Background

Supporting the introduction and application of Green Growth Indicators

Changing the development path requires analytical evidence that resonates both with environmental and non-environmental communities. To generate such evidence, governments may need to revisit the set of indicators that they currently use. Although EaP countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine) have a long history of collecting statistical data, the collected data are often patchy, insufficient in terms of quality and poorly used in decision-making.

The recent OECD report “Towards green growth: Monitoring progress - OECD indicators” proposes a preliminary set of twenty-five indicators on the basis of existing work in international organisations, and in OECD and partner countries. The proposed set is neither exhaustive nor final, and has been kept flexible enough so that countries can adapt it to different national contexts. It includes four groups of indicators: environmental and resource productivity, the management of natural assets, environmental quality of life, and economic opportunities arising from environmental policies. Contextual information on the country’s socio-economic conditions is needed to interpret these indicators.

Objectives and activities

• Develop a toolkit to support the development of green growth indicators by countries. OECD materials will be discussed and adapted to the context in the region. As part of this process, the OECD will also facilitate the transfer of experience from EU member states that have already applied the OECD set of green growth indicators e.g. the Czech Republic and the Netherlands;
• Implement country projects. The OECD will work with three countries to identify national-level sets of green growth indicators and test them. This will be used as a basis to foster dialogue among ministries and other stakeholders on the development and implementation of green growth strategies.
• Develop capacity within governments to assess progress toward green growth. The experience accumulated as part of country projects will be shared during national level events to support capacity development in other EaP countries.
• Promote public debate on progress towards green economy. Work will be carried out to identify up to ten “headline” green growth indicators, i.e. indicators targeted at top-level policy makers and civil society. The OECD will facilitate the launch of national-level processes (with a possible regional component) to collect and disclose such headline indicators.

DID YOU KNOW: … that the OECD set of Green Growth Indicators was already applied in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Korea, and pilot tested in Kyrgyz Republic and six Latin American countries?