Greece

Greece has undergone extensive reforms to cope with a deep recession over the past decade. It has made progress in decoupling air pollutant emissions from GDP and improving the conservation status of natural habitats. However, the country faces challenges in managing waste and water, and addressing air pollution. It is highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change. The energy mix has shifted towards cleaner fuels, but the economy strongly relies on fossil fuels. Progress towards sustainable development requires effective implementation of ambitious climate mitigation and adaptation policies, strengthening environmental governance and enhancing coherence between environmental and energy, transport, agriculture and tourism policies. This is the third Environmental Performance Review of Greece. It evaluates progress towards sustainable development and green growth, with special features on climate change mitigation and adaptation, and biodiversity conservation and sustainable use.

The OECD's Development Assistance Committee (DAC) conducts periodic reviews of the individual development co-operation efforts of DAC members. The policies and programmes of each DAC member are critically examined approximately once every five years. DAC peer reviews assess the performance of a given member, not just that of its development co-operation agency, and examine both policy and implementation. They take an integrated, system-wide perspective on the development co-operation and humanitarian assistance activities of the member under review. Since its last peer review, a severe economic recession brought about significant cuts to Greece’s national budget – including official development assistance. However, Greece has maintained its commitment to development co-operation. In response to the refugee and migration crisis Greece mobilised resources and its population to provide significant support to asylum seekers and refugees, and adapted its domestic policies to create conditions for peaceful co-existence between refugees, asylum seekers and the Greek population. As the economy recovers and Greece considers stepping up its development co-operation, this review recommends a number of steps that the government might take including building a new vision for development co-operation and putting in place the structures and systems to achieve it.