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This report looks at the fiscal, environmental and social impacts of energy subsidy reform in Moldova with a particular focus on energy affordability. Reduced value added tax (VAT) rate on natural gas consumption and a VAT exemption on electricity and heat consumption by domestic users represent the largest fossil-fuel consumer subsidies in Moldova. Reforming these will imply an increase of the VAT rate, which will lead to an increase of gas, electricity and heat tariffs for households, and will in turn affect household consumption levels, related expenditures and energy affordability. If reform measures are to work, they will need to be accompanied by a carefully-designed social policy to protect poor households.

This report provides a case study for the development of sustainable energy lending in Ukraine. It reviews the macro-economic and political context for green investments in Ukraine, before looking in more detail at the role and capacity of the banking sector. The study is part of a wider OECD project promoting access to private finance for green investments in the EU Eastern Partnership (EaP) countries, and follows on from a regional assessment undertaken in 2015. This work forms part of the 'Greening Economies in the European Union’s Eastern Neighbourhood' (EaP GREEN) programme, which aims to support the six Eastern Partnership countries to move towards a green economy by decoupling economic growth from environmental degradation and resource depletion.

The Czech Republic has made progress in decoupling economic growth from freshwater abstractions, energy consumption, GHG and other air pollutants emissions. However, its strong industrial base and reliance on coal place the country among the most energy- and carbon-intensive in the OECD and air pollution is a serious health concern. Progressing towards sustainable development will require strengthening political commitment to a low-carbon economy and implementing more cost-effective environmental policies.
This is the third Environmental Performance Review of the Czech Republic. It evaluates progress towards sustainable development and green growth, with special features on waste, materials management and circular economy and sustainable urban development.

The need to mainstream biodiversity into economic growth and development is being increasingly recognised and is now also firmly embedded in the Sustainable Development Goals. Drawing on experiences and insights from 16 predominantly megadiverse countries, this report examines how biodiversity is being mainstreamed in four key areas: 1) at the national level, including national development plans and other strategies, institutional co-ordination and national budgets; 2) the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors; 3) in development co-operation; and 4) the monitoring and evaluation of biodiversity mainstreaming and how this could be improved.

Paraguay has achieved strong and resilient growth and made progress across a range of development outcomes since it emerged from a prolonged period of economic and political instability in the early 2000s. In 2014, the country adopted its first National Development Plan, setting course towards an ambitious vision of the country’s future. To maintain the pace of economic growth and achieve more inclusive development Paraguay will need to overcome a number of institutional, economic and social constraints that challenge its development model. This first volume of the Multi-dimensional Review of Paraguay analyses the country’s development performance and presents the main constraints to the country’s development. It examines five broad areas, corresponding to the key areas of the Sustainable Development Goals: prosperity, people’s well-being, planet, peace and institutions, and partnerships and financing.

Hungary has made significant progress in decoupling its output growth from main environmental pressures, largely due to implementing requirements of EU directives. However, greenhouse gas emissions have started to pick up with the recent rebound of economic activity. Local air quality has not improved significantly, and water quality remains at risk. Important institutional challenges impede more effective implementation of environmental laws and policies. Hungary can accelerate the transition towards a low-carbon and greener economy, particularly by investing in residential energy efficiency and sound waste and material management, and better mainstreaming of biodiversity protection into sectoral economic policies.This is the third Environmental Performance Review of Hungary. It evaluates progress towards sustainable development and green growth, with special features on waste, material management and circular economy, and biodiversity.

This book explores recent developments in environmental cost-benefit analysis (CBA). This is defined as the application of CBA to projects or policies that have the deliberate aim of environmental improvement or are actions that affect, in some way, the natural environment as an indirect consequence. It builds on the previous OECD book by David Pearce et al. (2006), which took as its starting point that a number of developments in CBA, taken together, altered the way in which many economists would argue CBA should be carried out and that this was particularly so in the context of policies and projects with significant environmental impacts.
It is a primary objective of the current book not only to assess more recent advances in CBA theory but also to identify how specific developments illustrate key thematic narratives with implications for practical use of environmental CBA in policy formulation and appraisal of investment projects.
Perhaps the most significant development is the contribution of climate economics in its response to the challenge of appraising policy actions to mitigate (or adapt to) climate change. Work in this area has increased the focus on how to value costs and benefits that occur far into the future, particularly by showing how conventional procedures for establishing the social discount rate become highly problematic in this intergenerational context and what new approaches might be needed. The contribution of climate economics has also entailed thinking further about uncertainty in CBA, especially where uncertain outcomes might be associated with large (and adverse) impacts.