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OECD climate change resources
Find OECD reports, working papers and policy briefs on climate change. Explore the content and search by theme, with keywords or by country.
Key climate change resources
Climate Finance Provided and Mobilised by Developed Countries in 2013-2021
This report presents aggregate trends of annual climate finance provided and mobilised by developed countries for developing countries for the period 2013-2021. It includes breakdowns by climate theme, sector, financial instrument and recipient country grouping...
16/11/2023
Scaling Up the Mobilisation of Private Finance for Climate Action in Developing Countries
This report explores evidence-based action areas to increase and accelerate the mobilisation of private finance for climate action in developing countries, and the role of international public finance providers in doing so. It draws on...
16/11/2023
Scaling Up Adaptation Finance in Developing Countries
This report analyses current trends of adaptation finance provided and mobilised by developed countries for developing countries. It explores potential action areas for international providers to scale up funding for climate change adaptation, including by...
16/11/2023
The Climate Action Monitor 2023
The Climate Action Monitor is a key publication of the International Programme for Action on Climate (IPAC). It provides a synthesis of climate action and progress towards net-zero targets for 51 OECD and OECD partner...
17/11/2023
Taming Wildfires in the Context of Climate Change
This report provides a global assessment and outlook on wildfire risk in the context of climate change. It discusses the drivers behind the growing incidence of extreme wildfires and the attribution effect of climate change....
17/05/2023
Mechanisms to Prevent Carbon Lock-in in Transition Finance
Carbon lock-in occurs when high-emission infrastructure or assets continue to be used, despite the possibility of substituting them with low-emission alternatives, thereby delaying or preventing the transition to near-zero or zero-emission alternatives. Transition finance, which...
26/09/2023
OECD Secretary-General Report to G20 Leaders on the work of the Inclusive Forum on Carbon Mitigation Approaches (India, September 2023)
The Inclusive Forum on Carbon Mitigation Approaches (IFCMA) is the OECD’s flagship initiative to help optimise the global impact of emissions reduction efforts around the world. This report presents developments since the first meeting of...
23/09/2023
OECD Inventory of Support Measures for Fossil Fuels 2023
Despite commitments to scale up and speed up climate action, the fiscal cost of government support for fossil fuels almost doubled in 2022 to reach more than USD 1.4 trillion as governments across the OECD...
01/12/2023
Effective Carbon Rates 2023
Successfully transitioning to net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions requires effective mitigation policy packages, which include carbon pricing measures: a cost-effective policy instrument that not only reduces emissions but also generates revenue to support the transition....
27/11/2023
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06/12/2023
Global warming is likely to reach 1.5°C as early as in 2030, with current climate action falling short of meeting the Paris Agreement goals and a mounting risk of tipping beyond the ability of human societies to adapt. Building on broader OECD work on climate, this report proposes a new OECD territorial climate indicator framework and demonstrates that the potential to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions, adapt to climate impacts and address vulnerabilities varies across different territories. The report also presents a policy framework of 9 recommended actions to help decision makers unleash more effective climate action and resilience, both by integrating a territorial approach into national and subnational climate policies and by mainstreaming climate objectives into urban, rural and regional policies. The report summarises the analysis into a checklist for national and local governments to implement a territorial approach to climate and resilience policies, as well as a compendium of 36 best practices from cities, regions and countries from all around the world.
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05/12/2023
Financial markets need clear information and credible metrics to inform climate-related investment and financing decisions. This report explores key challenges and opportunities related to the transparency, specificity and integrity of metrics to support the monitoring of financial institutions’ net-zero commitments. It provides an assessment of metrics put forward in five voluntary frameworks, identifies the type of information and metrics proposed, their common themes and gaps, as well as limitations in underlying methodological guidance that may hinder financial institutions’ ability to report and disclose metrics. The report highlights a need both for continued efforts to develop robust metrics and incentivise improved data disclosure, as well as for international co-operation to reduce fragmentation and provide further transparency on the scope of metrics and underlying methodologies.
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04/12/2023
Given the direct impacts of climate change are felt first and foremost at the local level, many have called for climate adaptation to be a local responsibility. Indeed, local authorities have a major influence on climate change adaptation - such as through their land use and permitting decisions. Yet, their actions are strongly determined by the national fiscal, regulatory and policy contexts in which they are embedded in. This policy paper provides an overview and a discussion of the roles and responsibilities for climate adaptation across levels of government. It argues that co-operation across levels of government is needed to strengthen adaptation at the local level. This policy paper was prepared as part of the OECD Territorial Approach to Climate Action and Resilience programme, which supports subnational authorities in their efforts to accelerate the net zero transition and build systemic resilience.
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04/12/2023
Industrial decarbonisation is a cornerstone to realising net-zero emission targets. Effective decarbonisation pathways require swift and bold action from both industry actors and governments across countries. The OECD provides data-driven and fact-based analyses and policy advice to support governments and industry in this essential journey to net zero. This brochure provides on overview of OECD work in support of industrial decarbonisation.
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01/12/2023
Despite commitments to scale up and speed up climate action, the fiscal cost of government support for fossil fuels almost doubled in 2022 to reach more than USD 1.4 trillion as governments across the OECD and partner countries introduced substantial initiatives to mitigate high energy costs on households and firms, caused in part by Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. This rising trend is a real threat to our collective net zero goals and highlights the challenges of staying on track with net zero commitments in the face of geopolitical and economic disruption. Going forward, it will be critical that support measures are reformed to better target those most in need. Support for fossil fuels should also be phased out as soon as possible. This will help free up much needed resources for the transition towards net zero emissions and accelerate innovation to improve energy efficiency.
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29/11/2023
Industry decarbonisation is a cornerstone to reach net-zero emissions by this mid-century. The diversity of industrial activities, processes and products, the complexity of global industrial value chains, and the international competition make industry decarbonisation a challenging objective. Annual investments in low-carbon technologies for industry decarbonisation need to increase by a factor of three to five by 2030 compared to current levels to align industrial emissions with net-zero pathways. This paper analyses available financing solutions to scale up investments at pace, especially in emerging and developing economies where industrial production is growing rapidly whilst available finance is limited. It highlights de-risking and financial instruments and models that can help accelerate investments and draws lessons from twelve financing industry decarbonisation case studies which demonstrate how private capital can be mobilised.
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29/11/2023
Green hydrogen, produced from water and renewable power through the electrolysis process, can play a crucial role in the low-carbon transition to achieve the net-zero emission targets. Currently, the production cost of green hydrogen is not competitive when compared to hydrogen produced from natural gas. High capital costs are a major factor constraining its cost-competitiveness. This working paper utilises financial market data to address the knowledge gap concerning the range of Weighted Average Cost of Capital (WACC) for green hydrogen projects. It also conducts a survey among investors and financiers to identify key risk factors contributing to the high WACC. The key risks that have been identified include offtaker risks, lack of credible offtakers, price uncertainty of green hydrogen, and the absence of hydrogen trading markets. These risks are closely connected to the available risk mitigation strategies and tools. The paper summarises key risk mitigation strategies identified through case studies of lighthouse green hydrogen projects that have either reached or are nearly point of reaching financial investment decisions.
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27/11/2023
Successfully transitioning to net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions requires effective mitigation policy packages, which include carbon pricing measures: a cost-effective policy instrument that not only reduces emissions but also generates revenue to support the transition. This fourth edition of Effective Carbon Rates provides an overview of the carbon pricing landscape, examining fuel excise taxes, carbon taxes, and emissions trading systems (ETSs) through 2021, with updates on developments until 2023. The policy mechanisms examined directly impact the cost of emitting GHGs, influencing shifts in production, consumption, and investment towards low- or zero-carbon options. The analysis covers 72 countries which together account for approximately 80% of global GHG emissions. The report focuses on developments in ETSs and transport fuel taxes amidst the energy crisis and provides comprehensive and comparable data on the current status of GHG emissions pricing that can assist policymakers in identifying priorities and refining carbon mitigation strategies.
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17/11/2023
The Climate Action Monitor is a key publication of the International Programme for Action on Climate (IPAC). It provides a synthesis of climate action and progress towards net-zero targets for 51 OECD and OECD partner countries. This year's edition presents a summary of information on greenhouse gas emissions, an assessment of climate-related hazards and recent trends in climate action. Directed towards policymakers and practitioners, the findings suggest that without increased ambition and a significant expansion in national climate action, countries will not be able to meet the net-zero challenge.
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17/11/2023
The Mitigation Work Programme (MWP) was established at COP26 to urgently enhance mitigation ambition and implementation in this critical decade. This paper explores how the MWP could build on and amplify relevant existing efforts, within and outside the UNFCCC, to trigger the rapid scale up of mitigation efforts required to keep the temperature goal of the Paris Agreement within reach. As a multilateral platform backed by the legitimacy and convening power of the UNFCCC, the MWP could help to raise awareness of available tools and solutions, build momentum behind relevant ongoing mitigation-related initiatives without being prescriptive, and deliver more effective, targeted mitigation efforts across all fronts in the near-term. This paper also outlines potential options for the annual decision on the MWP which provides an important opportunity to maintain attention on the need to urgently scale up mitigation efforts and encourages learning-by-doing. The annual MWP decision could be structured around different mutually supportive elements including lessons learned from the MWP’s first year, follow-up from MWP activities and related mitigation commitments at previous COPs, synergies with other UNFCCC processes, and how to complement the global stocktake.
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16/11/2023
This report presents aggregate trends of annual climate finance provided and mobilised by developed countries for developing countries for the period 2013-2021. It includes breakdowns by climate theme, sector, financial instrument and recipient country grouping for the period 2016-2021. The report also provides key recommendations for international providers to increase financing towards adaptation and more effectively mobilise private finance for climate action, which are both important policy priorities and current bottlenecks. The recommendations in this report draw from two OECD publications on scaling up private climate finance and adaptation finance.
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16/11/2023
This report explores evidence-based action areas to increase and accelerate the mobilisation of private finance for climate action in developing countries, and the role of international public finance providers in doing so. It draws on best-available data to provide disaggregated analysis of the sectoral, geographic and other features of private finance mobilised by public climate finance and presents key economy-wide, sector-specific, and institutional challenges to private finance mobilisation. The analysis is anchored in the context of the USD 100 billion climate finance goal, initially set for 2020 and extended to 2025, while also providing insights related to mobilising private finance for climate action in developing countries more broadly.
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16/11/2023
This report analyses current trends of adaptation finance provided and mobilised by developed countries for developing countries. It explores potential action areas for international providers to scale up funding for climate change adaptation, including by unlocking the potential of the private sector. The analysis is anchored in the context of the USD 100 billion climate finance goal, initially set for 2020 and extended to 2025, while also providing insights to the broader and longer-term objective of supporting developing countries’ ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change.
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06/11/2023
Climate change and other environmental threats require urgent government action. This policy paper discusses how governments can use better regulation instruments (good regulatory practices, risk-based and agile approaches, regulatory delivery, international regulatory cooperation, economic regulators, and behavioural insights) to design, implement and evaluate efficient and effective regulations for the environment. It explores the challenges governments face and presents good practices for environmental and other regulations, to ensure that all policy instruments coherently pursue environmental goals. Finally, the paper suggests how regulatory policy systems can meet present and future environmental challenges. It argues that to fully exploit the potential of better regulation for the environment, governments should implement measures that ensure an inclusive, cooperative, outcome-based and global approach to regulating.
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06/11/2023
This paper provides empirical evidence on the short and long-term sectoral effect of environmental policy stringency on CO2 emissions, exploiting longitudinal data covering 30 OECD countries and more than 50 sectors. The analysis relies on the OECD Environmental Policy Stringency (EPS) index, a composite index tracking climate change and air pollution mitigation policies. Estimates obtained from panel regressions suggest that more stringent environmental policies are associated with lower emissions, that the effect builds over time and differs across sectors depending on their fossil fuel intensity. A one unit increase in the EPS index (about one standard deviation), is associated with 4% lower CO2 emissions in the sector with median fossil fuel intensity after two years and by 12% after 10 years. For sectors in the top decile of the fossil fuel intensity distribution, the estimates point to a decline in emissions by 11% after two years and 19% after ten years. Environmental policies targeted at energy, manufacturing and transport sectors have the largest potential impact on emissions. Illustrative policy scenarios based on these results indicate that achieving emission reductions consistent with net-zero targets will require raising the stringency of environmental policies more drastically and rapidly than in the past.
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30/10/2023
Climate shocks such as extreme floods and storms, droughts and heatwaves have complex, inter-connected and far-reaching consequences across multiple policy sectors and systems. Shocks in other systems, such as financial or health crises, can, in turn, affect climate challenges. Applying a systems approach to climate change helps policymakers understand linkages between issues that are treated separately and propose cross-sectoral, multi-disciplinary solutions in cities. This paper proposes a four-pronged policy framework to disentangle the different elements of economic, social, environmental, and other systems operating in cities, maximise co-benefits and manage trade-offs across systems, and build systemic climate resilience in cities. It summarises the contribution of the Working Party on Urban Policy and the Regional Development Policy Committee to the 2021-2022 OECD Horizontal Project on “Building Climate and Economic Resilience in the Transition to a Low-Carbon Economy”.
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30/10/2023
This annual report monitors and evaluates agricultural policies in 54 countries, including the 38 OECD countries, the five non-OECD EU Member States, and 11 emerging economies. It finds that support to agriculture has reached record levels amidst subsequent crises, although the increase in support has been less than the sector’s growth. After COVID-19, governments have taken significant action to limit the impacts of the war in Ukraine on the farming sector and markets. This year’s report focuses on policies for climate-change adaptation and identifies close to 600 adaptation measures adopted by governments, but notes that more action is required to advance the implementation, monitoring and assessment of adaptation measures. The report also finds that most of the support for the sector comes in forms that reduce rather than enhance the sector’s capacity to adjust to future crises, including climate change. In line with the 2022 OECD Agriculture Ministerial Declaration, the report identifies key actions to focus policy efforts on improving agriculture and the food system’s resilience to successive shocks while also enhancing the sector’s environmental performance and productivity.
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30/10/2023
Blog article
COP28 in Dubai marks a critical juncture for countries to step up their climate ambitions and action in response to the first global stocktake of efforts under the Paris Agreement. This Environment Focus blog discusses the importance of seizing this pivotal opportunity to course correct.
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30/10/2023
Cities are faced with increasing record temperatures. In this blog, four OECD experts (Yosuke Kagaya, Ji-Soo Yoon, Takeshi Miyamori and Hiroko Suzuki) discuss different cooling solutions for cities, and how selected Asian cities are paving the way forward.
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27/10/2023
This paper takes stock of the institutional set-ups, mechanisms and practices used by governments, and in particular centres of government, to steer climate change policy. To respond effectively to climate change, governments need decision-making and co-ordinating processes that reflect the complexity and pressing nature of the climate crisis, the multitude of stakeholders involved, and the need to balance between short-term and long-term policy objectives. With their unique positioning, centres of government in OECD Member countries often play a crucial role in providing leadership and co-ordination for climate policy. The first part of this paper identifies the institutional arrangements, mandates and skillsets of centres of government for climate-related action. The second part analyses the centre’s stewardship role at different stages of the policy cycle, touching on strategic planning, co-ordination, the development of evidence-informed policies, and monitoring as well as overall efforts to “green” public administrations.
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