
The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development has an unprecedented ambition, but also confronts countries with an enormous challenge given the complex and integrated nature of the Agenda with its 17 Goals, underpinned by 169 Targets. To assist national governments with their implementation, the OECD has developed a unique methodology allowing comparison of progress across SDG goals and targets, and also over time. Based on the Global indicator framework for the Sustainable Development Goals and leveraging UN and OECD data, this report provides a high-level assessment of OECD Member countries’ performance across the Goals and Targets of the 2030 Agenda. The report evaluates the distance that OECD countries need to travel to meet SDG targets for which data is currently available, but it goes one step further and deepens the analysis by identifying long-term trends, considering also how these trends may be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. By providing a high-level overview of countries’ strengths and weaknesses in performance across the SDGs, it aims to support Member countries in navigating the SDGs and in setting their own priorities for action within the broad 2030 Agenda.
The space economy is expanding and becoming increasingly global, driven by the development of ever-more governmental space programmes around the world, the multiplication of commercial actors in value chains, durable digitalisation trends, and new space systems coming of age. This report describes these emerging trends using new and internationally comparable data and indicators. It highlights the growing importance of space activities for the economy, for developing country strategies (based on original official development assistance statistics), for the pursuit of knowledge and scientific discoveries, and for society in general. To get the most out of space investments and promote sustained socio-economic growth, this report provides some recommendations to countries in building up their statistical evidence on space actors and activities.
Technology manufacturing plays a pivotal role in the energy transition required to meet climate, energy security and economic development goals. Deploying clean energy technologies at the pace required to put the world on a trajectory consistent with net zero emissions by mid-century will demand rapid expansion in manufacturing capacity, underpinned by secure, resilient and sustainable supply chains for their components and materials.
The State of Clean Technology Manufacturing: Energy Technology Perspectives Special Briefing provides an update on recent progress in clean energy technology manufacturing in key regions. It focuses on five technologies – solar PV, wind, batteries, electrolysers and heat pumps – that will be critical to the energy transition. Manufacturing capacity for these technologies is expanding rapidly, driven by supportive policies, ambitious corporate strategies and consumer demand. The aim is to keep decision makers informed of investment trends and the impact that recent industrial strategies are having in these highly dynamic sectors.
This special briefing was produced to support deliberations at the 2023 G7 Leaders’ Summit in Hiroshima, Japan, from 19-21 May 2023. It builds on analysis in the latest edition of the IEA’s flagship technology publication, Energy Technology Perspectives 2023 (ETP-2023), published in January 2023, to take into account the latest announced expansions in manufacturing capacity.
The Toolkit for Water Policies and Governance compiles policies, governance arrangements and related tools that facilitate the design and implementation of water management practices in line with the OECD Council Recommendation on Water. It is designed to inspire and support countries which have either adhered to, are considering adhering to, or aim to converge towards the OECD standard.
The Recommendation was unanimously adopted by the OECD Council in December 2016. The adoption marked the outcome of a two-year consultation process with delegates from ministries active in the fields of agriculture, development assistance, environment, public governance, regional development, and regulatory policy, as well as with relevant stakeholders (the business sector, trade unions, environmental organisations) and the OECD Water Governance Initiative.
The Recommendation puts forward an international standard with high-level policy guidance on a range of topics relevant for the management of water resources and delivery of water services. The areas covered include managing water quantity, water risks and disasters, improving water quality, ensuring good water governance as well as sustainable finance, investment and pricing for water services.
The practices reported in the toolkit have been compiled by the OECD Secretariat, in close consultation with delegates from adhering countries. Regular updates will be made available.
While many countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) have committed to achieving climate neutrality and building resilience, translating these commitments into actions is imperative. This requires, for instance, better management of increasing risks from climate change and climate variability, as well as reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions through promoting innovation and green investments. Achieving these goals will require comprehensive long-term strategic and financial planning, a more integrated and inclusive approach, which better aligns adaptation and mitigation policies and measures across different sectors, albeit at a differentiated level.
This report identifies LAC countries’ main climate change policy priorities, which were discussed through a series of Regional Policy Dialogues and Expert Workshops and complements these with findings of recent analyses by the OECD and other international partners. It explores issues related to their implementation on climate adaptation, mitigation, and cross-cutting policy areas. The report covers various economic sectors, ranging from energy, transport, agriculture and tourism, as well as environment-related policies on infrastructure, water, biodiversity and ecosystems. The report also explores cross-cutting topics, such as climate governance and finance, environmental information, technology transfer, circular economy, oceans, gender equality and education. To overcome challenges and grasp the opportunities associated with a transition towards climate resilience and neutrality, the report proposes an Action Plan, with 40 key policy recommendations.
The Green Growth Strategy, outlined in this book, provides concrete recommendations and measurement tools to support countries’ efforts to achieve economic growth and development, while at the same time ensure that natural assets continue to provide the ecosystem services on which our well being relies. The strategy proposes a flexible policy framework that can be tailored to different country circumstances and stages of development.
Southeast Asia’s booming economy offers tremendous growth potential, but also large and interlinked economic, social and environmental challenges. The region’s current growth model is based in large part on natural resource exploitation, exacerbating these challenges. This report provides evidence that, with the right policies and institutions, Southeast Asia can pursue green growth and thus sustain the natural capital and environmental services, including a stable climate, on which prosperity depends.
Carried out in consultation with officials and researchers from across the region, Towards Green Growth in Southeast Asia provides a framework for regional leaders to design their own solutions to move their countries towards green growth. While recognising the pressures that Southeast Asian economies face to increase growth, fight poverty and enhance well-being, the report acknowledges the links between all these dimensions and underscores the window of opportunity that the region has now to sustain its wealth of natural resources, lock-in resource-efficient and resilient infrastructure, attract investment, and create employment in the increasingly dynamic and competitive sectors of green technology and renewable energy.
Some key policy recommendations are that these challenges can be met by scaling up existing attempts to strengthen governance and reform countries’ economic structure; mainstreaming green growth into national development plans and government processes; accounting for the essential ecosystem services provided by natural capital, ending open-access natural resource exploitation; and guiding the sustainable growth of cities to ensure well-being and prosperity.
This book provides measurement tools, including indicators, to support countries’ efforts to achieve economic growth and development, while ensuring that natural assets continue to provide the resources and environmental services on which well-being relies. The strategy proposes a flexible policy framework that can be tailored to different country circumstances and stages of development. This report accompanies the synthesis report Towards Green Growth.
The 2011 Green Growth Strategy provided initial guidance to governments on how to achieve economic growth and development, while preventing costly environmental damage and inefficient resource use. What progress have countries made in aligning economic and environmental priorities since 2011? This report attempts to evaluate this progress and highlight where there is broad scope to heighten the ambition and effectiveness of green growth policy. It draws lessons from green growth mainstreaming across the OECD’s work programme, notably in terms of how governments can maximise institutional settings to seize economic opportunities surrounding the transition to a green economy, and considers ways to enrich the Green Growth Strategy based on work undertaken since its launch.
Over 100 million workers in Southeast Asia have jobs that are directly or closely linked to the environment, making them vulnerable to climate change impacts. These same workers likely earn at least 20% lower than the national average and are largely in informal employment. The region’s necessary transition towards greener growth could affect them in several ways: some sectors will create jobs and others will lose jobs or disappear altogether. Understanding the effects of both climate change and green growth policies on jobs and people is thus essential for making the transition in Southeast Asia an inclusive one. The study explores these issues, with emphasis on the potential effects on labour of an energy transition in Indonesia, and of a transition in the region’s agricultural sector, illustrated by a simulated conversion from conventional to organic rice farming.
Addressing unsustainable patterns of consumption is a crucial challenge for OECD Member countries in tackling environmental problems. However, measures to influence consumer demand have, in the past, received less attention than measures to influence production patterns. This progress report provides an initial overview of the broad array of policies and policy instruments which OECD Member countries are already using or considering to influence consumer demand for certain goods and services. These include a wide range of regulatory, economic and social policy instruments, as well as other actions by government, such as capital investment and the use of the land-use planning system. Such actions often form part of Member countries' strategies to tackle major environmental problems, such as climate change.
This report reviews currently available information on the success of Member country initiatives in influencing consumption patterns. It finds that detailed information on the effectiveness of these policies is still limited, partly because many of the measures have only recently been put in place. It also identifies next steps for the OECD and for its Member countries, both to improve knowledge of policy initiatives and to take more effective action to influence consumption patterns.
Until recently, governments have measured economic progress by tallying such statistics as GDP, inflation and balance of payments. Today they agree that economic expansion should be socially and environmentally sustainable. Hence measuring progress towards sustainable development is essential to support decision making and inform the public.
How should environmental and social outcomes, such as clean air and water, full employment and good health be integrated with measures of economic progress? How will we know about progress towards sustainable transport, agriculture and energy production and use?
Towards sustainable development: Indicators to Measure Progress addresses these fundamental questions. The book contains the proceedings of the OECD Conference that was held in Rome in December 1999. It presents the wide range of initiatives and indicators that are already in place, and outlines the challenges that remain in measuring progress towards sustainable development.
Interest in sustainable development and awareness of the international dimension of environmental problems, have stimulated governments to track and chart environmental progress and its links with economic conditions and trends.
This publication presents leading environmental indicators from the OECD Core Set and thus contributes to measuring environmental performance and progress towards sustainable development.
Organised by issues such as climate change, air pollution, biodiversity, waste or water resources, this book provides essential information for all those interested in sustainable development.
The book provides a framework and outlines the objectives of policies to promote sustainable consumption. It analyses the effectiveness of different types of policy instruments (regulatory, economic, social) in influencing consumer decision-making, and identifies combinations of instruments for promoting more sustainable consumption.
Land use is central to many of the environmental and socio-economic issues facing society today. This report examines on-going challenges for aligning land-use policy with climate, biodiversity and food objectives, and the opportunities to enhance the sustainability of land-use systems. It looks at six countries – Brazil, France, Indonesia, Ireland, Mexico and New Zealand – with relatively large agricultural and forestry sectors and associated greenhouse gas emissions, many of which also host globally important biodiversity. Drawing on these countries’ relevant national strategies and plans, institutional co-ordination and policy instruments, the report provides good practice insights on how to better align land use decision-making processes and to achieve stronger coherence between land use, climate, ecosystems and food objectives.
Despite remarkable improvement in water supply and sanitation services, Estonia faces finance and investment challenges to keep up with social expectations and environmental health regulations. With downward demographic trends expected to affect water utilities revenues and the projected phasing out of EU water funding, which was essential in the rapid improvement of service provision over the last two decades, substantial efficiency gains are required to transition towards sustainable water service provision.
Towards Sustainable Water Services in Estonia presents a strategy and action plan to promote efficiency gains for water supply and sanitation services in Estonia, focusing on the consolidation of service provision. The report provides consolidation scenarios and accompanying measures, including depreciation methods for granted assets, and benchmarking methods going beyond cost comparisons to performance levels and the ambition of development plans. It also shares insights for countries facing similar challenges or seeking to improve the efficiency of water service provision.
The project was undertaken in collaboration with – and with the financial support of the Directorate-General for Structural Reform Support of the European Commission.
This report presents the results of collaboration on improving water security in Belarus, between the beneficiary country, the OECD and its partners implementing the EU-funded European Union Water Initiative Plus project. It provides an overview of the composition and distribution of the country’s water resources, including the particular challenges facing different regions (oblasts), and lays out the policy responses that Belarus has taken and planned to progress its overarching policy objective of ensuring water security within the framework of the future national Water Strategy in the Context of Climate Change for the Period until 2030. The report also provides an assessment of potential opportunities to boost water security in Belarus by supporting the country’s ongoing water policy reform agenda.