Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) is one of the main tools available to achieve integration of the principles of sustainable development into country policies and programmes.  This Guidance volume explains the benefits of using SEA in development co-operation and sets out key steps for its application based on recent experiences. Twelve different entry points are identified for the practical application of SEA in development co-operation. For each entry point, the text provides a guidance note: a checklist of questions and hands-on case studies. Evaluation and capacity development for SEA processes are also addressed.

This report uses the OECD Principles on Water Governance as a tool for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue and practical assessment of the performance of flood governance systems. It applies the Principles to flood-prone contexts to help strengthen governance frameworks for managing the risks of “too much” water. By 2050, 1.6 billion people will be at risk of flooding, affecting nearly 20% of the world’s population at an increasing rate and many times over with dire social, economic and environmental consequences. In this report, a checklist is proposed as a self-assessment tool for stakeholders in flood management, based on lessons learned from 27 case studies that feature practical experiences and highlight common features and key challenges in flood governance.

Contaminated drinking water contributes to disease in developing and developed countries worldwide.  This book, which is the outcome of a shared WHO-OECD initiative since 1998, provides a state-of-the-art review on approaches and methods used in assessing the microbial safety of drinking-water.  It supports a framework for water and offers guidance on the selection and use of available indicators alongside operational monitoring to meet specific information needs. It looks at potential applications of new technologies and emerging methods.

Policies aimed at reducing the environmental impact of human activities have important consequences for labour markets, jobs, and skills. As employment is shifting towards more sustainable activities, workers are increasingly expected to have skills that support the transition to a greener economy. Assessing and anticipating emerging skill needs is crucial to avoid bottlenecks and sustain the green transition. This report sheds light on existing methods to measure changes in skill demand and supply related to the green transition through an in-depth review of practices in five OECD countries (Australia, Austria, France, Norway and Sweden). It also identifies best practice on how to feed information on changing skill needs into policies, notably in the areas of employment, career guidance, education and adult learning.

Over the past decades, governments have gradually adopted more rigorous environmental policies to tackle challenges associated with pressing environmental issues, such as climate change. The ambition of these policies is, however, often tempered by their perceived negative effects on the economy. The empirical evidence in this volume – covering a decade of OECD analysis – shows that environmental policies have had relatively small effects on economic outcomes such as employment, investment, trade and productivity. At the same time, they have been effective at reducing emissions from industry. The policies can however generate winners and losers across firms, industries and regions: while the least productive firms from high-polluting sectors are adversely affected, more productive firms and low-pollution sectors benefit. Environmental policies can be designed and combined with other policies to compensate workers and industries that may lose and to emphasise their positive impacts.

How can the environmental effects of trade liberalisation agreements be assessed ? Are available methodologies sufficiently tuned to current concerns? In order to take stock of the state of the art in assessment methodologies, the OECD organised a two-day technical workshop to focus on past practice and new tools for assessing the environmental effects of trade agreements. Some two dozen experts from governments, international organisations, universities international organisations, universities and NGOs active in this area presented lessons from past practice and results of the considerable advances made in recent years. This volume brings together the papers presented during the two-day workshop by the invited experts and the comments from a range of governmental and international organisation practitioners and representatives of civil society who participated in the workshop. In addition to the presentations on methodologies, this book includes the workshop rapporteur's summary of the gaps in the existing research in this field.

Bringing the results of economic appraisals and environmental assessments before technical and political decision-makers in ways that are clear, concise and transparent is essential if planning and decision making procedures are to achieve a sustainable transport system. This report makes recommendations for good practice in the transport sector on the basis of reviews of recent experience in infrastructure planning and policy development in seven countries.

Biodurability of nanomaterials (NMs) through dissolution and enzymatic biodegradation or chemical disintegration is an important property that needs to be investigated for their potential to cause harm to humans and the environment. NMs may therefore be differentiated based on their biodurability between those that are amenable and those that are resistant to dissolution, biodegradation and/or disintegration. This document compiles the relevant information on the biodurability of the pristine and functionalised nanomaterials in biological and environmental media in vitro and in vivo, as well as describes brief methods for measuring the stability and halftimes of nanomaterials.

Which alternative motor fuels will be in common use tomorrow? Which criteria should be used to assess them? No simple answers exist. Complex trade-offs are involved in the decision-making process. But the most important ingredient for making informed choices is sound information produced by a transparent methodology. Automotive Fuels for the Future offers a digest of basic data on the critical fuel choices for the future. It is a well-balanced compendium of concise technical information, as well as an overview of the essential issues in deciding among alternative fuels. Fuels such as natural gas, LPG or alcohols and biodiesel derived from different feedstocks are considered over the entire cycle from production to use. They are analysed in terms of environmental effects, safety, availability and cost. Their weaknesses and strengths are judged against the yardsticks of established gasoline and diesel technologies. This publication from IEA/AFIS, the information service of the IEA Implementing Agreement on Advanced Motor Fuels, makes this information accessible to the general reader.

This OECD Emission Scenario Document (ESD) is intended to provide information on the
sources, use patterns and release pathways of chemicals used in automotive refinishing industry. The information can be used to estimate releases of chemicals to the environment.
 

Best Available techniques (BAT) have emerged as a key policy tool for setting emission limit values and other permit conditions to prevent and control industrial emissions, and thus ensure a high level of human health and environmental protection. This report provides an overview of policies and practices embodying BAT or similar concepts to prevent and control industrial emissions to air, water and soil in OECD members (the United States, the European Union, Japan and New Zealand) and partners (India, the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation). For each country, the overview includes information on the BAT-based policy instruments in place, how they are embedded into national legislation, the pollutants, sectors and activities to which they apply, their date of entry into force, timing for implementation and requirements linked to the use of BAT or similar concepts. This is the first in a series of reports developed as part of the OECD’s BAT project.

Industrial pollution prevention and control policies can achieve significant environmental, financial and human health gains. A growing number of countries use Best Available Techniques (BAT) to set industrial emission levels that are rooted in evidence and based on multi-stakeholder dialogue. Evaluating the effectiveness of BAT-based policies is essential to enhance their impact and strengthen future policy design. However, many countries lack the most appropriate datasets for an adequate effectiveness analysis of their BAT-based policies. This report provides an assessment of how governments can measure the effectiveness of their BAT-based policies to mitigate industrial pollution while generating benefits to society, such as improved air quality, and fostering efficient industrial operations. It presents the first comprehensive cross-country analysis of existing approaches to evaluating the impact of industrial emissions policies, and demonstrates the diverse approaches to such evaluations in the European Union, the United States, Chile, Israel, Korea, the Russian Federation, India, the People’s Republic of China, Kazakhstan and New Zealand. This is the third in a series of reports developed as part of the OECD’s BAT project.

A growing number of governments seek to adopt an approach based on Best Available Techniques (BAT) as part of the regulatory framework to prevent and control industrial emissions. Providing guidance on BAT-based permitting is, in the short term, a means to strengthen policy in individual countries. In the long term, it might facilitate greater international harmonisation of procedures to establish BAT and BAT-AE(P)Ls. This would assist efforts to protect human health and the environment across countries, and expand the level playing field for industry. This document presents a high-level overview of each step of the process to determine BAT, BAT-AE(P)Ls and permit conditions, including information on the principles and factors that should be considered in this process, based on best practices from OECD member and partner countries. It provides references to more detailed information from countries where such approaches are employed, and includes a range of elaborate examples from national and supra-national jurisdictions as well as international conventions. The document promotes an integrated approach to BAT-based environmental permitting. This is the fourth in a series of documents developed as part of the OECD’s BAT project.

In the transition towards a non-polluting, resource efficient industry, greater consideration of value chains shows potential to deliver greater overall environmental benefit than less integrated approaches that focus on individual stages, such as installation or sectoral emissions. Actions taken at the design and manufacturing, or other product life phases, can influence environmental impacts at other stages such as material processing, and waste recycling. The overall life-cycle impacts need to be accounted for at the outset. This report assesses how value chain approaches are/should be incorporated in BAT determinations and related environmental regulatory and policy concepts to accelerate progress toward identifying practices that more effectively consider an industry’s entire value chain to reduce overall environmental impacts as well as individual manufacturing sites within a given sector. This is the fifth in a series of reports developed as part of the OECD’s BAT project.

Industrial facilities play a major role in environmental consequences as their processes may use large amounts of raw materials and energy, and in return, may release significant amounts of pollutants into the air, water and soil. As part of their operational obligations, industrial facilities are required to meet various regulatory requirements in the form of emission limitations and/or standards of performance and environmental quality objectives at the local level. This report is a cross-country analysis of BREFs for three selected industrial sectors; thermal power plants (TPP), cement production and textile manufacturing. It examines seven BREFs for TPP, five BREFs for cement production, and six BREFs for textile manufacturing from countries/organisations, including China, India, Japan, South Korea, the US, the EU, Belgium (Flanders), and the World Bank. The information received from various jurisdictions may encourage and assist countries in their progress towards developing sector-specific BREFs. Beyond that, this comparative analysis may indicate the areas of possible harmonisation between countries, and also highlight the structures or parts of the BREFs that may need expanding or updating for better environmental impact considerations. This is the sixth in a series of reports developed as part of the OECD’s BAT project.

Industrial facilities have a significant impact on the environment due to their use of large amounts of raw materials and energy, resulting in the release of pollutants into the air, water and soil. These facilities are obligated to adhere to various regulatory requirements, including emission levels and environmental quality objectives at the local level. This report provides a cross-country analysis of Best Available Techniques Reference Documents (BREFs) for three industrial sectors: iron and steel, paper and pulp, and waste incineration. It examines six BREFs from different countries and organisations, such as China, India, South Korea, the US, the EU, and the World Bank. The information gathered from various jurisdictions may help and support countries in developing sector-specific BREFs. Furthermore, this comparative analysis can identify areas for potential harmonisation between countries and highlight aspects of the BREFs that may require expansion or updating to better address environmental impact considerations.

Best Available Techniques (BAT) have emerged as a key policy tool to prevent and control the emission of industrial pollutants, and thus to ensure the protection of human health and the environment. This report presents the first comprehensive analysis of approaches to establishing BAT and similar concepts around the world, including in OECD members (Korea, the United States, the European Union and New Zealand) and partners (the Russian Federation, India and the People’s Republic of China and) as well as under international conventions. The report demonstrates the key characteristics of more than nine methodologies to establish BAT and similar concepts, providing governments with good practice insights on how to effectively design or review their approach to determining BAT. It also presents a unique, international compilation of existing BAT documents, allowing interested stakeholders to seek guidance from already identified BAT. This is the second in a series of reports developed as part of the OECD’s BAT project.