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  • 18-November-2022

    English

    From recovery to resilience: Designing a sustainable future for Fukushima

    Ten years ago, a devastating earthquake, tsunamis and nuclear accident in Japan took thousands of lives and affected millions of people. This unprecedented disaster generated numerous lessons for policymakers in Japan and around the world on how to prepare, respond to and recover from shocks, and build resilient communities, regions and societies. The 30 to 40 year process of decommissioning Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station offers the impetus and a rare window of opportunity to cultivate long-term, sustainable growth and resilience in the region and beyond. This Policy Brief presents the outcomes of the OECD-Japan Policy Dialogue on Developing Decommissioning Industry Clusters in Fukushima, conducted in 2019–20. It discusses the opportunities and challenges related to the decommissioning, and the policy options for sustainable recovery and development in the region. It also presents experiences and lessons relevant to Fukushima from other OECD regions and cities. While the brief is designed for local readers (e.g. policy makers, the private sector, academia, civil society), it also aims to raise the global profile of Fukushima’s ongoing reconstruction and recovery efforts.
  • 6-September-2022

    English

    Young people’s environmental sustainability competence - Emotional, cognitive, behavioural, and attitudinal dimensions in EU and OECD countries

    The paper is the first in a series of two papers mapping young people’s environmental sustainability competence in EU and OECD countries that were prepared as background for the forthcoming OECD Skills Outlook 2023 publication. The papers are the results of a collaboration between the OECD Centre for Skills and the European Commission - Joint Research Centre (Unit B4) on students’ environmental sustainability competence. The second paper is titled: ‘The environmental sustainability competence toolbox: From leaving a better planet to our children to leaving better children for our planet’.
  • 6-September-2022

    English

    The environmental sustainability competence toolbox - From leaving a better planet for our children to leaving better children for our planet

    The paper is the second in a series of two papers mapping young people’s environmental sustainability competence in EU and OECD countries that were prepared as background for the forthcoming OECD Skills Outlook 2023 publication. The papers are the results of a collaboration between the OECD Centre for Skills and the European Commission - Joint Research Centre (Unit B4) on students’ environmental sustainability competence. The first paper is titled ‘Young people’s environmental sustainability competence: Emotional, cognitive, behavioural and attitudinal dimensions in EU and OECD countries.
  • 29-July-2022

    English

    The economic benefits of international co-operation to improve air quality in Northeast Asia - A focus on Japan, Korea and China

    Air pollution is a global challenge to people’s health and has severe economic consequences. The region of Northeast Asia is no exception. Across most regions in Japan, and in the entire territories of Korea and China, annual average concentrations of fine particulate matter are above the guideline levels indicated by the World Health Organisation, indicating a risk to health. Policy action to tackle air pollution across the three countries, could prevent air pollution related illnesses and deaths, without affecting economic growth. This report presents projections for the impact of air pollution polices until 2050, with differing levels of regional coordination. Projections for current policies are compared with unilateral policy action, whereby each of the three countries introduce more stringent policies to tackle air pollution; alongside regionally coordinated policy action by all three countries; and policy action on a global level. The report presents the health, agricultural and economic impacts, and identifies considerable benefits from further coordination on air pollution policies, such as with regional and global policy action.
  • 5-August-2021

    English

    Transition finance: Investigating the state of play - A stocktake of emerging approaches and financial instruments

    With only a decade left to reduce emissions drastically, the scale, pace and extent of global transformation needed is truly demanding. Long-term emission goals and the nature of the low-emission transition in each country will be a function of its unique socio-economic priorities, capabilities, resource endowment, vision for post 2050 economic structure, and social and political acceptability of what constitutes a just transition. As we enter the 'decade for delivery', a whole of economy approach is needed to realise the low-emission transition. This includes focusing not only on upscaling zero and near-zero emitting technologies and businesses but also supporting, to the extent possible, the progressive lowering of emissions in high emitting and hard to abate sectors. In this context, 'transition finance' is gaining traction among governments and market participants. To identify the core features of transition finance, this paper reviews 12 transition relevant taxonomies, guidance and principles by public (Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Russia, European Union, EBRD) and private actors (Climate Bonds Initiative, International Capital Markets Association, Research Institute for Environmental Finance Japan, AXA Investment Managers and DBS), as well as 39 transition relevant financial instruments (vanilla transition bonds, key performance indicator-linked fixed income securities). This paper does not aim to define transition finance, but rather to review emerging approaches and instruments to highlight commonalities, divergences as well as issues to consider for coherent market development and progress towards global environmental objectives. Based on the review, this paper puts forth two preliminary views. First, that the essence of transition finance is triggering entity-wide change to reduce exposure to transition risk; second, that transition finance may be better understood as capital market instruments with a set of core functions/attributes rather than a specific format or label.
  • 8-June-2021

    English

    Building Agricultural Resilience to Natural Hazard-induced Disasters - Insights from Country Case Studies

    Natural hazard-induced disasters (NHID), such as floods, droughts, severe storms, and animal pests and diseases have significant, widespread and long-lasting impacts on agricultural sectors around the world. With climate change set to amplify many of these impacts, a 'business-as-usual' approach to disaster risk management in agriculture cannot continue if we are to meet the challenges of agricultural productivity and sustainability growth, and sustainable development. Drawing from seven case studies – Chile, Italy, Japan, Namibia, New Zealand, Turkey and the United States – this joint OECD-FAO report argues for a new approach to building resilience to NHID in agriculture. It explores the policy measures, governance arrangements, on-farm strategies and other initiatives that countries are using to increase agricultural resilience to NHID, highlighting emerging good practices. It offers concrete recommendations on what more needs to be done to shift from coping with the impacts of disasters, to an ex ante approach that focuses on preventing and mitigating the impacts of disasters, helping the sector be better prepared to respond to disasters, and to adapt and transform in order to be better positioned for future disasters.
  • 13-March-2020

    English

    Policies, regulatory framework and enforcement for air quality management: The case of Japan - Environment Working Paper

    The pollution intensity of the Japanese economy, measured as emissions per dollar of GDP, is among the lowest within OECD countries. However, air pollution remains a significant issue. Almost 80% of the Japanese residents were exposed to an annual concentration of PM2.5 above the WHO guideline while the attainment rate of the domestic air quality standard for photochemical oxidants is below 1%.

  • 13-March-2020

    English

    Policies, regulatory framework and enforcement for air quality management: The case of Japan

    The pollution intensity of the Japanese economy, measured as emissions per dollar of GDP, is among the lowest within OECD countries. However, air pollution remains a significant issue. Almost 80% of the Japanese residents were exposed to an annual concentration of PM2.5 above the WHO guideline while the attainment rate of the domestic air quality standard for photochemical oxidants is below 1%. The analysis of the regulatory and enforcement framework for air quality management in Japan identifies best practises and key remaining challenges, including a limited understanding of the generation mechanism of ozone pollution and the need to strengthen cooperation among Prefectures. This paper complements two case studies on air quality policies in China and Korea, and a third case study on international regulatory cooperation on air quality in North America, Europe and North-East Asia.
  • 22-October-2018

    English

    OECD at the World Circular Economy Forum (WCEF)

    OECD Deputy Secretary General, Mr. Masamichi Kono, and Shardul Agrawala, Head, Environment and Economy Integration Division, OECD Environment Directorate, presents the key findings of the forthcoming OECD report "Global Material Resources Outlook to 2060: Economic Drivers and Environmental Consequences".

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  • 8-July-2016

    English

    Database on instruments used for environmental policy

    This database provides information on environmentally related taxes, fees and charges, tradable permit systems, deposit refund systems, environmentally motivated subsidies and voluntary approaches used in environmental policy in OECD member countries and a number of other countries. Developed in co-operation between the OECD and the European Environment Agency.

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