OECD-G20: International standards on structural policies key to emerging from crisis<http://www.oecd.org/document/39/0,3343,en_2649_34487_43772967_1_1_1_1,00.html>Secretary-General Gurría called for the need to agree on common international targets in areas such as innovation and green growth predicting "they could become the overarching umbrella for the G20 Framework's ...

G8 Summit to discuss 12 principles for a strong, fair and clean economy
Participants in the G8 Summit in L’Aquila this week will have on the table a list of 12 “common principles and standards” drawn up as a proposed basis for relaunching the world economy on a new and more stable growth path. To promote discussion of the issues raised by the proposed Global Standard, the OECD has launched a blog to which comments are invited.

Climate change and development: Adjusting the lens
Weak governance of the environment and natural resources is undermining development in many countries. This was one of the major conclusions reached by high-level policy makers at a meeting organised to look at development through the lens of climate change adaptation. Read more…

Major world economies aim for "green growth" as the way out of the crisis
The world’s main economies are looking to “green growth” as the way forward out of the current crisis, opening up new prospects for climate-change negotiations ahead of the COP15 meeting in Copenhagen in December. Ministers from 40 countries, representing 80% of the world economy, discussed the crisis and where next at the OECD's annual ministerial meeting in Paris.

Korean Prime Minister urges governments to work together for green growth
http://www.oecd.org/document/47/0,3343,en_2649_34487_43135023_1_1_1_1,00.html
http://www.oecd.org/LongAbstract/0,3425,en_2649_34487_43135023_119690_1_1_1,00.html
Korean Prime Minister Han Seung-soo urged governments around the world to work together for a new 'green growth' paradigm based on low-carboneconomic development in his keynote speech at the OECD Forum ...

OECD Research

The economics of climate change mitigation: how to build the necessary global action in a cost-effective manner
Jean-Marc Burniaux OECD Economics Department 16 June, 2009 This paper examines the cost of a range of national, regional and global mitigation policies and the corresponding incentives for countries to participate in ambitious international mitigation actions.

Sustainable manufacturing and eco-innovation: towards a green economy
OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry 16 June, 2009 This Policy Brief examines how innovation can result in new technological and systemic solutions to environmental challenges and contributes to a wider range of OECD work aimed at analysing the policies that can efficiently support the development and diffusion of eco-innovation.

APO Research

The economics of climate change mitigation: how to build the necessary global action in a cost-effective manner
Jean-Marc Burniaux OECD Economics Department16 June, 2009 This paper examines the cost of a range of national, regional and global mitigation policies and the corresponding incentives for countries to participate in ambitious international mitigation actions.

Sustainable manufacturing and eco-innovation: towards a green economy
OECD Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry16 June, 2009 This Policy Brief examines how innovation can result in new technological and systemic solutions to environmental challenges and contributes to a wider range of OECD work aimed at analysing the policies that can efficiently support the development and diffusion of eco-innovation.

Ensuring Environmental Compliance
Trends and Good Practices

Despite progress in recent years, there is growing evidence that OECD countries are not on track to reach some of their key environmental goals. This report examines the strategies and instruments that governments use to ensure compliance with pollution prevention and control regulations, particularly in the industrial sector. It compares the compliance assurance systems of six OECD countries – Finland, France, Japan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States – as well as those of China and Russia. The report provides policy makers, environmental regulators, and other stakeholders with a comprehensive analysis of the design, management aspects, and the main elements of government compliance and enforcement programmes. Focusing on compliance promotion, compliance monitoring, and non-compliance response, it identifies and compares good practices, sets them in context of different countries’ regulatory cultures and highlights the key international trends.

APO papers

Green at fifteen? OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA)Drawing on the PISA 2006 study conducted across OECD countries, this report presents information on the sources of students' awareness of environmental science, their attitudes towards the environment and how these attitudes interrelate with their performance in environmental science. Posted 01-04-2009

National Energy Policy: strategic directions paper National Energy Policy, Department of Resources, Energy and TourismThis document sets the scene for the development of the Energy White Paper by broadly mapping out its intended scope and identifying some of the specific work being undertaken as input for consideration. Posted 31-03-2009

Cost effectiveness analysis of WELS Joanne Chong, Alex Kazaglis and Damien Giurco / Institute for Sustaiable Futures, University of Technology SydneyThis study found that the Water Efficiency Labelling and Standards Scheme (WELS) compares favourably to other water urban water management options which have been recently implemented, or are proposed for implementation, in various Australian states and territories. Posted 31-03-2009

Climate mitigation or technological revolution? A critical choice of futures Graeme Snooks / Global Dynamic Systems CentreMankind currently is not only facing a major environmental challenge, it is embarking on a hugely risky enterprise -- that of climate mitigation. Posted 27-03-2009

The Role of R&D and Technology Diffusion in Climate Change Mitigation

The Role of R&D and Technology Diffusion in Climate Change Mitigation: New Perspectives using the WITCH Model:

This paper uses the WITCH model, a computable general equilibrium model with endogenous technological change, to explore the impact of various climate policies on energy technology choices and the costs of stabilising greenhouse gas concentrations. Current and future expected carbon prices appear to have powerful effects on R&D spending and clean technology diffusion. Their impact on stabilisation costs depends on the nature of R&D: R&D targeted at incremental energy efficiency improvements has only limited effects, but R&D focused on the emergence of major new low-carbon technologies could lower costs drastically if successful – especially in the non-electricity sector, where such low-carbon options are
scarce today. With emissions coming from multiple sources, keeping a wide range of options available matters more for stabilisation costs than improving specific technologies. Due to international knowledge spillovers, stabilisation costs could be further reduced through a complementary, global R&D policy. However, a strong price signal is always required.

Sustainable Society Index for Romania

A new instrument for measuring and monitoring its progress towards sustainability has recently been introduced in Romania. The Sustainable Society Index – SSI – is an innovative tool, which supports the way ach society is moving towards sustainable evelopment.

Results
http://www.romaniadurabila.net/results-en.htm

The Cost and Effectiveness of Policies to Reduce Vehicle Emissions

This Round Table investigates the effectiveness and costs of various mitigation options in road transport, and discusses the distribution of abatement efforts across sectors of the economy.
Now available from the Online Bookshop.

How much do environmental problems cost?

4/11/08 - There is fear that the current economic crisis might overshadow environmental concerns and there are already signs of some governments trying to backtrack on earlier commitments. But can we afford to delay acting on these environmental problems?

A new OECD publication, Cost of Inaction on Key Environmental Challenges, shows that not responding adequately to these challenges can be expensive, in some cases representing a significant drag on OECD economies. It draws upon existing information on “costs of inaction”, and provides guidance on the complex task of ‘costing’ environmental and resource degradation.

Workshop on ICTs and Environmental Challenges

An OECD Conference on ICTs, the Environment and Climate Change, will be held 27-28 May 2009 in Denmark, hosted by the Danish Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation – National IT and Telecom Agency. It will bring together policy-makers and major stakeholders and will contribute to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in 2009 (COP15), as well as to ongoing OECD work on ICTs and the environment. This conference will follow on from the Workshop held in May 2008.

The Inconvenient Truth about Climate Statistics

By Jane Ellis, Jan Corfee-Morlot, Katia Karousakis, Bruno Guay
OECD Environment Directorate
The year 2007 was a breakthrough in many ways regarding climate change. In
terms of the science, the report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on
Climate Change (IPCC) indicated that “warming of the climate system is
unequivocal” and that there is “very high confidence” that human activities
have led to this warming. In terms of public awareness, awarding the 2007
Nobel Peace Prize to jointly to the IPCC and to former US vice-president Gore
for his climate change film “The Inconvenient Truth” raised public
consciousness of the issue of climate change - and what can be done to mitigate
it. Finally, in terms of international climate change politics, a breakthrough was
achieved at the climate change negotiations at the end of 2007, with all
countries agreeing to a “Bali Action Plan”.

Biofuel Support Policies: An Economic Assessment

Governments in many OECD countries, as well as in a number of countries outside the OECD area, actively promote the production and use of alternative transport fuels made from agricultural commodities. This report, jointly produced by the OECD and the IEA and drawing on information from a number of other organisations, analyses the implications of this support from various perspectives. The report shows that the high level of policy support contributes little to reduced greenhouse-gas emissions and other policy objectives, while it adds to a range of factors that raise international prices for food commodities. It concludes that there are alternatives to current support policies for biofuels that would more effectively allow governments to achieve their objectives.

Achieving sustainability of the energy sector in Canada

Achieving sustainability of the energy sector in Canada
Energy represents a major sustainable-development challenge for Canada. In the short term, labour shortages and infrastructure bottlenecks are likely to hinder energy developments and need to be addressed.In addition, provincial fiscal management could be improved by adopting prudent allocation and withdrawal rules of revenues from non-renewable resources to and from a long-term fund. Eventually the main challenge will be to curb greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs), despite the rapid expansion of high emitting sectors. The effectiveness of environmental policies could be enhanced by better federal-provincial coordination. Efforts should be concentrated on designing and implementing an missions-trading scheme compatible with corresponding systems abroad. Finally, effective and efficient systems of regulation and taxation are essential to facilitate the timely realisation of energy supply plans.

OECD’s Economic Assessment of Biofuel Support Policies

Biofuel policies in OECD countries costly and ineffective, says report
16/07/2008 - Government support of biofuel production in OECD countries is costly, has a limited impact on reducing greenhouse gases and improving energy security, and has a significant impact on world crop prices, according to a new study of policies to promote greater production and use of biofuel in OECD countries.