Who are we?

The Network on Environment and Development Co-operation (ENVIRONET) of the OECD Development Assistance Committee (DAC) promotes and facilitates the integration of environment and climate change into all aspects of development co-operation.

ENVIRONET is a network of development co-operation practitioners committed to working together to promote good practice in the fields of environment and development. The Network brings together representatives of development co-operation agencies from DAC member countries and from multilateral agencies including the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme. Representatives from civil society and developing countries also participate as observers and help to support the Networks’ objectives. ENVIRONET meets once or twice a year.

Our mandate

ENVIRONET builds on the knowledge, experience and practice of its members and participants. ENVIRONET supports developing countries’ policies and efforts to promote environmentally-sustainable, resource-efficient livelihoods, and economies that are resilient to climate change. ENVIRONET makes policies and approaches more consistent with the priorities of developing countries and more coherent, transparent and harmonised across donors. It seeks to enhance the impact of DAC policy advice and guidance on environment, green growth and climate change by promoting its dissemination and take-up, including by leveraging the capacities of members and specialised institutions. In all of these activities, the DAC ENVIRONET works in close partnership with other OECD bodies: the DAC Working Party on Statistics (WP-STAT), the Environment Policy Committee (EPOC) and the Development Centre, in line with the OECD Strategy on Development. This strengthens the coherence and impact of our work.

The key areas of the Programme of Work and Budget for 2015/16

• Improve the quality, use and communication of DAC statistics on green development finance
• Improve the effectiveness of climate finance in development co-operation contexts
• Explore development co-operation practice and the nexus between biodiversity and development policies in developing countries
• Explore the nexus between green growth and development co-operation at the country and regional level 

ENVIRONET Chair and Bureau Members

ENVIRONET is currently chaired by Ms. Merete Pedersen (Denmark), and the ENVIRONET Bureau Members are Ms. Michelle Winthrop (Ireland), Ms. Maria Van Berlekom (Sweden) and Mr. Hoejin Jeong (Korea). Ms. Suvi Tuominen (Finland) and Mr. Pieter Vermaerke (Belgium) act as DAC Facilitators.

DAC member policy commitments

• Policy Statement for the Rio+20 Conference, 2012
• Policy Statement on Integrating Biodiversity and Associated Ecosystem Services into Development Co-operation, 2010
• Policy Statement of Progress on Integrating Adaptation into Development Co-operation, 2008 
• Policy Statement on SEA, 2008
• Declaration on Integrating Climate Change Adaptation into Development Co-operation, 2006
• Framework for Common Action around Shared Goals, 2006