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Climate change and other environmental threats require urgent government action. This policy paper discusses how governments can use better regulation instruments (good regulatory practices, risk-based and agile approaches, regulatory delivery, international regulatory cooperation, economic regulators, and behavioural insights) to design, implement and evaluate efficient and effective regulations for the environment. It explores the challenges governments face and presents good practices for environmental and other regulations, to ensure that all policy instruments coherently pursue environmental goals. Finally, the paper suggests how regulatory policy systems can meet present and future environmental challenges. It argues that to fully exploit the potential of better regulation for the environment, governments should implement measures that ensure an inclusive, cooperative, outcome-based and global approach to regulating.

The Future of Rural Manufacturing provides insights on the transformations that have occurred in manufacturing across rural regions in recent decades. It describes opportunities and challenges in this context, highlighting those relating to climate and demographic change and digitalisation, as well as shifting patterns in globalisation. With support from the European Commission, the project combines a wide range of both quantitative and qualitative analysis. The former examines broad trends in manufacturing performance across OECD rural (TL3) regions between 2000 and 2019, with deeper dives that draw on more granular microdata in 14 OECD countries. Case studies were conducted across 12 regions in Slovenia, Germany, Italy, and France. They comprised interviews with over 300 local, regional, and national actors across government, private sector, universities, research institutes, NGOs and non-profit community organisations. The project also benefited from foresight and futures workshops conducted in January and July 2022 with experts and policymakers across OECD countries.

This report provides concrete recommendations for strengthening the legislative and institutional framework for elected and appointed officials in Malta. It reviews the institutional and procedural set-up of the Commissioner for Standards in Public Life and analyses the omissions, inconsistencies and overlaps in the Standards in Public Life Act. It also provides recommendations to the Government of Malta on developing the most feasible lobbying regulation, and identifies concrete measures to strengthen the existing codes of ethics for elected and appointed officials, as well as the system of asset and interest declarations.

In 2019, the OECD Council adopted the Recommendation on Artificial Intelligence (the 'OECD AI Principles'). These include five values-based principles and five recommendations for OECD countries and adhering partner economies to promote responsible and trustworthy AI policies. This report takes stock of initiatives launched by countries worldwide to implement the OECD AI Principles which were reported to the OECD.AI Policy Observatory as of May 2023. It provides an overview of national AI strategies, including their oversight and monitoring bodies, expert advisory groups, as well as their monitoring and evaluation frameworks. It also discusses the various regulatory approaches that countries are adopting to ensure AI trustworthiness, such as ethics frameworks, AI-specific regulations, and regulatory sandboxes. Additionally, the report offers policy examples for each of the ten OECD AI Principles to facilitate cross-learning among policymakers.

This paper takes stock of the institutional set-ups, mechanisms and practices used by governments, and in particular centres of government, to steer climate change policy. To respond effectively to climate change, governments need decision-making and co-ordinating processes that reflect the complexity and pressing nature of the climate crisis, the multitude of stakeholders involved, and the need to balance between short-term and long-term policy objectives. With their unique positioning, centres of government in OECD Member countries often play a crucial role in providing leadership and co-ordination for climate policy. The first part of this paper identifies the institutional arrangements, mandates and skillsets of centres of government for climate-related action. The second part analyses the centre’s stewardship role at different stages of the policy cycle, touching on strategic planning, co-ordination, the development of evidence-informed policies, and monitoring as well as overall efforts to 'green' public administrations.

Artificial intelligence (AI) offers tremendous benefits but also poses risks. Some of these risks have materialised into what are known as 'AI incidents'. Due to the widespread use of AI in various sectors, a surge in such incidents can be expected. To effectively monitor and prevent these risks, stakeholders need a precise yet adaptable definition of AI incidents. This report presents research and findings on terminology and practices related to incident definitions, encompassing both AI-specific and cross-disciplinary contexts. It establishes a knowledge base for identifying commonalities and encouraging the development of AI-specific adaptations in the future.

This report addresses housing inequities through a series of analytical chapters and case studies. The cross-country chapters examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on housing demand, develop a proposal for a green land value tax, evaluate the dynamics between fiscal autonomy and housing supply responsiveness, as well as explore the drivers of inter-regional migration. The case studies unravel the changes of Korea's progressive national property tax and a programme to address regional imbalances, assess the impact of the US property tax system on housing, dive into Norway's property taxation in relation to inequality, as well as survey Belgium's approaches to housing policy. With a blend of empirical data and critical analysis, the report underscores the pressing need for comprehensive strategies in addressing housing inequities. It also offers insights for policymakers and scholars, highlighting the complex balance between national and local housing policies.

This Review assesses the Federal Planning Bureau (FPB) and its institutional, operational and analytical performance as an independent fiscal institution. The FPB’s responsibilities have been growing and this Review provides insights into how effectively the institution continues to serve the needs of its stakeholders. As part of this, it looks at the Bureau’s performance related to its new mandate to undertake election budgetary costings and impact assessment, carried out for the first time in relation to the 2019 election.

These guidelines discuss cross-cutting issues that can affect the effective procurement of infrastructure and associated services necessary to host Olympic and Paralympic Games. Designed for organising committees responsible for the overall delivery of the Games, the guidelines offer examples, good practices and practical tools to help mitigate these risks. They also provide checklists to help organisers of large international events assess their exposure to the risks identified in this report.