By Date

Credible statistical information can serve as a powerful tool for the Republic of Kazakhstan to plan for, and monitor progress on, its transition to a green economy. While available data by Kazakhstan's Committee on Statistics already provide some useful information (e.g. investment and operational expenditures as a share of GDP are 0.2% and 0.4% respectively, which remain low), further improvement in coverage, granularity and quality of statistical information can better inform policy-making on green economy transition. This report examines how Kazakhstan’s national statistical system works and how it can be further improved to better measure and understand financial flows that contribute to a green economy transition. The analysis also builds on a range of relevant international and national initiatives on sustainable finance.

This report analyses planned infrastructure projects, decision-making frameworks related to infrastructure development and strategic planning documents in eight countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus: Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Mongolia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. It compares current investment flows with countries' national development objectives to identify misalignments and provides policy-makers with recommendations to improve the integration of climate change and other environmental concerns into infrastucture development decision-making processes. The report presents a comprehensive overview of infrastructure investment, primarily in the transport and energy sectors, throughout the region and identifies the risks and opportunities emerging from current investment patterns.

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in Georgia’s economy. SMEs provide more than 67% of employment and about 62% of gross value added. Although the environmental footprint of individual SMEs may be low, their aggregate impact in many respects exceeds that of large businesses. Commercial banks have an important role to play in providing access to green finance, particularly for SMEs. This report reviews the experience with green lending in the SME sector in Georgia. The analysis identifies the main challenges with lending to SMEs for green projects and discusses possible solutions. The report, in particular, looks at the role of the government and the policy instruments it can use to stimulate higher demand for green lending in the SME sector.

The Convention on Biological Diversity’s 15th Conference of the Parties (CBD COP15) in 2020 marks a critical juncture for one of the defining global challenges of our time: the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services, which underpin nearly all of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Transformative changes are needed to ensure biodiversity conservation and sustainable use and the delivery of the ecosystem services upon which all life depends. This report sets the economic and business case for urgent and ambitious action on biodiversity. It presents a preliminary assessment of current biodiversity-related finance flows, and discusses the key data and indicator gaps that need to be addressed to underpin effective monitoring of both the pressures on biodiversity and the actions (i.e. responses) being implemented. The report concludes with ten priority areas where G7 and other countries can prioritise their efforts.

This report updates the data published in the 2015 OECD Compendium of Agri-environmental Indicators to present a summary of the environmental performance of agriculture in OECD countries as of end-2015. It also includes new and innovative material to further strengthen its relevance as a reference document. In particular, the four thematic chapters each cover a targeted set of indicators for which data coverage is generally more consistent across time in OECD countries and that capture the main pressures agriculture exerts on the environment. The thematic chapters cover the following areas: the interlinked issues of land use, pesticides and farmland birds; ammonia and greenhouse gas emissions, the main air pollutants from agricultural activities; nitrogen and phosphorus balances, two indicators that signal air and water pollution; and water use and irrigation in agriculture.

Denmark's energy and carbon intensities are among the lowest in the OECD area. Green taxation as a share of GDP is the highest in the OECD, and the country is a leader in eco-innovation. Denmark has also achieved impressive results in the material recovery of most waste streams and reached a political agreement to move to a circular economy. It is an international standard setter for chemical risk assessment. However, municipal waste generation remains the highest in the OECD area. Many bodies of water do not reach good ecological status. Levels of exposure to fine particles remain above international standards. Terrestrial biodiversity suffers from the lack of well-connected protected areas. Further steps will need to be taken to achieve the stated goal of a climate neutral economy by 2050. This is the third Environmental Performance Review of Denmark. It evaluates progress towards sustainable development and green growth, with special features on waste, materials management and the circular economy and chemicals management.

This report calls for a better understanding of the effects of pharmaceutical residues in the environment, greater international collaboration and accountability distribution, and policy actions to prevent and remedy emerging concerns. Laboratory and field tests show traces of oral contraceptives causing the feminisation of fish and amphibians, and residues of psychiatric drugs altering fish behaviour. Antimicrobial resistance, linked to the overuse of antibiotics, has rapidly escalated into a global health crisis. Unless adequate measures are taken to manage the risks, pharmaceutical residues will increasingly be released into the environment as ageing populations, advances in healthcare, and intensification of meat and fish production spur the demand for pharmaceuticals worldwide. The report outlines a collective, life-cycle approach to managing pharmaceuticals in the environment. A policy mix of source-directed, use-orientated and end-of-pipe measures, involving several policy sectors, can help to improve health and protect the environment.

This volume compiles the consensus documents developed by the OECD Working Group for the Safety of Novel Foods and Feeds from 2015 to 2019. It deals with the composition of common bean, rice, cowpea and apple, four important crops for agriculture and food consumption worldwide. The science-based information collated here is intended for use during the regulatory assessment of food/feed products derived from modern biotechnology, i.e. issued from transgenic plants. Compositional considerations are provided for each species, including tables detailing the key nutrients, anti-nutrients, possible toxicants, allergens and other metabolites contained in the products. This essential information and solid data can be used in the comparative approach as part of the novel food/feed safety assessment. It should be of value to crop breeders and applicants for commercial uses of novel foods and feeds, to regulators and risk assessors in national authorities, as well as the wider scientific community. More information can be found at BioTrack Online.