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  • 6-October-2023

    English

    OECD Environmental Performance Reviews: Costa Rica 2023

    A megadiverse county, Costa Rica is known globally for its success in reversing deforestation and pursuing a growth model based on the sustainable use of its environmental resources. However, energy use and related greenhouse gas emissions increased in the last decade. Private cars are a major and growing source of emissions affecting climate and air quality. Waste disposal still relies on landfills, and much wastewater is untreated. Costa Rica’s extensive protected area network and pioneering programme of payments for ecosystem services have helped reduce biodiversity loss and extend forests’ carbon sequestration capacity. However, more should be done to tackle pressures on biodiversity from development of infrastructure and settlements, tourism, farming and fishing. The sheer scale of investment needed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals calls for improving the efficiency of public spending, mobilising private finance, strictly enforcing regulations and providing adequate incentives. This is the first OECD Environmental Performance Review of Costa Rica. It evaluates the country’s progress towards sustainable development, with a special chapter focusing on biodiversity, and provides 52 recommendations.
  • 3-October-2023

    English

    Managing Climate Risks and Impacts Through Due Diligence for Responsible Business Conduct - A Tool for Institutional Investors

    This report explores how institutional investors can apply risk-based due diligence as recommended by the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises on Responsible Business Conduct and help them prevent and mitigate adverse climate impacts associated with their investee companies on society and the environment. It provides practical recommendations on how to conduct due diligence as a way to connect climate commitments at portfolio level with real-economy impacts and draws on other frameworks and tools for assessing, managing or disclosing climate impacts associated with investments.
  • 29-September-2023

    English

    Environment at a Glance Indicators

    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.
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  • 28-September-2023

    English

    Blogs and articles related to environment

    Read what OECD bloggers have to say about topics as varied as air pollution, biodiversity, climate, environmental policies, gender, green finance, green growth, investment, ocean, waste, water and more. Our latest blog: How the need to mitigate climate change will affect careers and what to do about it.

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  • 28-September-2023

    English

    Environment Working Papers

    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.

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  • 28-September-2023

    English

    Watered down? Investigating the financial materiality of water-related risks in the financial system

    Water-related risks are intrinsically linked to both climate and nature challenges and can be closely tied to socio-economic challenges, such as poverty, food security, and domestic and international conflicts. There is increasing evidence that water-related risks are financially material across actors in the financial system, and further still, that there may be important implications for financial stability. However, a review of current practices indicates that these risks are not fully captured by current approaches to assessing risk. This working paper explores how the financial sector understands the concept of financial materiality as a lever for decision making on water-related climate and nature risks. The paper also looks at how regulatory and supervisory guidance considers water in the context of climate and nature risks, and finally how sustainable finance tools and initiatives can support market participants in gaining an improved understanding of water-related risks.
  • 28-September-2023

    English

    Paris-consistent climate change mitigation scenarios - A framework for emissions pathway classification in line with global mitigation objectives

    Since the adoption of the Paris Agreement, governments and economic actors have increasingly been setting greenhouse gas emissions reduction or net zero targets. Amidst risks of delayed action and greenwashing, there is need to understand whether climate related targets and transition plans are consistent with the Paris Agreement. Climate change mitigation scenarios can be used as inputs to design such targets and plans, and as benchmarks to assess progress towards them. In this context, this paper proposes criteria for selecting global climate change mitigation scenarios that can be considered consistent with the Paris Agreement temperature goal and emissions objectives, based on state-of-the-art literature on climate science and mitigation scenarios.
  • 28-September-2023

    English

    Climate change mitigation scenarios for financial sector target setting and alignment assessment - A stocktake and analysis of their Paris-consistency, practicality and assumptions

    Climate change mitigation scenarios are a key forward-looking input for a range of financial sector analyses and assessments. The inaccurate use of mitigation scenarios can, however, contribute to unintended incentives, environmental integrity concerns, and greenwashing risks. This paper aims to inform climate change mitigation scenario providers, financial sector participants and stakeholders, and climate policymakers on how they may contribute to improved use of scenarios for the purposes of target setting and alignment assessments in the financial sector. To do so, the paper analyses climate change mitigation scenarios currently used for these purposes, based on the following analytical dimensions: consistency with the Paris Agreement, practicality, and underlying assumptions.
  • 26-September-2023

    English

    Mechanisms to Prevent Carbon Lock-in in Transition Finance

    Carbon lock-in occurs when high-emission infrastructure or assets continue to be used, despite the possibility of substituting them with low-emission alternatives, thereby delaying or preventing the transition to near-zero or zero-emission alternatives. Transition finance, which focuses on the dynamic transformation and decarbonisation of hard-to-abate sectors, frequently faces the issue of carbon lock-in, particularly in considerations of investment feasibility and eligibility. Despite most transition finance approaches incorporating lock-in avoidance as a core principle, existing transition instruments and approaches put in place varying or limited mechanisms to prevent lock-in. Building on the OECD Guidance on Transition Finance, this report takes stock of how carbon lock-in risk is addressed in existing transition finance approaches (such as taxonomies, roadmaps, or guidance), financial instruments, and relevant public and private investment frameworks and methodologies. The report provides good practices on the integration of credible mechanisms to prevent carbon lock-in, address greenwashing risks and build confidence in the market. It can inform both public and private actors in the development of transition finance approaches, standards for green, transition and sustainability-linked debt, frameworks for corporate transition plans, or broader climate-related disclosure frameworks.
  • 21-September-2023

    English

    Extended Producer Responsibility

    OECD defines Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) as an environmental policy approach in which a producer's responsibility for a product is extended to the post-consumer stage of a product's life cycle.

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