Publications & Documents

This new web format for Environment at a Glance Indicators provides real-time interactive on-line access to the latest comparable OECD-country data on the environment from the OECD Core Set of Environmental Indicators – a tool to evaluate environmental performance in countries and to track the course towards sustainable development. The web version allows users to play with the data and graphics, download and share them, and consult and download thematic web-books. These indicators provide key messages on major environmental trends in areas such as climate change, biodiversity, water resources, air quality, circular economy and ocean resources. They are accompanied by a short Environment at a Glance report that presents a digest of the key messages stemming from the indicators.

In recent years, the Philippines has increased its commitment to climate action and its efforts to decarbonise the domestic economy. The power sector in the Philippines accounts for 58% of the country’s overall carbon emissions and will be an important driver of domestic emission reduction efforts to meet national climate and energy targets. Renewables, such as offshore wind, are expected to play a key role in the transition toward a low-carbon energy mix. With more than 17 thousand kilometres of coastline, the Philippines is estimated to have an offshore wind potential of 178 GW. However, this potential has yet to be leveraged. Alongside a changing power sector, progress on energy efficiency is needed to achieve the country’s emission reduction goals, with energy savings estimated at approximately 2% annually for the residential and commercial sectors. To deliver a clean energy transition, the Philippines requires estimated cumulative investments of over USD 300 billion between now and 2040. This report outlines key actions needed to unlock finance and investment in offshore wind power and energy efficiency in public buildings. It also provides a comprehensive overview of the progress to date and the challenges to mobilise near-term finance in those sectors, assist the Philippines transition towards a low-carbon economy, and achieve broader development goals.

State-of-the-art scientific evidence shows that our planet is approaching several environmental and climate tipping points faster than previously expected. This means that the international community is facing a rapidly closing window of opportunity to achieve profound transformations across sectors, systems and mindsets to secure a sustainable and liveable future. What is the role of education system in enabling social change at the massive scale and pace needed for climate change mitigation? And what policy levers can they employ to build resilience and adapt to environmental challenges? This paper explores ways to rethink educational approaches in the context of climate change, focussing primarily on school education, while exploring links to other levels of education. It looks specifically at strategies to restructure foundational science education and cross-curricular learning, zooms in on the potential of place-based approaches in empowering learners for action, and concludes by identifying policy levers to increase education system resilience.

This report on scaling up clean hydrogen financing provides a unique and in-depth proposal to transform ideas into attractive investment projects. It highlights how policy and financial risk mitigation mechanisms play a critical role in slashing the funding gap and reducing the cost of hydrogen generation. The findings promise to boost clean hydrogen lighthouse projects to revolutionize this multi-billion-dollar industry, so that emerging markets and developing countries can successfully participate in this nascent sector.

As climate change increases exposure to natural disasters, countries need new solutions to mitigate risks of natural hazards. For many in Asia and the Pacific, mobilising existing resources is not enough: they need to consider a grand design of disaster risk financing strategies. Catastrophe bonds (CAT bonds) can be an effective, market-based financing tool for the region. While the global CAT bond market has grown steadily since the 1990s, it remains weakly developed in Asia and the Pacific. Its successful development there requires robust purpose-built legal frameworks; developed general bond markets, especially in local currency; appropriate capacity building; and data-driven pricing models. This report explores each of these conditions along with policy suggestions for fostering them, and discusses the development of multi-country CAT bonds in Asia and the Pacific.

This report presents developments of the work of the Inclusive Forum on Carbon Mitigation Approaches (IFCMA) to the G20 Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors, and reflect on the IFCMA’s achievements one year on from its launch in February 2023.

This scoping note presents a high-level overview of the main approaches to, and challenges faced when, calculating product-level carbon intensity metrics, including those applicable to collecting and verifying information across the supply chain. Though the analysis focuses on approaches used in emissions-intensive trade-exposed sectors (EITE), the findings also have broader relevance to other sectors. As part of the analysis, challenges relating to computing sector-level carbon intensity metrics are also considered, particularly as inputs to product-level metrics.

Many ocean economic activities are not readily visible in official statistics, hindering policymakers' access to crucial information for decision making. The OECD ocean economy measurement project aims to address this by aligning ocean economy statistics with broader economic data and ensuring international consistency. This paper compares the measurement strategies of eight OECD member countries using principles from the system of national accounts. It also highlights the ocean economy thematic accounts of four countries and summarises their methods. The paper concludes with recommendations for integrating ocean economy measurements with national accounting standards, a vital step for improving the evidence base for ocean policymaking.