Browse by: "I"

Substantial amounts of money continue to be spent in OECD Member countries on measures to support agricultural, energy, transportation and industrial activities. Many of these support measures encourage the emission of environmentally-harmful pollutants, the generation of waste, and the excessive use of natural resources, and constitute a large drain on government budgets. In addition, much of the money spent on support may not reach the intended recipients as it can leak away to other sectors of the economy instead. As such, it is likely that the reform or removal of these subsidies could lead to "win-win" benefits through increased economic efficiency, reduced government spending and improved environmental quality.

Building on the vast literature on the subject as well as on the available statistical data on subsidies, this publication summarises the results of an OECD study on how economic support measures actually affect the economy and, as a result, the environment. Although the effects of a given support measure on the environment will be determined by a number of different factors, this study finds that releasing market forces through support removal and increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of regulations can lead to significant environmental benefits.

The report develops an analytical framework which enables policy makers to identify those support measures whose removal is most likely to lead to "win-win" benefits. It also offers recommendations to implementing reductions in environmentally-harmful subsidies -- especially those that run counter to environmental objectives that are shared by OECD Member countries -- and to overcome the often exaggerated fear of a loss in competitiveness.

The use of tradable permit systems for the protection of the environment is attracting growing interest in many countries and on the international scene. While the United States’ practice has been extensively analysed, relatively little is known of experiments in other countries. This book reviews the issues related to the implementation of domestic tradable permits systems in different areas (air, water, land) and in several OECD countries. It addresses key questions such as : what lessons can be drawn from existing experience? Why has the introduction of tradable permits failed in some instances? How can tradable permits be combined with other policy instruments such as taxes? What are the competitiveness implications of tradable permit systems? Not only should the lessons drawn from existing experience help the further use of domestic systems, it should also provide helpful insights for the possible implementation of tradable permits at the international level, in particular for managing greenhouse gases.

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has long been recognised as one of the international community’s premier economic organisations. Less well known is its extensive work and achievements in the field of environment.
Written by a former Director of Environment, this book describes the origins and evolution of the Organisation’s environmental work as well as its contributions to the resolution of major environmental issues which OECD Member nations have confronted over the second half of the Twentieth Century (e.g, acid rain, ozone depletion, chemical safety, hazardous waste management, and reconciliation of economic growth and environmental protection objectives). The author also sets out some of the key challenges that the OECD faces in maintaining a leadership role in international environmental affairs in the next millennium.

How can innovation and technology better contribute to environmental sustainability? What factors drive firms to innovate for the environment? How can environmental and innovation policies be better designed to stimulate innovation for the environment? How can better policy coherence be achieved? A recent OECD workshop addressed these crucial questions that lead to a better understanding of the interaction between innovation and the environment and explored elements of "best practice" policies that can stimulate innovation for the environment and shift our development path towards sustainability.

International emission trading will be one of the most important tools in the effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. The reason is clear: emission trading can bring impressive cost savings. While the private sector has embraced the concept and is well equipped to use it, implementation at the international level remains incomplete. This book offers a comprehensive review of international emission trading, from the “perfect” system envisaged in economic models to a more realistic view of how trading can actually work. It is based on market experiments and modelling undertaken by the International Energy Agency and other institutions. It takes an in-depth look at implications for the power-generation sector, and considers how developing countries could be included in a future trading regime. With this work, we move from the question of “whether” to trade to the more operational question: “how”.

Achieving sustainable development goals at a global level will strongly depend on the rapid technological development and innovation, and the widespread diffusion and application, of cleaner technologies in non-OECD as well as OECD countries. But do the developing countries have the capacity and motivation to take advantage of cleaner technology options? What are their needs? And what are the barriers which must be addressed? Arresting the impending environmental imbalances and ecological instability and moving towards sustainable development call for establishing a new multilateral framework for co-operation in environmental science and technology.

Agriculture has major impacts on the environment, especially on land use, soil and water quality, biodiversity and landscapes, which is a growing public concern in OECD countries. The challenge is to find ways for agriculture to efficiently and profitably produce sufficient and safe food to meet growing world demand without harming the environment and degrading natural resources. Agricultural policies often provide substantial production-linked support that have boosted farm output, but with mixed results on environmental quality. The reform of agricultural policies and trade liberalisation has started to alter signals to farmers, leading to changes in farm practices, which will contribute to enhancing the beneficial and reducing the harmful environmental impacts of agriculture. Despite some progress in the environmental performance of agriculture over the last decade, there is still much room for improvement and more needs to be done. On which principles should policies be based? Who should pay or be paid for ensuring environmental quality? When could market approaches be harnessed for charging and remunerating environmental quality? And when might policy action be needed? This report sheds light on these questions and provides criteria and guidelines for the better design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies addressing environmental issues in agriculture.

These Guidelines highlight the linkages between global environmental issues, on the one hand, and sustainable development and poverty reduction, on the other. They demonstrate how development co-operation agencies can support developing countries’ efforts to integrate responses to the environmental threats addressed by the Climate Change, Biodiversity and Desertification Conventions (the "Rio Conventions") into their national poverty reduction and development plans. While focusing on the Rio Conventions, many of the findings outlined in these Guidelines apply equally to other global or regional environmental issues.

This report brings together the recent work done by OECD on water management issues and identifies the main policy challenges for sustainable water management.  Issues discussed are:  performance of water management policies in OECD countries; water pricing; financing of water and wastewater infrastructure; water-related development co-operation; social aspects of water pricing; biochemical technologies for improving water quality; and aid to the water supply and sanitation sector.  Co-published by IWA Publishing, London:  www.iwapublishing.com

Energy, transport, water and telecommunications all are essential to future development and growth. However, infrastructure investment requirements over the coming decades will be massive, running into trillions of dollars. How will the needed investments be financed, given that OECD populations are ageing fast and public finances tightening? How will such factors as urbanisation, climate change and globalisation affect the development of infrastructures in OECD countries? And how will the role of the public sector and private actors evolve over time? These are just some of the questions this OECD report addresses in this long-term assessment of the future of infrastructures in both OECD and non-OECD countries.

This report reviews experience in mitigating the environmental impacts of inland waterway development. It examines effective consultation and planning procedures across Europe. In particular it assesses the ways in which the EU Water Framework Directive affects the planning environment for international waterways and sets a new agenda for improving the ecological value of waterways. The report makes recommendations on good practice and identifies the Danube river basin as the critical area for improvement.

This report draws on three detailed case studies from Armenia, the Russian Federation and Turkey and on the experience of OECD countries to provide guidance on how transfers from central budgets to local authorities could be designed to finance environmental infrastructures in transition economies. The report also investigates mechanisms for transferring financial resources for water services from higher to lower levels of government.

Markets for many classes of potentially recyclable materials are growing. However, market failures and barriers are constraining some markets. Factors such as information failures, technological externalities, and market power can affect the prices, quantity, and quality of materials traded. This report presents the case for the use of 'industrial' policies which address such market failures and barriers and these policies are seen as complements to more traditional environmental policies. Indeed, encouraging ever-higher recycling rates in the absence of such complementary measures may impose very high social welfare costs. This publication covers in particular the markets for waste oils, waste plastics, and used rubber tyres.

Achieving sustainable development depends on good governance practices, particularly the effective implementation of national sustainable development strategies which integrate government decision-making in the economic, environmental and social spheres. This volume contains recommendations for the true “institutionalisation” of sustainable development.  Institutionalisation will embed the concept in government operations for the long-term and will reduce the vulnerability of sustainable development aims to shorter-term political objectives.

Science and Technology is a key driver of economic growth, and it may also help provide answers for managing resources and reducing pollution, addressing climate change and preserving biodiversity, as well as  reducing disease and safeguarding health and well-being, while maintaining the general quality of life. This publication provides the proceedings of an international workshop, held in South Africa, intended to address how international co-operation in science and technology can further the three inter-related aspects (economic, social and environmental) of the development process. The workshop focused on good practices in international S&T partnerships, specifically in the areas of water and energy.

What are the impacts on environmental effectiveness and economic efficiency of using an “instrument mix”, rather than a single instrument, to address a given environmental problem? What are the main arguments for using such instrument mixes, and are the instrument mixes currently in use actually well designed in response to these arguments? These are the main questions addressed in this report, which is based on a series of in-depth case studies. The case studies analyse instrument mixes applied in OECD countries to address household waste, non-point sources of water pollution in agriculture, residential energy efficiency, regional air pollution and emissions to air of mercury.