Publications & Documents

Egypt is a rapidly growing emerging economy and a demographic heavyweight on the African continent. High population growth, land-use change, pollution and climate change are increasingly putting pressure on the natural environment, including on its rich biodiversity. Egypt has achieved relative decoupling of greenhouse gas emissions from economic growth, though it needs to further mainstream climate action across sectors and progressively raise ambition. As one of the world’s most water-stressed countries, greater use of economic instruments would help address scarcity and improve water quality. As part of Egypt’s Vision 2030, the government is committed to turning environmental challenges into opportunities. It has taken steps to move towards more sustainable waste management and address air pollution, which remains a health concern. Egypt has significant potential to accelerate its clean energy transition. While environmental information and data have improved overall, public participation in environmental decision making needs to be further enhanced. This is the first Green Growth Policy Review of Egypt. It examines progress towards sustainable development and green growth over the past decade. The 40 recommendations aim to help Egypt improve its environmental performance, giving a special focus to building climate-smart, resilient and inclusive cities.

This paper takes stock of international good practices to measure progress and impacts towards a circular economy, based on existing circular economy strategies and related measurement frameworks at different levels of government. It also provides an overview of 215 operational and aspirational indicators available in Italy from official statistical sources and targeted circular economy reports. It highlights measurement challenges and concludes by identifying opportunities to expand the monitoring framework in Italy to measure progress towards a circular economy.

Across the world, people’s daily activities centre around clusters of population and economic activity. Settlements – cities, towns and villages – provide jobs and access to services for their own residents and others nearby. The quality of access to those services is key to promoting vibrant, inclusive and happier communities. However, access is not always uniformly distributed within countries, with metropolitan areas typically outperforming rural areas. This report looks at the interaction between geography and access to services. It considers three main factors: (1) The size of settlements; (2) Accessibility – the travel time associated with accessing settlements via car and public transport modes; and (3) Services – public and private services that are available and accessible across a variety of domains including health, finance and education. Numerous policy interventions hinge on improving service accessibility. Understanding the complex interactions between geography, transportation infrastructure, and service provision is essential for regional development policies and in particular for those regions facing population decline.

Ce manuel est le fruit de la collaboration étroite entre six organisations : la Commission européenne, l’Organisation des Nations unies pour l’alimentation et l’agriculture (FAO), le programme des Nations unies pour les établissements humains (ONU-Habitat), l’Organisation internationale du travail (OIT), l’Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques (OCDE) et la Banque mondiale. Il présente une méthode harmonisée pour faciliter les comparaisons statistiques internationales et classer l’ensemble du territoire d’un pays sur un continuum urbain-rural. La classification du degré d’urbanisation définit les agglomérations, les villes et les zones semi-denses et les zones rurales. Ce manuel est destiné à compléter et non à remplacer les définitions utilisées par les ministères et les instituts nationaux de statistique (INS). Il a été essentiellement conçu comme un guide à l’intention des producteurs et fournisseurs de données et des statisticiens afin qu’ils disposent des informations nécessaires pour mettre en œuvre la méthodologie et assurer la cohérence de leurs collectes de données. Il peut également permettre aux utilisateurs de statistiques infranationales de mieux comprendre, interpréter et utiliser les statistiques infranationales officielles et de prendre des décisions et d’élaborer des politiques en connaissance de cause.

In today's rapidly evolving economy, businesses are facing growing challenges in recruiting workers with the right skills. Chambers of commerce can play an important role in helping communities tackle these pressing issues and building skills systems that are fit for the future. This paper draws on a 2024 survey undertaken by the OECD in collaboration with Eurochambres and the International Chamber of Commerce, covering chambers from 65 countries and transnational regions. It explores the role chambers play in shaping and implementing skills policies at local, regional and national levels. Common approaches include supporting strategy development at both national and regional/local levels; serving as an intermediary between businesses and skills programmes; and, at least to some degree, being a direct provider of training themselves. As demands for agile and inclusive skills systems grow, this paper serves as a first step to explore how chambers can further support skills agendas.

A small group of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that grow fast over a short period of time, i.e., scalers, make an outsized contribution to job creation and economic growth. This paper provides a portrait of scalers in the Italian region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, and its two autonomous provinces: Trentino and Bolzano-Bozen. The region hosts and attracts a dynamic population of scalers. Around one in nine SMEs in Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol is an employment scaler, and more than one in six is a turnover scaler. However, the contribution of the fastest-growing scalers is lower than in the rest of Centre and North Italy, which is in part due to the sectoral specialisation of scalers in the region.

Improving rural development, well-being and maximising the potential in rural areas requires greater horizontal and vertical co-ordination at the national, regional, and local level as well as the mainstreaming of rural issues across all policies. However, taking an integrated approach to rural development - where rural ministries and non-rural ministries coordinate in the development of polices and initiatives - is often very challenging. Rural proofing is a tool to help policy makers overcome this challenge and develop more nuanced rural-friendly policies. It involves making policy decisions based on evidence on rural dynamics available in a timely fashion to enable changes and adjustments. In practice, however, it is a mechanism that has proved complex to design, implement, and sustain. This article explores how more robust rural proofing models can be developed, with health as a focal point. Drawing on lessons from different OECD member countries, it develops a roadmap for more effective rural proofing mechanisms to help embed the practice in the policy space and culture of governments.

The social and solidarity economy (SSE) is gaining traction in public policy at subnational, national and international level. However, despite increasing interest, available data on the SSE remain limited. Collecting data on the SSE helps better understand its reach and contribution to the total economy, while also helping policy makers to design effective policies for its promotion and SSE actors to access new audiences, markets and finance. The OECD produced country fact sheets for 34 countries to provide a snapshot of their social and solidarity economy at the national level, collating information on official definitions, number and size of entities, employment patterns, sectors of activity and economic contribution as well as surrounding legal frameworks and social impact initiatives. This paper looks at commonalities across these countries in their SSE ecosystems to present overall insights and trends.