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Policy Instruments for the Environment Database

About PINE

The database

“Policy Instruments for the Environment” (PINE) is a unique database gathering detailed information on policy instruments relevant for environmental protection and natural resource management.

Work to build the database started in 1996, initially with a limited scope, and it was progressively expanded. Today, the database contains information on over 3900 policy instruments implemented in more than 130 countries globally.

 

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Instruments by type and environmental domain

PINE is a structured and harmonised database suitable for statistical analysis. It provides the same set of quantitative and qualitative information for each instrument. Its relational structure is designed to support empirical policy analysis.

The database covers five types of policy instruments across 22 environmental domains.

 

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Key information in one place

PINE gathers essential descriptive information in one place. For each instrument, you can find:

  • when it was introduced;
  • what it applies to;
  • the geographical coverage;
  • the environmental domains it aims to address;
  • the industries concerned;
  • revenues, costs or rates;
  • exemptions.

Harmonised official information

The information in the PINE database is collected via a network of 400 country experts (including government agencies, research institutes and international organisations).

Registered experts update the data once per year through our password-protected interface.

The OECD Secretariat then harmonises and validates the data, in consultation with countries, before they are published.

In-depth coverage

Environmentally related tax revenue

Environmentally related taxes represent about a half of all instruments in the database. The tax bases covered include:

  • Energy products (including vehicle fuels)
  • Motor vehicles and transport services
  • Measured or estimated pollution emissions to air and water, ozone depleting substances, certain non-point sources of water pollution, waste management and noise
  • Management of resources: water, land, soil, forests, biodiversity, wildlife, and fish stocks.

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Note: *indicates that environmentally related tax revenue is displayed for the last available year: Australia 2017, Canada 2014, Costa Rica 2019, Israel 2018, Korea 2014.

 

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Tracking biodiversity-relevant policy instruments

Since 2016, the PINE database identifies and tracks economic instruments relevant for biodiversity. These indicators also serve the Biodiversity Indicators Partnership and serve for tracking SDG 15.a.1, on revenue generated and finance mobilized from biodiversity-relevant economic instruments. The data and indicators were also used to monitor progress towards Aichi Target 3 of the 2011-2020 Strategic Framework for Biodiversity under the U.N. Convention on Biological Diversity. Today, these indicators are relevant to the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF), specifically Target 18 on Incentives and Target 19 on Resource Mobilisation.

In 2022, the data collection of PINE was expanded to cover key characteristics of biodiversity-relevant instruments, including on payments for ecosystem services (PES) and biodiversity offsets.

 

Access the data

Summary statistics

Policy microdata

Visit the PINE data visualization portal and browse the policy microdata. Pre-defined queries will allow you to search and extract data by type of instrument, country, environmental domain, or by industry.

Contribute

All countries are welcome to contribute to the database. Government ministries or agencies, and recognised research institutes, are welcome to join the network of PINE country experts.

Policy instruments implemented by all branches of government can be integrated into PINE insofar they are of environmental relevance.

Join the network of country experts by writing to pinedatabase@oecd.org.

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