Reports

By 2050, the global population living in cities is projected to reach 5 billion, growing from 3.5 billion in 2015. Massive investment in infrastructure will be needed to accommodate this growth, and to adapt infrastructure to climate change and benefit from the digital transition. This report explores three ways to meet this challenge. Firstly, it outlines how new forms of urban planning can help to mobilise private finance for inclusive, resilient and sustainable urban investment. Secondly, it explores how leveraging private investment can help to strengthen cities capacity to support needed investment in a tighter fiscal environment. Finally, it considers the potential opportunities and challenges for mobilising sustainable finance – green, social and sustainable bonds and loans, sustainability-linked bonds and catastrophe bonds – for infrastructure investment by City Governments. The report also includes 17 short case studies from 12 countries that demonstrate innovative practices for creating the Cities of Tomorrow.

La publication Dynamiques du développement en Afrique tire les leçons des expériences des cinq régions du continent – Afrique australe, centrale, de l’Est, du Nord et de l’Ouest – pour élaborer des recommandations en matière de politiques publiques et partager les bonnes pratiques sur l’ensemble du continent. Étayé par les statistiques les plus récentes, son décryptage des dynamiques de développement vise à permettre aux leaders africains de réaliser la vision stratégique de l’Agenda 2063 à tous les niveaux : continental, régional, national et local. Cette édition explore les différentes manières dont l'Afrique peut attirer les investissements offrant le meilleur équilibre entre ses objectifs économiques, sociaux et environnementaux. Ses nouvelles données et analyses sont mises à la disposition des décideurs dans le but d’améliorer l’évaluation des risques, de renforcer les partenariats pilotés par les Africains et d’accélérer l'intégration régionale de manière à accroître les investissements durables. Deux chapitres dressent l’état des lieux des investissements en Afrique et les priorités connexes en matière de politiques publiques. Les cinq autres chapitres proposent des recommandations adaptées à chaque région dans des domaines stratégiques tels que les écosystèmes naturels, les énergies renouvelables, la finance climatique et les chaînes de valeur agroalimentaires. Cette publication entend nourrir le débat entre gouvernements de l’Union africaine, citoyens, entrepreneurs et chercheurs. Fruit de la collaboration entre la Commission de l’Union africaine et le Centre de développement de l’OCDE, elle propose une nouvelle coopération entre pays et régions, tournée vers l’apprentissage mutuel et la préservation des biens communs.

Located in the mid-Atlantic, the archipelagos of the Azores is an autonomous region of Portugal and an European Union Outermost Region. Once central to global trade routes, the Azores are aspiring to regain a prominent international role by leveraging their unique geographical, natural and historical attributes. To that end, this Production Transformation Policy Review (PTPR) Spotlight identifies priority actions in several areas, including scientific research and collaborations, the ocean economy, agro-food and renewable-energy value chains. It shows the importance for EU Outermost Regions, as well as for Small Island Developing States (SIDS), of building resilient international ties. It benefited from an extensive peer review process involving public and private stakeholders from Brazil, Iceland and the United States.

Environment at a Glance in Latin America and the Caribbean: Spotlight on Climate Change focusses on climate change, looking at trends in greenhouse gas emissions, exposure to climate-related hazards and climate policies. It provides key messages on past progress and remaining efforts to be made in Latin America and the Caribbean. The report draws on the OECD’s expertise in environmental data and indicators, on the work of the International Programme for Action on Climate (IPAC) and is part of the OECD Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Programme. The indicators presented come from OECD and other international databases, and reveal substantive gaps in the availability of data on the environment and climate in the region. This interactive report allows users to play with the data and graphics and to download and share them.

Fiscal spending policies adopted in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic have been presented as a unique opportunity to 'build back better' and re-ignite the economy while accelerating the transition to a low-carbon economy. This paper analyses 1 166 funding measures announced by 51 countries and the European Union in 2020-21 to support development and diffusion of low-carbon technologies. These measures – amounting to USD 1.29 trillion – can make an important contribution to filling the climate investment gap, particularly in emerging technologies such as carbon capture, usage and storage and green hydrogen. A modelling analysis suggests that they could have large impacts on greenhouse gas emissions and bring about significant co-benefits in terms of clean sectors’ output growth and reductions in fossil fuel imports.

This paper investigates the role of fiscal federalism in driving ecological transition, a key challenge in the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals agenda. The ecological transition seeks a sustainable society that prioritises natural resource preservation and reduces environmental impacts. The study investigates the link between fiscal federalism institutions and ecological transition policies, focusing on regional and local governments’ role in implementing environmental goals. Despite subnational governments’ commitment to green objectives, comprehensive plan implementation has been limited due to local governments’ incentive schemes and capacity constraints. The paper examines the potential of fiscal federalism institutions, such as fiscal rules, transfers and capacity-building programs, to support ecological transition policies. The research emphasises engaging regional and local governments in the green agenda and highlights the need for tailored approaches in multi-level fiscal governance to effectively achieve environmental goals. By investigating fiscal federalism’s potential contribution to ecological transition, the paper offers valuable insights for policymakers addressing environmental challenges through a multi-level governance approach.

The rapid advances of artificial intelligence (AI) in recent years have led to numerous creative applications in science. Accelerating the productivity of science could be the most economically and socially valuable of all the uses of AI. Utilising AI to accelerate scientific productivity will support the ability of OECD countries to grow, innovate and meet global challenges, from climate change to new contagions. This publication is aimed at a broad readership, including policy makers, the public, and stakeholders in all areas of science. It is written in non-technical language and gathers the perspectives of prominent researchers and practitioners. The book examines various topics, including the current, emerging, and potential future uses of AI in science, where progress is needed to better serve scientific advancements, and changes in scientific productivity. Additionally, it explores measures to expedite the integration of AI into research in developing countries. A distinctive contribution is the book’s examination of policies for AI in science. Policy makers and actors across research systems can do much to deepen AI’s use in science, magnifying its positive effects, while adapting to the fast-changing implications of AI for research governance.

The System of Environmental Economic Accounting Central Framework (SEEA CF) was adopted in 2012. In one decade, it has expanded to 92 countries, including most OECD countries. However, there is still work to be done by national statistics producers to increase the use of SEEA statistics. This paper focuses on the SEEA stocks and flows accounts, providing examples of where they are already used to support public policy making in high-priority areas such as climate change, environmental sustainability, the circular economy, and management of ecosystems and freshwater, as well as feeding into indicators, dashboards and other frameworks. Although these examples show that SEEA statistics are already informing public policy making in many countries, there are still important 'influence gaps'. The second part of this paper discusses why these gaps exist and what can be done about them.

This report presents the policy recommendations resulting from the National Dialogue on Water in Indonesia, which took place between June 2022 and March 2023. Getting water resources management right, underpinned with appropriate financing mechanisms, is a prerequisite for realising Indonesia’s ambitious national economic growth agenda to become one of the top five global economies by 2045. The Dialogue, therefore, centred around two priority areas: 1) financing water infrastructure and 2) non-structural measures for flood disaster risk reduction. The report explores several instruments to enhance the financing of water services in Indonesia, such as the advantages and disadvantages of uniform water tariffs, independent economic regulation, pollution charges and demand management instruments. The report recommends the utilisation of land value capture as an additional source of financing. It also explores how water information systems for disaster response, flood forecasting and early warning can reduce flood disaster risk. The National Dialogue on Water in Indonesia is part of a regional initiative with the Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Korea, the Asia Water Council and the OECD.

S'appuyant sur les conclusions de Pierre par pierre : Bâtir de nouvelles politiques du logement, ce deuxième volume se penche sur les tendances de fond qui façonnent les politiques du logement dans l'ère post-COVID-19. Le premier chapitre offre une vue d'ensemble en examinant la nécessité de surveiller l'impact de la pandémie sur l'accessibilité du logement, de répondre à la crise énergétique par l’intensification des efforts de décarbonation des logements, de maintenir la résilience du système financier face aux cycles immobiliers et de faciliter l’adaptation des marchés du logement à la montée en puissance du travail à distance et des préoccupations environnementales. Le deuxième chapitre est consacré à la décarbonisation du secteur du logement. Il recommande de combiner tarification du carbone, certification et réglementation de l'efficacité énergétique, et subventions pour atteindre les objectifs de zéro émission nette tout en tenant compte des spécificités du marché du logement. Le chapitre appelle également au déploiement de politiques complémentaires pour limiter les effets négatifs sur les ménages à faible revenu. Le troisième chapitre examine le financement du logement, en mettant l'accent sur la tension entre le soutien aux emprunts hypothécaires et la promotion de la résilience financière. Il aborde également l'essor du financement non bancaire de l'immobilier et le soutien que les marchés du crédit hypothécaire peuvent apporter à la décarbonisation du logement. Le quatrième chapitre, qui explore la manière dont le nouvel équilibre entre vie professionnelle et vie privée, rendu possible par l'essor du travail à distance, remodèle la demande de logements, propose un ensemble d’ajustements des politiques urbaines pour répondre à ce changement. Dans l'ensemble, le rapport fournit un large éventail d’options de réforme pour améliorer les politiques de logement dans le monde post-pandémique.