4-May-2020
English
This brief focuses on the role of environmental policy in enhancing environmental health and reducing the vulnerability of individuals and communities to pandemics and other shocks in the future. The brief highlights policy actions in relation to air quality, water and sanitation, waste management and biodiversity protection that can contribute to well-being and increased resilience.
14-April-2020
English
Women currently account for approximately 32% of total employment in the renewable energy sector, compared to 22% in the more traditional oil and gas sector. On the one hand, this tells us that women are generally under-represented in the energy sector overall, but on the other, it shows that renewable energy, as a younger and more dynamic sector is an opportunity for change.
7-April-2020
English
The Sustainable Development Goals highlight the importance that the global community places on water and there is increasing demand for innovative and effective approaches to water management. The OECD provides policy guidance on water to OECD members and non-OECD countries, covering a wide range of issues. Find our more on the OECD work on water.
22-March-2020
English
Today, we are facing a global public health crisis with the coronavirus pandemic, and the world’s governments are struggling to respond. The health of so many, especially the most vulnerable, is at risk. Water and sanitation are key to combatting this crisis, with basic hygiene and hand-washing on the frontline of our defensive measures.
17-March-2020
English
This paper presents results from a first pilot study to measure the consistency of real economy investments with climate change mitigation objectives. The analysis focuses on investments in infrastructure and equipment in the manufacturing industries in Norway between 2010 and 2017, estimated at USD 2.5 billion per year on average.
13-March-2020
English
During past years, Korea figured among the OECD countries with the highest share of population exposed to excessive PM2.5 (atmospheric particulate matter that have a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres) concentrations and PM2.5 concentration level in Seoul is about two times higher than the WHO’s guidelines or the levels of other major cities in developed countries.
13-March-2020
English
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
This paper reviews the impacts and costs of pesticide and fertiliser pollution as well as the policy responses to counter these in selected OECD countries. More specifically, the paper begins with an overview of the main biodiversity and health impacts of excess pesticide and fertiliser. In economic terms, nitrogen pollution, for example, has been estimated to cost the European Union between EUR 70 billion and EUR 320 billion per year.
6-March-2020
English
It has been another unusually mild winter in Europe, with January and February feeling more like the beginning of spring. At the same time, summer in the Southern Hemisphere could not have been more different. Australians experienced the hottest and driest summer on record. Since the 1980s temperatures have been steadily rising in Australia, with the annual national mean temperature in 2019 being 1.52 °C above the 1961–1990 average.
25-February-2020
English