By Date

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.

This publication aims to provide the first comprehensive and consistent record of energy subsidies in the EaP region, with a view to improving transparency and establishing a solid analytical basis that can help build the case for further reforms in these countries (this study covers Armenia, Azerbaijan Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine). Based on OECD standard methodology, the study provides quantitative estimates of government support provided to consumers and producers of coal, oil and related petroleum products, natural gas, and electricity and heat generated on the basis of these fossil fuels. This report also briefly looks at public support allocated to energy efficiency measures and renewable energy sources in the EaP countries, and discusses the taxation and energy pricing policies that underpin the analysis of energy subsidies. This publication was prepared within the framework of the 'Greening Economies in the Eastern Neighbourhood' (EaP GREEN) Project, supported by the European Union and co-ordinated with governments of the EaP countries and UN partners: UNECE, UN Environment and UNIDO.

Plastics have become one of the most prolific materials on the planet: in 2015 we produced about 380 million tonnes of plastics globally, up from 2 million tonnes in the 1950s. Yet today only 15% of this plastic waste is collected and recycled into secondary plastics globally each year. This report looks at why this is the case and what we can do about it, as the pervasiveness of plastics is becoming an urgent public health and planetary problem. Not only is the diffusion of waste plastics into the wider environment creating hugely negative impacts, but plastics production emits approximately 400 million tonnes of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions annually as a result of the energy used in their production, transport, and final waste treatment. Improved plastics collection and recycling represents a promising solution to these concerns.