Reports

Germany intends to reach climate neutrality in 2045, tripling the speed of emission reductions that was achieved between 1990 and 2019. Soaring energy prices and the need to replace Russian energy imports have amplified the urgency to act. Various policy adjustments are needed to ensure implementation and achieve the transition to net zero cost-effectively. Lengthy planning and approval procedures risk slowing the expansion of renewables, while fossil fuel subsidies and generous tax exemptions limit the effectiveness of environmental policies. Germany should continue to rely on carbon pricing as a keystone of its mitigation strategy and aim to harmonise prices across sectors and make them more predictable. Carbon prices will be more effective if complemented by well-designed sectoral regulations and subsidies, especially for boosting green R&D, expanding sustainable transport and electricity network infrastructure, and decarbonising the housing sector. Subsidies for mature technologies and specific industries should be gradually phased out. Using carbon tax revenue to compensate low-income households and improve the quality of active labour market policies would help to support growth and ensure that the transition does not weaken social cohesion.

This paper investigates the demand for language skills using data on online job vacancies in 27 European Union member countries and the United Kingdom in 2021. Evidence indicates that although Europe remains a linguistically diverse labour market, knowing English confers unique advantages in certain occupations. Across countries included in the analyses, a knowledge of English was explicitly required in 22% of all vacancies and English was the sixth most required skill overall. A knowledge of German, Spanish, French and Mandarin Chinese was explicitly demanded in between 1% and 2% of all vacancies. One in two positions advertised on line for managers or professionals required some knowledge of English, on average across European Union member countries and across OECD countries in the sample. This compares with only one in ten positions for skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers and among elementary occupations.

Addressing 21st century development challenges requires investments in innovation, including the use of new approaches and technologies. Currently, many development organisations prioritise investments in isolated innovation pilots that leverage a specific approach or technology rather than pursuing a strategic approach to expand the organisation’s toolbox with innovations that have proven their comparative advantage over what is currently used. This Working Paper addresses this challenge of adopting innovations. How can development organisations institutionalise a new way of working, bringing what was once novel to the core of how business is done? Analysing successful adoption efforts across five DAC agencies, the paper lays out a proposed process for the adoption of innovations. The paper features five case-studies and concludes with a set of lessons and recommendations for policy makers on innovation management generally, and adoption of innovation in particular.

German federal states and municipalities have engaged in decentralised development co-operation (DDC) since the 1950s. Germany provides over half of total official development assistance (ODA) in the world that is channelled as DDC. However, most of this support remains within German borders. To incentivise further international partnerships, the federal government has established dedicated programmes and financial support schemes for states and municipalities. This report presents key data on the DDC landscape in Germany and offers guidance on how to strengthen its role in enabling peer-to-peer learning and improve collaboration between German states and municipalities. It also showcases how to further raise awareness about the mutual benefits of DDC partnerships, including through better ODA data reporting and a harmonised approach to monitoring and evaluating its results across levels of government.

The paper discusses the implications of recent advances in artificial intelligence for knowledge workers, focusing on possible complementarities and substitution between machine translation tools and language professionals. The emergence of machine translation tools could enhance social welfare through enhanced opportunities for inter-language communication but also create new threats because of persisting low levels of accuracy and quality in the translation output. The paper uses data on online job vacancies to map the evolution of the demand for language professionals between 2015 and 2019 in 10 countries and illustrates the set of skills that are considered important by employers seeking to hire language professionals through job vacancies posted on line.

New OECD surveys of employers and workers in the manufacturing and finance sectors of seven countries shed new light on the impact that Artificial Intelligence has on the workplace —an under-researched area to date due to lack of data. The findings suggest that both workers and their employers are generally very positive about the impact of AI on performance and working conditions. However, there are also concerns, including about job loss—an issue that should be closely monitored. The surveys also indicate that, while many workers trust their employers when it comes to the implementation of AI in the workplace, more can be done to improve trust. In particular, the surveys show that both training and worker consultation are associated with better outcomes for workers.

This report is the first country review undertaken as part of the OECD work on LGBTI+ inclusion. It explores legal and policy progress towards LGBTI+ equality in Germany at both the national and subnational levels, and identifies good practices. The report first investigates the life situation of LGBTI+ Germans by presenting the most up-to-date data on the share of Germans who self-identify as LGBTI+, evaluating the extent to which LGBTI+ Germans face discrimination and violence, and assessing how this population fares in terms of well-being, mental and physical health. The report then examines whether laws critical to achieving LGBTI+ equality have been passed and how LGBTI+ equality in Germany could be further improved through legislation. Finally, beyond laws, the report focuses on policy achievements towards LGBTI+ equality, by distinguishing between remedial policies, aimed at enforcing antidiscrimination and anti-violence laws, and preventive policies, aimed at fostering a culture of equal treatment of LGBTI+ individuals at school, in the workplace, and in healthcare.