Policy Instruments for the Environment (PINE) Database

Today, the database includes information on 4896 policy instruments in 154 economies globally. 68% of instruments are implemented at the national or federal level, 28% at the state provincial level, and the remaining 4% include instruments implemented by supranational or local jurisdictions.

PINE has collected and validated data since the 90s. The historical information is harmonised and is amenable for statistical analysis. As of January 2026, 86% of instruments in PINE are in force. 14% are inactive and include: suspended, superseded or discontinued instruments.

Environmental domains represent the focal issues related to environmental protection or natural resource management covered by a policy instrument. The environmental domain tagging in PINE can support the tracking of progress towards a wide range of environmental objectives.

Following OECD definitions and official methodologies, each policy instrument is tagged based on its direct effect(s) on one or more of the 22 environmental domains in scope of PINE. As of 2026, 43% of instruments are relevant to climate change mitigation, followed by air pollution (26%), biodiversity (22%) and circular economy (21%).

The database also tracks the specific economic activities covered by each policy instrument. The tagging uses the UN's International Standard Industrial Classification (ISIC Rev. 4), allowing the data in PINE to be analysed alongside sectoral economic indicators and national accounts.

As of 2026, the largest number of sector-specific instruments in PINE covered manufacturing activities, followed by the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector. The choice of instrument differs considerably by sector. For example, almost 90% of instruments for wholesale and retail activities are taxes or fees (e.g., excise taxes on the sale of plastic bags), while construction activities are primarily (66% of sector-specific instruments) supported via subsidies and payments (e.g., tax credits on environmentally certified construction materials).

The latest data from PINE show that Environmentally Related Tax Revenue (ERTR) in the OECD fell to 1.33% of GDP in 2024. This share has been decreasing in over three decades: from 1.63% in 2014, 1.80% in 2004 and 1.87% in 1994. Energy taxes remain the largest component (67%) of ERTR in OECD countries, followed by transport taxes (27.6%), while pollution (3.8%) and resource (<1%) taxes play a minor role.

As of 2026, the database includes 1179 environmentally positive subsidies and payments. Most are grants (44%), followed by tax reductions (29%), tax credits (9%), per unit subsidies (8%) and payments for ecosystem services (5%).

The PINE database includes 186 tradable permits and offsets active in 51 countries as of January 2026. More than half (53%) of these instruments are tradable quotas, followed by tradable credits (28%), tradable offsets (11%) and tradable user rights (6%).

The PINE database includes 62 deposit-refund schemes (DRS) in 29 countries. 63% are implemented at the national or federal level, 34% at the state or provincial level, and 3% at the city or local level.

Voluntary approaches account for 4% of PINE instruments in force as of January 2026. About 53% of voluntary approaches are implementation-based programmes with government-set targets, while 44% are target-based with participant-set ambition.