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13-June-2023
English
Survey shows households are willing to shift to greener lifestyles but that cost and convenience are key
While households are willing to adjust their behaviour for the benefit of the environment, governments need to do a lot more to encourage more sustainable choices. Making environmentally friendly options more affordable and convenient, and creating concrete incentives for behavioural change is key, according to a new OECD analysis.
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31-May-2023
English
OECD Environmental Performance Reviews: Israel 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.
17-May-2023
English
Distributed renewable energy in Colombia - Unlocking private investment for non-interconnected zones
Colombia has prioritised the use of renewable energy to expand and improve electricity services for its population in zones non-interconnected to the national grid. Recent policies and regulations have supported this ambition with successive measures to strengthen investment conditions for distributed renewable energy, like standalone solar photovoltaic (PV) solutions and hybrid solar PV mini-grids. Still, the distributed renewable energy market in non-interconnected zones is relatively immature, reflected by the high costs for connecting new users. New business and financing models will be critical to bringing down the cost of renewable energy technologies, accessing private equity and debt in larger volumes, and ultimately progressing towards replacing existing inefficient and polluting diesel generation systems. Building on international experiences, this paper discusses approaches to strengthening investment conditions, looking at support mechanisms and de-risking instruments used elsewhere, which can help bridge the financing gap in Colombia.
8-May-2023
English
OECD Environmental Performance Reviews: Germany 2023
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.
8-May-2023
English
A return to strong, resilient and sustainable growth for Germany requires future focused investment and reform
The latest OECD Economic Survey of Germany shows how the COVID-19 and energy crises have exposed structural weaknesses in the economy, underscoring the need to improve energy security, to modernise, digitalise and streamline government administration and to address skills shortages while boosting investment in the green and digital transition.
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28-April-2023
English
Towards a National Circular Economy Strategy for Hungary
The growing demand for raw materials in the Hungarian economy projected up to 2050 is expected to exert significant additional pressure on the environment, putting the country at risk of missing important environmental goals and opportunities to strengthen the competitiveness and resilience of its economy. Despite the notable progress in decoupling environmental pressures from economic activities over the past 20 years, several challenges remain. The transition to a circular economy has significant potential to address these challenges. To fully realise the circular potential of its economy, Hungary will need to adopt a comprehensive circular economy policy framework. This report outlines a set of key elements for the development of the Hungarian national circular economy strategy and action plan. It identifies priority areas that are deemed critical to the Hungarian circular economy transition, including: biomass and food, construction and plastics, as well as cross-cutting horizontal tools to facilitate an economy-wide circular transition. It also provides 45 policy recommendations and suggests specific implementation actions across the priority areas for the short, medium and long term.
24-April-2023
English
Reform Options for Lithuanian Climate Neutrality by 2050
This report presents policy reform options to support Lithuania in meeting its climate neutrality target. It takes stock of Lithuania’s current and planned climate policies and assesses their potential for meeting the country’s climate ambitions. The report details the results of modelling carried out to assess the effectiveness of different policy scenarios, an analysis of carbon pricing and the role of innovation, an assessment of financial needs in the transition to net zero, and an analysis of the distributional implications of carbon pricing. Bringing together these findings the report offers recommendations for policy reform, highlighting the importance of setting price signals complemented by innovation support, as well as the potential of revenue recycling options in alleviating distributional concerns.
20-March-2023
English
The economic consequences of air pollution policies in Arctic Council countries - A sectoral analysis
This report quantifies the environmental, health and economic consequences of policy action on air pollution in Arctic Council countries, with a focus on sectoral differences. The report takes a modelling approach and compares a baseline scenario that reflects current legislation, with a policy scenario in which the best available techniques to reduce emissions are deployed in all emitting sectors. The report highlights that benefits from air quality improvements can be obtained when considering emission reductions throughout the economy, and not just in the sectors that are targeted more often, such as industry and transport. The results presented in the report also highlight the need for country-specific policy strategies that take into account the current levels of policy stringency, the sectoral contributions to air pollution, and the need for sectoral investment in new technologies, which also vary by country.
9-March-2023
English
Environmental Tax Policy Review of Andalusia
The Environmental Tax Policy Review of Andalusia provides a detailed review of the environmentally related tax framework in the areas of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, water usage and pollution, and waste and circular economy in the Autonomous Region of Andalusia, Spain. For each thematic area, the study identifies the scope for action at the regional level, assesses how Andalusia’s existing environmentally related taxes align with environmental tax policy principles and provides strategic recommendations to support Andalusia to improve environmental outcomes and enhance national and global environmental performance.
10-February-2023
English
New OECD Forum to help optimise global emissions reductions through data sharing, mutual learning and dialogue
Over the past two days, 607 senior government officials and delegates representing 103 countries and jurisdictions and 9 international and other organisations, discussed ways to boost global emissions reductions through improved collaboration at the inaugural meeting of the Inclusive Forum on Carbon Mitigation Approaches (IFCMA).