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With only a decade left to reduce emissions drastically, the scale, pace and extent of global transformation needed is truly demanding. Long-term emission goals and the nature of the low-emission transition in each country will be a function of its unique socio-economic priorities, capabilities, resource endowment, vision for post 2050 economic structure, and social and political acceptability of what constitutes a just transition. As we enter the 'decade for delivery', a whole of economy approach is needed to realise the low-emission transition. This includes focusing not only on upscaling zero and near-zero emitting technologies and businesses but also supporting, to the extent possible, the progressive lowering of emissions in high emitting and hard to abate sectors. In this context, 'transition finance' is gaining traction among governments and market participants. To identify the core features of transition finance, this paper reviews 12 transition relevant taxonomies, guidance and principles by public (Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Russia, European Union, EBRD) and private actors (Climate Bonds Initiative, International Capital Markets Association, Research Institute for Environmental Finance Japan, AXA Investment Managers and DBS), as well as 39 transition relevant financial instruments (vanilla transition bonds, key performance indicator-linked fixed income securities). This paper does not aim to define transition finance, but rather to review emerging approaches and instruments to highlight commonalities, divergences as well as issues to consider for coherent market development and progress towards global environmental objectives. Based on the review, this paper puts forth two preliminary views. First, that the essence of transition finance is triggering entity-wide change to reduce exposure to transition risk; second, that transition finance may be better understood as capital market instruments with a set of core functions/attributes rather than a specific format or label.

This report presents findings from a survey on green finance conducted among 1 000 households in the Kyrgyz Republic (Kyrgyzstan) in 2019. Although green finance is an emerging trend, knowledge about the appetite for green financial products and services in Kyrgyzstan is almost inexistent. The OECD prepared the household survey to close this gap in evidence. The research identified needs and demand from existing and potential clients of Kyrgyz financial institutions for financial instruments, including those that promote sustainable development. This will help commercial banks, policy makers and central bankers design more targeted interventions to increase access to and use of financial products and services, including green finance, in Kyrgyzstan.

This report evaluates policies for transitioning to clean vehicles and clean energy for road transport. The review includes measures that can help to scale up the transition quickly and instruments to manage it. It analyses technologies for clean passenger cars, light commercial vehicles, buses and trucks, and identifies solutions that deliver the greatest benefits. It reviews the policies for the promotion of clean vehicles currently in place and assesses the response of private sector stakeholders. The study specifically takes account of increasing digital connectivity and automation.

The OECD has been working on water policy reform in the countries of Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia for over 20 years. Three of the countries within the region, Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine have signed Association Agreements with the European Union. These agreements provide a framework for deeper political ties and stronger economic links with the EU and include commitments for approximation towards EU legislation including the Water Framework Directive. Georgia, the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine have ambitious long-term strategic plans for their water sectors, which include fulfilment of requirements under the Association Agreements and international commitments including the Sustainable Development Goals. The water policy outlooks baseline the country policy framework and current performance and then define the long-term vision and aspirations to 2030. The outlooks aim to demonstrate the likelihood of the current policy framework to achieve the long-term objectives and desired future state of the water sector, and include identification of opportunities for improving policy coherence and policies that have the opportunity to improve the likelihood of success.

Cette édition du rapport du Secrétaire général de l'OCDE aux ministres présente les principales réalisations de l'OCDE en 2020. Elle met l’accent sur les efforts de l’Organisation pour contribuer à la gestion de la crise du COVID-19 et ouvrir la voie à une reprise qui soit à la fois plus forte, plus inclusive, plus résiliente et plus verte. Elle décrit les travaux de l’OCDE dans tout un éventail de domaines essentiels tels que la santé, l’emploi, les inégalités, l'économie, la fiscalité, l'éducation, l'environnement, et bien d’autres encore. Ce rapport présente aussi les activités du Secrétaire général et de son cabinet, ainsi que celles des directions, des Secrétariats des entités appartenant à la famille OCDE et des partenaires sociaux de l'OCDE. L'OCDE s'efforce de trouver des solutions fondées sur des données probantes à toute une série de défis sociaux, économiques et environnementaux, en promouvant « Des politiques meilleures pour une vie meilleure ». L’OCDE constitue l’une des sources les plus importantes et les plus fiables de recherche et de données statistiques comparables au monde. Elle fait office de pionnier pour l’élaboration de nouvelles trames narratives et de nouvelles initiatives à l’échelle mondiale, mais aussi de « laboratoire d’action », prêt à soutenir ses membres et partenaires grâce à ses données, ses normes et ses conseils stratégiques.

Measuring policy progress on agriculture and water policies is essential to help decision makers identify necessary policy changes and understand how further progress may be achieved to improve agricultural water management. A thorough review of existing evaluations of agriculture and water policies suggests three types of progress to be measured: policy design, policy implementation capacity and policy results. The quality and robustness of these measures of policy progress depends upon three main factors. First, assessment of policy design requires matching policy alignment with cross cutting objectives or with a reference text. Second, assessment of progress in implementation capacity requires gauging evolution towards predefined capacity needs or identified governance gaps. Third, evaluation of policy results requires clearly defined objectives, timelines and scales for assessments. Seven practical options are identified for applying these principles to agriculture and water policies, illustrated by applying them to assessing progress in the sustainable management of water for irrigation under climate change and in controlling diffuse nutrient pollution.

This policy paper catalogues tools and techniques used by public actors such as national development banks and green investment banks to mitigate project-level risks and attract private investment in infrastructure. The paper updates the dataset underlying the 2018 'Progress Update on Approaches to Mobilising Institutional Investment for Sustainable Infrastructure', to provide an expanded typology of de-risking instruments and highlight several novel approaches for mobilising institutional investment. The analysis provides development banks and other public financial institutions a nuanced view of options for targeted mobilisation efforts.