Public governance

This report provides a global assessment and outlook on wildfire risk in the context of climate change. It discusses the drivers behind the growing incidence of extreme wildfires and the attribution effect of climate change. It outlines the environmental, social and economic impacts of wildfires by illustrating the losses and costs observed during recent extreme wildfire events. Building on this, the report presents the findings of a cross-country comparative analysis of how countries’ policies and practices have evolved in recent years in light of observed and projected changes in wildfire risk. The analysis draws on in-depth case studies conducted in Australia, Costa Rica, Greece, Portugal and the United States. The report underlines the urgent need for governments to scale up climate change adaptation efforts to limit future wildfire costs.

Like many other OECD countries, Greece has embarked on an ambitious digital transformation of its public sector to make it more effective, sustainable, proactive and people-centred. However, digital transformation projects present challenges in terms of governance, procurement, implementation and institutional capacities. This review explores how Greece could overcome these challenges to ensure that digital government investments address critical bottlenecks such as the procurement process and result in policy coherence, achieve value for money, and deliver intended outcomes. It also highlights the crucial role of whole-of-government co-ordination.

Gender equality and environmental sustainability are gaining political momentum as global challenges that require urgent action at the national and international levels. Both figure prominently, albeit with limited interlinkages, in the United Nations Agenda 2030, and gender equality considerations are slowly making their way into international environmental and climate commitments. An integrated approach to gender equality and environmental sustainability – i.e. recognising the gender-environment nexus – could help to alleviate limitations to gender equality and women’s economic empowerment and enhance their roles in environmental sustainability and green growth. Likewise, enhancing gender equality, and women’s economic empowerment and decision-making, can lead to better environmental and climate outcomes and policies. This report observes the gender-environment nexus in the Greek policy framework. It assesses environmental and climate policies through a gender lens, and gender equality policies through an environmental lens. It focuses mainly on policies and measures that could support women’s economic empowerment in environment-related sectors; women’s environmental leadership and decision making; and mainstreaming gender equality and environmental sustainability in policy tools. It proposes a series of recommendations that, if taken on board, could support integrating the gender-environment nexus into Greece’s national policies.

Greece has undergone extensive reforms to cope with a deep recession over the past decade. It has made progress in decoupling air pollutant emissions from GDP and improving the conservation status of natural habitats. However, the country faces challenges in managing waste and water, and addressing air pollution. It is highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change. The energy mix has shifted towards cleaner fuels, but the economy strongly relies on fossil fuels. Progress towards sustainable development requires effective implementation of ambitious climate mitigation and adaptation policies, strengthening environmental governance and enhancing coherence between environmental and energy, transport, agriculture and tourism policies. This is the third Environmental Performance Review of Greece. It evaluates progress towards sustainable development and green growth, with special features on climate change mitigation and adaptation, and biodiversity conservation and sustainable use.

This paper presents and discusses the general findings and key policy messages of the 2019 OECD Open, Useful and Re-usable data (OURdata) Index, and provides a detailed analysis of the results for each pillar and sub-pillar. Additionally, it assesses the main advancements and challenges related to the design and implementation of open government data (OGD) policies in OECD member and partner countries by comparing the results for 2019 with those of the 2017 edition. This policy paper contributes to the OECD work on the digital transformation of the public sector, including digital government and data-driven public sector and open government data.

Money in politics is a double-edged sword. It is a necessary component of the democratic process, enabling the expression of political support as well as allowing for competition in elections. Yet, if the financing of political parties and election campaigns are not adequately regulated and monitored, money may also be a means for powerful special interests to capture the policy process. This report provides an in-depth analysis of the political finance mechanisms in Greece, drawing on international standards and good practices. It provides concrete guidance on developing a solid legislative framework and an effective oversight mechanism for political finance. Finally, the report suggests ways to improve integrity in the short and medium term.

This Internal Audit Manual is designed to support the modernisation and standardisation of audit practices in Greek public organisations. It encompasses an array of practical processes and templates, and provides concrete guidance on 1) establishing a modern and effective internal audit function in public entities, 2) taking a risk based approach to developing a multi-annual audit plan, 3) conducting a fraud risk assessment, 4) helping organisations and programmes prepare for audit, and 5) delivering a successful audit from the planning phase to conducting and reporting.