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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 once every five to six 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 activities of the member under review and its approach to fragility, crisis and humanitarian assistance. Austria prioritises its multilateral engagement, advocates actively on global challenges such as security and environmental sustainability, and demonstrates regional leadership. The Austrian Development Agency is delivering quality development assistance to Austria’s priority partner countries but is responsible for only a small share of Austria’s total official development assistance (ODA) effort. In the absence of a single, overarching policy vision, Austria’s ODA remains fragmented. This review looks at the opportunities for Austria to achieve a more co-ordinated and coherent whole-of-government approach. It also emphasises the need for Austria to develop a plan to increase its aid budget in line with its commitment to allocate 0.7% of its gross national income to ODA.

Governments and providers of development co-operation increasingly use Sustainable Development Goal indicators to guide their policies and practices. The close examination of three large recipients of development co-operation: Ethiopia, Kenya and Myanmar across the sectors of Education, Sanitation and Energy reveals four inter-related challenges in using SDG indicators at country level. First, the cost of using specific SDG indicators varies in relation to indicator complexity – complementary investments in country statistical systems may be necessary. Second, providers synchronising their country-level results planning with partner countries find it easier to align to and measure SDG indicators together with the partner country and other providers. Third, reliance on joint monitoring approaches is helping providers reduce the cost of SDG monitoring. Finally, while disaggregating SDG data by gender and by urban-rural dimensions is common, other data disaggregation relevant to ensure that no one is left behind are rare.

Climate change is altering the ecological and social systems that underpin human well-being and economic activity, and developing countries are particularly vulnerable to its impact on the growth and sustainable development prospects of every sector and community. Being part of the solution requires all providers of development co-operation to align their activities with the objectives of the Paris Agreement. However many still lack the mandates, resources, incentives and strategies to do so. This report outlines how providers can make changes at home, in developing countries and in the international development co-operation system, to help create low-emissions, climate-resilient economies, and how they can avoid supporting activities that lock the world into an unsustainable future.

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. Italy is strongly committed to multilateralism, and it uses its convening power as well as expertise in co-operation to make the country a leading voice on issues such as agriculture and cultural heritage. The country’s commitment to leaving no one behind is particularly apparent through the focus on gender and disability. However, the country would benefit from reversing the recent decline in official development assistance (ODA), building a stronger and better-skilled workforce, forming a coherent, whole-of-government approach to migration and development, and creating a system to manage for results.

This volume compiles the consensus documents developed by the OECD Working Group for the Safety of Novel Foods and Feeds from 2015 to 2019. It deals with the composition of common bean, rice, cowpea and apple, four important crops for agriculture and food consumption worldwide. The science-based information collated here is intended for use during the regulatory assessment of food/feed products derived from modern biotechnology, i.e. issued from transgenic plants. Compositional considerations are provided for each species, including tables detailing the key nutrients, anti-nutrients, possible toxicants, allergens and other metabolites contained in the products. This essential information and solid data can be used in the comparative approach as part of the novel food/feed safety assessment. It should be of value to crop breeders and applicants for commercial uses of novel foods and feeds, to regulators and risk assessors in national authorities, as well as the wider scientific community. More information can be found at BioTrack Online.

Helping countries to improve the lives of their citizens requires effective international development co-operation. The Global Partnership for Effective Development Co-operation’s principles (country ownership, focus on results, inclusive partnerships, and transparency and mutual accountability) have been guiding relationships between development partners for close to a decade, helping them to strengthen and improve the way they co-operate and ensuring that all citizens are invested in the process. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) work together to monitor progress in using these principles. In 2018, data was collected by 86 partner countries and territories, in collaboration with more than 100 development partners, to serve as the basis for this work and provide evidence. By highlighting where progress has been made and where challenges remain, the work helps governments and their partners strengthen collective action towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

How can members of the DAC effectively tackle critical environmental challenges and threats – such as climate change, pollution, and loss of soil fertility and biodiversity – in activities supporting the 2030 Agenda in developing countries? Most already have environmental safeguards in place to screen out negative environmental practice, but they need far more robust policies, capacities and approaches for mainstreaming environment across all their development co-operation activities. This report examines five critical areas for mainstreaming: strong policy commitment and leadership; robust systems, processes and tools; capacity and continuous skill development; shared knowledge, learning and engagement; well-supported country systems. On that basis, the report suggests priority actions for the OECD-DAC, its Network on Environment and Development (ENVIRONET) and the wider development community.

This report presents the objectives, methodology, procedures and main findings of the OECD project 'Strengthening public finance capacity for green investments in the EECCA countries'. Between 2016-19, the project aimed to help set the partner countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Moldova) on a sustainable path of development by reducing the energy and carbon intensity of their economies. Working with the relevant ministry in each country, the project designed public investment programmes in line with good international practices. These programmes sought to address key objectives of the countries' environmental and climate-related policies. The Clean Public Transport Programmes focus specifically on reducing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions from the target sector, primarily in large urban areas. They aim to demonstrate how to use scarce public funds to encourage private sector investment in projects that generate significant environmental and socio-economic benefits alike.

This report discusses the main results of a project on how an influx of funds could spur development of cleaner public transport, and reduce air pollution and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in large urban centres in Kyrgyzstan, by providing an analysis for designing a green public investment programme in this sector. This sector represents an opportunity for Kyrgyzstan to address key objectives in its environmental and climate-related policies as part of the country’s ambitions to transition to a green economic path of development. The investment programme is also designed to support the modernisation of the urban transport fleet in the country and stimulate the domestic market to shift to modern buses powered by cleaner fuels. The programme is foreseen to be implemented in two phases: the first covers the cities of Bishkek and Osh and the second extends to areas outside of the initial pilot city centres (pilot city suburbs as well as inter-city transport). These investments are expected to result in significant environmental, public service and socio-economic benefits.