29-November-2023
English
This series is designed to make available to a wider readership selected studies on environmental issues related to biodiversity, chemicals, climate change, circular economy, country environmental performance, environmental-economic modelling, environmental innovation and taxes, green investment, plastics, trade, transport, waste and water.
7-April-2020
English
Innovation has a role to play to mitigate water-related risks and to support the provision of water services on which our well-being and sustainable development depend. Water-related innovation originate in countries with different levels of ambition. This paper uses patent data to document trends in the invention of technologies to promote water security since 1990, focusing on the countries in which inventions are developed.
2-April-2020
English
The Paris Agreement invites signatory countries to formulate and communicate long-term low greenhouse gas emission development strategies (LT-LEDS). This report compares the experience of three developed countries that have communicated LT-LEDS within the framework of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change: France (Stratégie National Bas-Carbone), Germany (Klimaschutzplan 2050) and the United Kingdom (Clean Growth Strategy).
17-March-2020
English
This paper presents results from a first pilot study to measure the consistency of real economy investments with climate change mitigation objectives. The analysis focuses on investments in infrastructure and equipment in the manufacturing industries in Norway between 2010 and 2017, estimated at USD 2.5 billion per year on average.
13-March-2020
English
During past years, Korea figured among the OECD countries with the highest share of population exposed to excessive PM2.5 (atmospheric particulate matter that have a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres) concentrations and PM2.5 concentration level in Seoul is about two times higher than the WHO’s guidelines or the levels of other major cities in developed countries.
13-March-2020
English
Four decades of rapid economic expansion in China has generated enormous pressure on the environment, natural resources and public health. Alarming smog outbreaks during the 2010-13 period prompted the government to introduce a number of reforms to control air pollution, including a re-organisation of environmental institutions, improving the coordination and integrity of enforcement actions across levels of government...
13-March-2020
English
The pollution intensity of the Japanese economy, measured as emissions per dollar of GDP, is among the lowest within OECD countries. However, air pollution remains a significant issue. Almost 80% of the Japanese residents were exposed to an annual concentration of PM2.5 above the WHO guideline while the attainment rate of the domestic air quality standard for photochemical oxidants is below 1%.
13-March-2020
English
This paper reviews the impacts and costs of pesticide and fertiliser pollution as well as the policy responses to counter these in selected OECD countries. More specifically, the paper begins with an overview of the main biodiversity and health impacts of excess pesticide and fertiliser. In economic terms, nitrogen pollution, for example, has been estimated to cost the European Union between EUR 70 billion and EUR 320 billion per year.
4-February-2020
English
The paper estimates the effect of energy prices and carbon taxation on firms’ environmental and economic performance. The analysis uses data on 8 000 firms that are representative of the French manufacturing sector and observed during 2001-2016. This paper also measures the causal impact of the carbon tax over the period 2014-2018 and simulates the effect of further increasing the carbon tax rate from €45 to €86 per tonne of CO2.
7-January-2020
English
This report investigates in what ways Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) could incorporate environmental objectives in chapters and articles related to subsidies for energy and environmental goods. It highlights the current state of play in incorporating provisions related to environmentally related subsidies in RTAs.