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The World Energy Outlook, the IEA’s flagship publication, provides a comprehensive view of how the global energy system could develop in the coming decades.
This year’s exceptional circumstances require an exceptional approach. The usual long-term modelling horizons are kept but the focus for this new Outlook is firmly on the next ten years, exploring in detail the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the energy sector and the near-term actions that could accelerate clean energy transitions.
The analysis targets the key uncertainties facing the energy sector in relation to the duration of the pandemic and its implications, while mapping out the choices that would pave the way towards a sustainable recovery.
The strategic insights from the WEO-2020 are based on detailed modelling of different potential pathways out of the crisis, covering all regions, fuels and technologies and using the latest data on energy markets, policies and costs.
The worldwide economic shock caused by the Covid-19 pandemic is having widespread and often dramatic effects on investments in the energy sector. Based on the latest available data, the International Energy Agency's World Energy Investment 2020 provides a unique and comprehensive perspective on how energy capital flows are being reshaped by the crisis, including full-year estimates for global energy investment in 2020.
Now in its fifth edition, the World Energy Investment report is the annual IEA benchmark analysis of investment and financing across all areas of fuel and electricity supply, efficiency, and research and development. In addition to a full review of the 2019 trends that preceded the crisis, this year’s analysis highlights how companies are now reassessing strategies – and investors repricing risks – in response to today’s profound uncertainties and financial strains.
The energy industry that emerges from this crisis will be significantly different from the one that came before. The vulnerabilities and implications vary among companies, depending on whether they are investing in fossil fuels or low-carbon technologies, as well as across different countries. The new report assesses which areas are most exposed and which are proving to be more resilient. The analysis also provides crucial insights for governments, investors and other stakeholders on new risks to energy security and sustainability, and what can be done to mitigate them.
Canada has introduced a set of programmes to test novel approaches to skills development. This report analyses the potential of these programmes to improve the future-readiness of Canada’s adult learning system. Further, it outlines how these programmes might be expanded to promote optimal skills use and learning within workplaces, through the use of high-performance work practices.
This report presents the most up-to-date and comprehensive cross-country assessment of long-term care (LTC) workers, the tasks they perform and the policies to address shortages in OECD countries. It highlights the importance of improving working conditions in the sector and making care work more attractive and shows that there is space to increase productivity by enhancing the use of technology, providing a better use of skills and investing in prevention.
Population ageing has outpaced the growth of workers in the long-term care (LTC) sector and the sector struggles with attracting and retaining enough workers to care for those dependent on others for care. Non-standard work is widespread, pay levels tend to be lower than similar-qualification jobs in other health sectors, and LTC workers experience more health problems than other health workers. Further, educational requirements tend to be insufficient to perform more demanding and growing tasks of LTC. With growing demand for care at home, better co-ordination between the health and long-term care sectors and between formal and informal careers is needed.
For the first time, the OECD Future of Education and Skills 2030 project conducted comprehensive curriculum analyses through the co-creation of new knowledge with a wide range of stakeholders including policy makers, academic experts, school leaders, teachers, NGOs, other social partners and, most importantly, students. This report is one of six in a series presenting the first-ever comparative data on curriculum at the content level summarising existing literature, examining trends in curriculum change with challenges and strategies, and suggesting lessons learned from unintended consequences countries experienced with their curriculum reforms.
This report highlights that economic, societal and environmental changes are happening rapidly and technologies are developing at an unprecedented pace, but education systems are relatively slow to adapt. Time lag in curriculum redesign refers to the discrepancies between the content of today’s curriculum and the diverse needs of preparing students for the future. The OECD Learning Compass can serve as a guide for adjusting to the new demands of education systems with regards to curriculum, pedagogies, assessments, governance structure, educational management, and the role of students. Innovative approaches to curriculum design that may minimise time lags include: digital curriculum; personalised curriculum; cross-curricular content and competency-based curriculum; and flexible curriculum.
Long waiting times for health services is an important policy issue in most OECD countries. Reducing the time that people have to wait to get a consultation with a general practitioner, or a diagnostic test or treatment, can go a long way in improving patient experience and avoiding possible deterioration in their health. Governments in many countries have taken various measures to reduce waiting times, often supported by additional funding, with mixed success. This report looks at how waiting times for elective treatment, which is usually the longest wait, have stalled over the past decade in many countries, and have started to rise again in some others. It also analyses the differences in how long people have to wait to get a consultation with general practitioners or specialists across countries. The report reviews a range of policies that countries have used to tackle waiting times for different services, including elective surgery and primary care consultations, but also cancer care and mental health services, with a focus on identifying the most successful ones.
Today, with the completion of First-of-a-Kind Gen-III nuclear reactors, the nuclear sector is at a critical juncture. These reactors have led in several parts of the world to delays and construction costs overruns that have challenged the competitiveness of nuclear power and are driving the risk perception of future projects. Against this background, a review of historical and recent lessons learnt from nuclear and non-nuclear project offers ample evidence that nuclear new build can be delivered cost and time-effectively.
This study assesses the policy and governance frameworks needed to drive positive learning and continuous industrial performance for nuclear new build. The study also explores the risk allocation and mitigation priorities needed to define adequate financing schemes for these projects. In the longer-term, it identifies cost reduction opportunities associated with the harmonisation of code and standards and licensing regimes and new innovative designs (i.e. small modular reactors and advanced reactors).
Transport connects people, places and cities. Investment in transport infrastructure therefore helps bridging economic and social divides. It promotes economic growth and catching up of regions by providing access to jobs for workers and markets for firms. This report summarises evidence on the benefits of transport investment for economic growth and job creation and thereby for catching up in OECD regions. Beyond economic divides, the report consider inequality in access to opportunities using the EC-ITF-OECD Urban Access Framework. It considers how transport can bridge social divides by taking a closer look at accessibility within OECD cities (functional urban areas). Cities differ greatly in their ability to provide inclusive access to opportunities across more affluent and poorer neighbourhoods. To bridge divides, the report highlights the need to go beyond transport infrastructure investment and consider wider urban planning, as well as complementary measures in regions.
In Kazakhstan, over 200 public councils at national, regional and local levels provide a platform for civil society to voice its opinion on important social issues. This report analyses the legal and policy framework for stakeholder participation in Kazakhstan, and compares public councils' current practices against the requirements set out in regulations. It proposes practical recommendations to improve the legitimacy, transparency and inclusiveness of public councils in carrying out their duties. Recommendations are supported by good practices in both OECD and other countries that enable, improve and innovate stakeholder participation.
This stocktaking report synthesises national approaches towards implementation of Chapter VI of the OECD Guidelines on Corporate Governance of State-Owned Enterprises which addresses transparency and disclosure practices by SOEs and their owners. The focus of the stocktaking is on large SOEs that are engaged in economic or commercial activities and in particular those that are active in competitive markets. Enterprises concerned with public policy objectives were not the focus of this exercise.
This report, one in a series of studies by the OECD and the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), enhances understanding of the issues and challenges facing governments, businesses and society posed by the trade in fake pharmaceutical products. Illicit markets for fake pharmaceuticals are attractive for counterfeiters, given the high profit margins, low risks of detection and prosecution, weak penalties, and the ease with which consumers can be deceived into believing that the counterfeit products are genuine. Counterfeit medicines not only cause economic damage for the sector, but are also a significant threat to public health, since fake medicines are often not properly formulated and may contain dangerous ingredients. Fake pharmaceuticals include antibiotics, lifestyle treatments, pain killers, anti-malarial drugs, diabetes treatments and central nervous system medicines.
The world needs more, better and cheaper technologies to achieve clean energy transitions, despite some progress in recent years. There is an opportunity to strengthen support for clean energy innovation as part of sustainable recovery plans and counteract the potential threats to energy technology development from the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tracking clean energy innovation progress encompasses several critical elements of effective energy innovation policy: identifying gaps and opportunities, evaluating the effectiveness of programmes and policies, and understanding the market readiness of key technologies, nationally and globally.
Drawing from available research and real-world policy examples, we use a four-pillar framework to present a set of metrics for tracking progress across clean energy innovation systems. A broad range of metrics are described for each of the pillars and key examples are illustrated with available data.
This report aims to support public and private decision makers’ efforts to accelerate clean energy innovation. Strategies for tracking progress and embedding innovation policy within energy policy are long-term commitments, and data collection can be challenging. However, tracking progress is an important element of policy good practice, and all countries have quick-win opportunities to improve. In emerging economies aiming to enhance their innovation policies, innovation system mapping and experience sharing can help make progress.
This report presents the results of collaboration on improving water security in Belarus, between the beneficiary country, the OECD and its partners implementing the EU-funded European Union Water Initiative Plus project. It provides an overview of the composition and distribution of the country’s water resources, including the particular challenges facing different regions (oblasts), and lays out the policy responses that Belarus has taken and planned to progress its overarching policy objective of ensuring water security within the framework of the future national Water Strategy in the Context of Climate Change for the Period until 2030. The report also provides an assessment of potential opportunities to boost water security in Belarus by supporting the country’s ongoing water policy reform agenda.
Land use is central to many of the environmental and socio-economic issues facing society today. This report examines on-going challenges for aligning land-use policy with climate, biodiversity and food objectives, and the opportunities to enhance the sustainability of land-use systems. It looks at six countries – Brazil, France, Indonesia, Ireland, Mexico and New Zealand – with relatively large agricultural and forestry sectors and associated greenhouse gas emissions, many of which also host globally important biodiversity. Drawing on these countries’ relevant national strategies and plans, institutional co-ordination and policy instruments, the report provides good practice insights on how to better align land use decision-making processes and to achieve stronger coherence between land use, climate, ecosystems and food objectives.
Meeting climate and energy goals requires a fundamental and accelerated transformation of power systems globally. Decision makers collectively must support a rapid shift to low-carbon generation while meeting strong growth in power demand, driven by increased energy access in developing economies and electrification of end-use sectors. Carbon capture, utilisation and storage (or “CCUS”) technologies can play an important role in this transformation in three ways:
First, retrofitting carbon capture technologies is an important solution to avoid the “lock-in” of emissions from the vast fleet of existing fossil-fuelled power plants while also providing plant owners with an asset protection strategy for recent investments. This is of particular relevance in Asia, where the average age of coal-fired power plants is just 12 years.
Second, increasing variable renewable generation requires dispatchable energy for flexibility and resource adequacy. Batteries and other forms of energy storage are being further developed and deployed, but carbon capture, utilisation and storage technologies are also part of the portfolio of low-carbon technologies able to meet the growing need for flexibility (to manage both short-term and seasonal variations). These strategies offer a technological hedge against innovation uncertainty in the power system transformation.
Third, through its combination with bioenergy, carbon capture technologies can enable negative-emission power plants, which may be critical for offsetting emissions in harder-to-abate sectors and to support “net-zero” climate goals.
Today, only two large-scale CCUS facilities are operating in the power sector. But experience from these first-of-a-kind plants highlights the potential to reduce costs significantly and improve technology with further research, development and deployment. Policy makers are urged to provide targeted policy support, including capital grants, public procurement and tax credits, to kick-start near-term investment in CCUS-equipped power plants.
This report analyses the impact that wide-spread adoption of tokenisation could have, discusses emerging opportunities and risks of the application of DLTs for financial markets and their participants, illustrated with case studies in OECD and non-OECD economies. It investigates the role of trusted third-party authorities in decentralised networks as guarantors of the connection between the on- and off-chain worlds, and explores the need for a tokenised form of central bank currency or stablecoin for the payment leg of security settlements on DLT-based trading venues.
Sovereign wealth funds manage a large share of the world’s invested capital. The action or inaction of these funds on climate finance is of crucial importance to the world’s ability to reach the goals of the Paris Agreement, and restrain global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius. However, sovereign wealth funds have so far played a very limited role in climate finance. This report provides guidance on how governments can support their sovereign wealth funds in becoming climate-aligned commercial investors. The establishment of synergies between sovereign wealth funds and strategic investment funds can help scale up investments in clean-energy infrastructure.
The oil and gas industry is facing increasing demands to clarify the implications of energy transitions for their operations and business models, and to explain the contributions that they can make to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and to achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement.
The increasing social and environmental pressures on many oil and gas companies raise complex questions about the role of these fuels in a changing energy economy, and the position of these companies in the societies in which they operate.
But the core question, against a backdrop of rising GHG emissions, is a relatively simple one: should today’s oil and gas companies be viewed only as part of the problem, or could they also be crucial in solving it?
The OECD draws on 60 years of experience to help governments develop policies that will ensure better lives for people around the world. The goal of the Organisation is to shape policies that foster prosperity, sustainability, inclusiveness and well-being for all. This brochure, created for the 60th anniversary of the creation of the OECD, shows the journey travelled and what the organisation has become today.
For more information about the 60th anniversary of the OECD you can visit https://www.oecd.org/60-years.
This report presents a study of the Irish Government Economic and Evaluation Service (IGEES). The IGEES seeks to improve policy formulation and implementation by providing and building economic and analytical expertise across the Irish civil service. Based on international best practices, the study analyses the extent to which IGEES has contributed to a greater use of evidence-informed policy making in Ireland. It provides an overview of the service’s achievements and remaining challenges and makes recommendations for the future.