Browse by: "2024"

This paper analyses of the use of sustainability initiatives within the agricultural and minerals sectors across Latin America and the Caribbean. Building on a detailed mapping of almost 40 selected initiatives and insights from survey data collected from over 300 business representatives, it aims to promote consistency and deepen understanding of the landscape and role of sustainability initiatives in relation to Responsible Business Conduct. This paper identifies key trends, challenges, and opportunities, facilitating a more integrated approach to sustainability across these critical sectors.

The upsurge in children’s screen time has sparked concerns about its impact on children’s learning, development, and well-being. Three-quarters of students in OECD countries spend more than one hour per weekday browsing social networks and nearly one in three students gets distracted by using digital devices in class. How to protect and equip students to navigate digital environments? This PISA in Focus explores why students rely on devices and how their digital device use relates to their mathematics performance, sense of belonging at school, and how much they become distracted. It highlights the role of education policies that improve students’ digital skills and behaviours and prepare teachers to teach with technology in protecting students from digital distractions at school and beyond, and building their ability to navigate digital environments.

At the UNFCCC COP21 in 2015, Parties decided that a New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on climate finance shall be set prior to 2025, from a floor of USD 100 billion per year, taking into account the needs and priorities of developing countries. The ad-hoc work programme on the NCQG commenced at the beginning of 2022 and will conclude in 2024. In this context, the present paper puts forward key findings that can help to inform the final months of international discussions relating to the NCQG. First, the paper provides a stocktake of available evidence highlighting that climate action in developing countries requires significant levels of financing that can be met from a wide, and complementary, range of existing and potential new sources. Second, the paper considers how the NCQG could reflect various individual elements, grouped in three clusters: international public finance, private finance, and domestic efforts. Without pre-empting the future structure of the NCQG, the discussion in this paper illustrates how to potentially reflect both the importance of international public finance as well as the need to scale up private finance, while also recognising the magnitude and effectiveness of such finance depends on the domestic context and actions by all Parties. Third, the paper explores issues relating to tracking and assessing progress towards the future goal. These indicate that while certain elements can be tracked in monetary terms, others would require a different type of quantified indicators or qualitative information. These considerations also highlight that although data and information stemming from the Paris Agreement’s Enhanced Transparency Framework will be central, further sources will be needed for such progress assessments to be as comprehensive and policy relevant as possible.

The Paris Agreement is underpinned by Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) in which Parties set out how they plan to support the Agreement’s long-term temperature goal. Parties are to submit their next NDCs by early 2025, informed by the first global stocktake (GST1). The GST1 sets out key signals and a series of mitigation focused calls in line with 1.5°C pathways that can guide the next generation of NDCs. This paper explores how Parties can prepare enhanced NDCs that take forward GST1 outcomes on mitigation and relevant provisions on NDCs, building on lessons learned from successive NDCs and available follow-up opportunities to support this process. Insights from experiences highlight the interlinkages between enhancing NDC ambition and implementation. Ambitious NDCs underpinned by robust implementation plans and accompanying investment plans can ensure NDCs are action oriented, implementation ready and investable. At the same time, adopting whole-of-government, whole-of-society approaches to NDCs can foster a sense of national ownership and increase social acceptance, leading to more ambitious NDCs and support subsequent implementation. The paper also explores potential guidance that could be relevant for negotiations on NDC features in 2024. While recognising the nationally determined character of NDCs, Parties could use these negotiations to provide clarity on new issues that have emerged since the Paris Agreement was adopted and on existing elements that could benefit from clarification. When addressing negotiations on NDC features, Parties may also want to consider a longer-term perspective beyond the next NDCs and links with other relevant negotiation processes on reporting and transparency.

This paper discusses recent developments in Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly generative AI, which could positively impact many markets. While it is important that markets remain competitive to ensure their benefits are widely felt, the lifecycle for generative AI is still developing. This paper focuses on three stages: training foundation models, fine-tuning and deployment. It is too early to say how competition will develop in generative AI, but there appear to be some risks to competition that warrant attention, such as linkages across the generative AI value chain, including from existing markets, and potential barriers to accessing key inputs such as quality data and computing power. Several competition authorities and policy makers are taking actions to monitor market developments and may need to use the various advocacy and enforcement tools at their disposal. Furthermore, co-operation could play an important role in allowing authorities to efficiently maintain their knowledge and expertise.

While child poverty has decreased significantly in recent years due to increased support for families with children, measures to assist socio-economically disadvantaged children only partially address their challenges. To enhance equality of opportunity and social mobility in Canada, it is crucial to strengthen efforts addressing the root causes of socio-economic disadvantages and bridge gaps in policies aimed at reducing child poverty. This paper presents an overview of child poverty trends in Canada and discusses the challenges associated with the Poverty Reduction Strategy aimed at enhancing equality of opportunity and social mobility.

Companies are announcing pledges to increase their use of recycled content in their plastics products or packaging. But companies have historically failed to meet the goals that they have announced. OECD governments are adopting policies that will require the use of recycled content. There is some initial evidence that these policies strengthen recycling markets. Businesses have experienced some challenges in their initial efforts to comply due to a disharmonious range of definitions and targets. Additionally, there is an insufficient volume of useable recycled material in the market. This is especially an issue for food-contact packaging. Governments are facing limitations in what is feasible for monitoring and verifying compliance. This paper reviews current policies and methods for checking compliance. This review informs description of considerations for the design of recycled content policies and insights about their use.

In today's world, the digital landscape plays a crucial role in children's lives, offering opportunities for education, socialising and entertainment. However, it also poses risks such as cyberbullying, exposure to inappropriate content and breaches of privacy. There are also concerns that excessive screen time can impact children's social and emotional development, leading to debates about the quality of their interactions. Recent findings from the PISA survey further highlight a negative correlation between leisurely digital device use at school and academic performance. This OECD brochure “Students, digital devices and success” collates the latest research on digital devices and education from across the OECD’s Directorate for Education and Skills to support countries efforts to set policies in this area

Dans le monde d'aujourd'hui, le paysage numérique joue un rôle crucial dans la vie des enfants, en leur offrant des possibilités d'éducation, de socialisation et de divertissement. Cependant, il présente également des risques tels que la cyberintimidation, l'exposition à des contenus inappropriés et la violation de la vie privée. On craint également qu'un temps d'écran excessif ait un impact sur le développement social et émotionnel des enfants, ce qui donne lieu à des débats sur la qualité de leurs interactions. Les résultats récents de l'enquête PISA mettent également en évidence une corrélation négative entre l'utilisation d'appareils numériques à l'école et les résultats scolaires. Cette brochure de l'OCDE intitulée « Élèves et écrans : performance académique et bien-être » rassemble les dernières recherches sur les appareils numériques et l'éducation menées par la Direction de l'éducation et des compétences de l'OCDE afin d'aider les pays à définir des politiques dans ce domaine.

This paper examines the current status of water availability, water demand, and influences from climate change in the European Union. It provides an overview of economic policy instruments to address water scarcity and manage water demand. Additionally, the paper explores policy options and considerations for addressing water scarcity and meeting Water Framework Directive (WFD) objectives. These considerations include balancing demand management and supply augmentation, managing water scarcity through robust allocation regimes, and increasing the use of agro-environmental measures and practices. The paper also discusses the principles and features of effective allocation regimes, drivers and incentives for allocation reforms, the hierarchy and sequencing of water use, abstraction charges, ensuring return flows and ecological flows, and improving the coherence of WFD measures and climate change policies. This is the third in a sub-set of four working papers within the Environment Working Paper series destined to support the further implementation of the economic pillar of the Water Framework Directive. The four papers are best read in combination and provide lessons which are relevant beyond the European Union.

This paper examines the challenges and policy imperatives involved in implementing the Polluter Pays principle (PPP) in the context of the Water Framework Directive (WFD). It presents the state of play of the Polluter Pays principle in EU Member States. It also analyses the coherence with other policies in EU Member States, such as agriculture, land planning and industry. Furthermore, it examines the practical limitations of the Polluter Pays principle in relation to diffuse and legacy pollution. Finally, it questions how the principle fits into the Green Deal and future water-related challenges in the EU. This is the second in a sub-set of four working papers within the Environment Working Paper series destined to support the further implementation of the economic pillar of the Water Framework Directive. The four papers are best read in combination and provide lessons which are relevant beyond the European Union.

This paper examines three sets of issues related to strategic investment planning and financing for water: i) Investment planning in an uncertain context; ii) The benefits of supplementing project level planning with a consideration for pathways of investments; iii) Facilitating access to a wider range of financing sources, most importantly commercial finance. Together these issues can enhance the performance of water-related finance, making the best use of available finance and assets, in a context marked by high-level of (public and private) debt and rising cost of finance. This is the first in a sub-set of four working papers within the Environment Working Paper series destined to support the further implementation of the economic pillar of the Water Framework Directive. The four papers are best read in combination and provide lessons which are relevant beyond the European Union.

This paper examines the concept of cost recovery of water services under the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD), including the different types of costs and cost-recovery mechanisms. It presents the state of play in the implementation of cost recovery in EU Member States, for financial, environmental and resource costs. It also analyses the political, societal and technical issues affecting cost recovery in EU Member States. Furthermore, it examines emerging options to recover rising costs, including ways to minimise costs and innovative arrangements to supplement existing funding streams. Finally, it questions how fit cost recovery is as a concept for emerging and future water-related challenges in the EU. This is the fourth in a sub-set of four working papers within the Environment Working Paper series destined to support the further implementation of the economic pillar of the Water Framework Directive. The four papers are best read in combination and provide lessons which are relevant beyond the European Union.

Recent global developments, and a number of serious crises, have led to large government interventions in many jurisdictions, driving a debate on whether there is a need to rethink the role of industrial policy in modern economies. This paper explores how to use industrial policy and make it pro-competitive. Competition authorities can play a crucial role in strengthening the impact of industrial policy: by ensuring that competition principles remain a cornerstone of carefully designed industrial policy. Moreover, competition enforcement keeps markets more competitive, laying a good foundation for industrial policy.

Competition authorities have already acquired significant knowledge about the concept of market power and dominance as well as practical experience when assessing anticompetitive practices. However, the introduction of potential new concepts, such as economic moats and entrenchment, may complicate this analysis and further blur the lines between lawful and unlawful practices. This paper discusses the relation between economic moats and entrenchment with market power and calls for further reflections among competition authorities and practitioners on the challenges these concepts may pose. It explores several possible options, including incentivising the use of investigative and analytical techniques, as well as strengthening regulatory tools.

Employment has recovered strongly from the COVID-19 pandemic despite large structural changes in labour markets, such as the widespread adoption of digital business models and remote work. We analyse whether the pandemic has been associated with labour reallocation across occupations and triggered mismatches between occupational labour demand and supply using novel data on employers’ job postings and jobseekers’ clicks across 19 countries from the online job site Indeed. Findings indicate that, on average across countries, the pandemic triggered large and persistent reallocation of postings and clicks across occupations. Occupational mismatch initially increased but was back to pre-pandemic levels at the end of 2022 as employers and workers adjusted to structural changes. The adjustment was substantially slower in countries that resorted to short-time work schemes to preserve employment during the pandemic.

The regulation of occupations is widespread, extending beyond the liberal professions, such as lawyers and engineers, to a broader set of other economic activities. Competition authorities have long been active in improving competition in these markets, both through enforcement action and by advocating to make regulation more pro-competitive. This paper aims to support competition authorities’ advocacy efforts. It includes an overview of the literature about the effects of regulation of professional services, which competition authorities can draw on to advocate for the benefits of less restrictive regulation where appropriate. The paper also brings together analytical frameworks developed by the OECD and jurisdictions such as Australia, the US and EU to assess regulatory barriers to competition. The paper further draws on case studies of advocacy efforts from competition authorities across a range of OECD member countries.

The consumption of products, services and transportation has significant environmental consequences and account for the majority of global greenhouse gas emissions. Meanwhile, demand-side policy measures have the potential to reduce the environmental footprint of these activities by up to 40-70%. This Policy Paper draws on the OECD’s recent household survey on environmental policy and behavioural change to provide insights and policy recommendations for specific measures that can encourage more sustainable household consumption of energy, transport and food as well as more sustainable waste practices. The report was prepared in support of Japan’s 2023 G7 presidency.

This paper explores the state of teenage career development in England. It sets out findings from the 2022 round of the OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), a comparative international survey of young people in secondary education. PISA 2022 provides considerable data related to young people’s engagement in, and perceptions of, career development, including information on occupational and educational intentions and participation in career development activities. This paper compares student responses in England to OECD averages, disaggregated by a range of student characteristics, including gender, socio-economic background, academic proficiency and school type attended. This comprehensive analysis finds that in many ways student career development in England compares well with many other OECD countries, particularly countries identified as providing most relevant comparisons. However, analysis of longitudinal cohort studies show that students in England and across the OECD fail to engage sufficiently in career development by the age of 15. In England, students from lower socio-economic backgrounds engage less consistently in career development than their more socially advantaged peers. As in many countries, low performing students in England demonstrate forms of career development that raise particular concerns. The career expectations of all students align poorly with patterns of labour market demand.

This report outlines results from the initial pilot-testing of a Scorecard to assess the enabling environment for investment in water security, referred to as "the Scorecard”. Developed in collaboration with the Asian Development Bank and partners, the Scorecard aims to identify conditions for attracting and maintaining investment in water security. The report outlines the Scorecard's rationale, scoring methodology, and presents its main components. It also provides results from seven Asian countries, namely, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Uzbekistan, and Sri Lanka. Armenia's findings from a subsequent Eastern European pilot test are also incorporated. This is the first in a sub-set of working papers within the Environment Working Paper series presenting research on the enabling environment for investment in water security. It marks the beginning of a process to apply the tool and support policy reforms. The report refrains from offering policy recommendations, focusing on testing the scorecard's ability to assess conditions to attract and sustain investing in water security. For an illustration of country-specific policy recommendations, please refer to the forthcoming Environment Working Paper “Enabling environment for investment in water security: Pilot test in the EU’s Eastern Partner Countries - Armenia case study”.