Publications

Prepared at the request of the City of Venice, this report explores the implications for Venice of the adoption in 2014 of new legislation on the governance of metropolitan cities. It builds on the analysis of the OECD Territorial Review of Venice (2010), analysing a number of different 'functional geographies' of the larger urban region centred on Venice. The report argues that, although the new legislation offers some opportunities for Venice to address local challenges, it is important to look beyond the Metropolitan City of Venice as defined in the new legislation and to pursue greater governance co-ordination across the larger city region that encompasses Padua, Treviso and Venice (PaTreVe). Co-operation in the fields of transport, land use, environmental protection and water resources management is particularly important; there are also significant opportunities in the fields of culture and tourism. The report also outlines a possible way forward for governance co-operation at the level of PaTreVe.

How do cities govern themselves as they grow bigger? The answer can shape the competitiveness and quality of life in those cities and depends on a number of factors, ranging from the country's institutional framework to the cities' specific socioeconomic dynamics. This report presents a typology of metropolitan governance arrangements observed across OECD countries and offers guidance for cities seeking for more effective co-ordination, with a closer look at two sectors that are strategic importance for urban growth: transport and spatial planning.The report draws from international examples of metropolitan governance mechanisms, and includes a series of in-depth case studies in a selection of six large metropolitan areas: Aix-Marseille (France), Frankfurt (Germany), Athens (Greece), Daejeon (Korea), Puebla-Tlaxcala (Mexico), and Chicago (United States).

The report provides an outline of recent and likely future urbanisation trends and discusses the consequences. The world is in the middle of an urbanisation process that will cause urbanisation rates to rise from low double digit rates to more than 80% by the end of the century. It argues that this is both a great opportunity and a great challenge, as decisions taken today will affect the lifes of people for a long time to come. The report aims at explaining why cities exist, and what can make them prosperous and function well. It also discusses whether cities are good for residents, for the countries they are located in and for the global environment. The report argues that cities exist and grow because they are a source of economic prosperity and offer amenities that benefit their residents. It concludes that urbanisation is a process that needs to be shaped by policy makers to ensure that all benefit from it.

Indonesia can claim many economic and political achievements over the last 15 years: the country posted consistently high economic growth rates, joined the G20, stabilised its young democracy, and devolved budgetary power and decision making. Extending this track record further depends on Indonesia’s ability to deliver sustainable and sufficient energy supply to markets and ultimately to consumers.Even though it remains a net energy exporter due to the expansion of its coal and liquid biofuel production, the country is consuming more energy as a result of rising living standards, population growth and rapid urbanisation. Indonesia is already highly dependent on oil imports. Meeting demand growth and ensuring the environmental sustainability of energy supplies must remain key pillars of its economic and investment policies and strategies.Indonesia has implemented important changes since the IEA published its first review of the country’s energy polices in 2008. Key milestones include the 2007 Law on Energy, the 2008 National Energy Policy, the 2009 Law on Electricity, and the 2009 Law on Mineral and Coal Mining. However, the government needs to continue this reform process vigorously and implement further improvements to Indonesia’s institutional set-up, alongside stronger policy planning and implementation, more investment in critical energy infrastructure, and continued movement towards regulated energy markets and cost-reflective pricing.This review analyses the energy policy challenges facing Indonesia and provides critiques and recommendations for further policy improvements. It is intended to help guide the country towards a more secure and sustainable energy future.

Les examens environnementaux de l’OCDE sont des évaluations indépendantes des progrès accomplis par les pays pour tenir leurs engagements environnementaux nationaux et internationaux.Ces examens ont pour objectif de favoriser les échanges de bonnes pratiques et l’apprentissage entre pairs, d’aider les gouvernements à rendre compte de leurs politiques auprès des autres pays et de l’opinion publique et d’améliorer la performance environnementale, individuelle et collective, des pays. Les analyses s’appuient sur un large éventail de données économiques et environnementales et contiennent également des recommandations de politique publique.Ce rapport est le troisième examen environnemental de la Suède. Il évalue les progrès accomplis par la Suède en termes de développement durable et de croissance verte, avec un accent particulier sur le rôle phare de la Suède dans la réduction des émissions de gaz à effet de serre et sa gestion de l'eau et des services écosystémiques marins.

Improving resource productivity and ensuring a sustainable resource and materials management building on the principle of the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) is a central element of green growth policies. It helps to improve the environment, by reducing the amount of resources that the economy requires and diminishing the associated environmental impacts, and sustain economic growth by securing adequate supplies of materials and improving competitiveness. To be successful such policies need to be founded on a good understanding of how minerals, metals, timber or other materials flow through the economy throughout their life cycle, and of how this affects the productivity of the economy and the quality of the environment. This report contributes to this understanding. It describes the material basis of OECD economies and provides a factual analysis of material flows and resource productivity in OECD countries in a global context. It considers the production and consumption of materials, as well as their international flows and available stocks, and the environmental implications associated with their use. It also describes some of the challenges and opportunities associated with selected materials and products that are internationally-significant, both in economic and environmental terms (aluminium, copper, iron and steel, paper, phosphate rock and rare earth elements).

Ce rapport est le troisième examen environnemental de l'Islande. Il évalue les progrès accomplis par l'Islande en termes de développement durable et de croissance verte, avec un accent particulier sur les aspects environnementaux des politiques énergétiques et touristiques du pays.

The recent oil market sell‑off, brought on by deep imbalances after years of record-high prices, will likely prove a milestone in the history of oil.  However prices eventually evolve, markets may never be the same.  This edition of the Medium-Term Oil Market Report sizes up the magnitude of this transformation so far and sketches the oil landscape at the 2020 horizon.

It is not just oil price signals that have changed, but also the market’s responsiveness to them. On the supply side, this Report’s forecast reflects not just lower price assumptions, but also the high price-sensitivity of US light tight oil compared to conventional crude, as well as OPEC’s embrace of market forces in late 2014 in a bid for market share.  On the demand front, it shows how the response to lower prices will differ in a low-growth, deflationary environment compared to a higher-growth one.

Not all factors can be easily predicted. Much hangs on the outcome of talks between Iran and the “P5+1” on that of Islamist violence in oil-producing countries, and on future relations between Russia and the West. Such geopolitical risk factors are themselves a defining feature of the oil market for the medium term.

As in previous editions, this Report also offers key projections of global refining capacity, crude trade flows and product supply, this year with special focus on the impact of changing bunker fuel legislation.

Rarely has the oil market faced changes as sweeping as today. That makes the insights from the IEA 2015 Medium-Term Oil Market Report all the more timely and valuable.

What are the channels for investment in sustainable energy infrastructure by institutional investors (e.g. pension funds, insurance companies and sovereign wealth funds) and what factors influence investment decisions? What key policy levers and risk mitigants can governments use to facilitate these types of investments? What emerging channels (such as green bonds, YieldCos and direct project investment) hold significant promise for scaling up institutional investment?

This report develops a framework that classifies investments according to different types of financing instruments and investment funds, and highlights the risk mitigants and transaction enablers that intermediaries (such as public green investment banks and other public financial institutions) can use to mobilise institutionally held capital. This framework can also be used to identify where investments are or are not flowing, and focus attention on how governments can support the development of potentially promising investment channels and consider policy interventions that can make institutional investment in sustainable energy infrastructure more likely.

 

Peer reviews are a standard co-operative OECD working tool that offer member countries a framework to compare experiences and examine best practices in a host of areas. The OECD Nuclear Energy Agency (NEA) has developed a proven methodology for conducting peer reviews in radioactive waste management and nuclear R&D. Using this methodology, the NEA Radioactive Waste Management Committee’s Working Party on Decommissioning and Dismantling (WPDD) developed the present guide as a framework for decommissioning cost reviewers and reviewees to prepare for and conduct international peer reviews of decommissioning cost estimate studies for nuclear facilities. It includes checklists that will help national programmes or relevant organisations to assess and improve decommissioning cost estimate practices in the future. This guide will act as the NEA reference for conducting such international peer reviews.