The report asks the question “What will the next four decades bring?” Based on joint modelling by the OECD and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, PBL, the report looks forward to the year 2050 to find out what demographic and economic trends might mean for the environment if the world does not adopt more ambitious green policies; and also looks at what policies could change that picture for the better.

The report focuses on four areas: climate change, biodiversity, freshwater and health impacts of pollution. These four key environmental challenges were identified by the previous Environmental Outlook to 2030 (OECD, 2008) as “Red Light” issues requiring urgent attention.

• Highlights (English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese and other languages)
• Key Facts and Figures

IN THE PRESS 

events

• OECD Participation at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development, Rio+20, June, Brazil
• Meeting of OECD Environment Ministers, March 2012, Paris
• World Water Day - OECD Blog, March 2012
• OECD participation in the 6th World Water Forum, March 2012, Marseille
• OECD at the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban (COP17), November-December 2011, South Africa
  
  

further reading

• An Overview of the OECD ENV-Linkages Model: Version 3 - This document provides a detailed technical description of the ENV-Linkages model. The OECD ENV-Linkages Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) model is an economic model that describes how economic activities are inter-linked across several macroeconomic sectors and regions. It links economic activity to environmental pressure, specifically to emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs). The links between economic activities and emissions are projected for several decades into the future, and thus shed light on the impacts of environmental policies for the medium- and long-term future. In this paper specific attention is given to the equations that form the core of the model. The version of the model presented in this paper is used for analysis carried out for the OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050. An updated version of the model is expected to play a key role in the OECD Cost of Inaction and Resource Scarcity: Consequences for Long-term Economic Growth (CIRCLE) project. (OECD Environment Working Paper No. 65, June 2014).
  
  

previous OECD ENVIRONMENTAL OUTLOOKS

• OECD Environmental Outlook to 2030 (2008)
• OECD Environmental Outlook (2001)
• OECD Environmental Outlooks
  
  

OECD WORK ON...

• Modelling work behind the OECD Environmental Outlook to 2050
• Environment-economy modelling