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We are facing a series of converging planetary emergencies linked to the environment, the economy, and our social and political systems, but we will not meet these challenges using the tools of the last century. We need to rethink the role of the economy in improving the well-being of people and the planet. As the world’s leading intergovernmental forum on economic policy, the OECD has a central role to play in creating a new economic narrative. OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría therefore invited a high-level group of experts to contribute their proposals on what needs to change in economic policy and policymaking. This report summarises their conclusions. The Advisory Group argues that we need to go beyond growth, to stop seeing growth as an end in itself, but rather as a means to achieving societal goals including environmental sustainability, reduced inequality, greater wellbeing and improved resilience. This requires updating the philosophy, tools and methods underpinning the analysis that influences economic decision-making. Drawing on developments across the modern field of economics and political economy, the report argues for a new approach which recognises the rootedness of economic systems and behaviour in the relationship between people, social institutions and the environment.

Computer-based administration of large-scale assessments makes it possible to collect a rich set of information on test takers, through analysis of the log files recording interactions between the computer interface and the server. This report examines timing and engagement indicators from the Survey of Adult Skills, a product of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), both of which indicate large differences across countries and socio-demographic groups, in the amount of time spent by respondents and their levels of disengagement, which reduce the probability of giving a correct answer and consequently reduces measured performance. Such insights can help policy makers, researchers and educators to better understand respondents’ cognitive strategies and the underlying causes of low and high performance. This, in turn, can help improve the design of assessments and lead to more effective training and learning programmes.

This joint OECD-World Bank stocktaking exercise of social accountability (SA) initiatives in OECD member countries contributes to the global exchange of policy relevant knowledge. The stocktaking exercise produced 40 templates detailing social accountability initiatives in 27 OECD countries and the European Commission. Cases were selected on the basis of their focus and level, and potential transferability of their policy lessons.

This publication aims to identify what works in the policy and practice of adult learning, drawing on the experience of nine OECD countries: Canada, Denmark, Finland, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom (England). It defines the features of a desirable system of adult learning, including ways to motivate adults to learn and methods to deliver appropriate services. This book will be indispensable to policy makers and those involved in the practice of adult learning.

Technology is a key driver of educational innovation, and a variety of programmes focusing on investment in infrastructure, equipment, in-service training and digital learning resources have been established to promote its usage in primary and secondary schools. So far, little comparative analytical attention has been devoted to understanding how digital resources improve the quality of learning and to assessing the public policies that support their development and use, and the role played by other stakeholders like publishers, broadcasting companies and increasingly user communities. This publication aims to fill that gap by both reviewing and evaluating the process of systemic innovation. Drawing on case studies from five Nordic countries, the report assembles information on the knowledge bases and policy actors which impact each phase of this innovation process and the main factors which influence its success including governance, financing and user involvement.

The COVID-19 pandemic had a severe impact on the Umbrian economy, and despite recovery of labour demand, the region faces challenges related to digitalisation, tight labour markets, and volatile demand for low-skilled jobs. To address these issues, the OECD and the Umbrian regional agency for active labour market policies (ARPAL) have collaborated to investigate the labour and skills demand of the region using big data techniques applied to online job postings. This report provides new insights into the alignment between labour and skills demand and the training options available in the training and education programmes contained in the Umbrian Regional Training Catalogue. This report builds new indicators to measure the alignment of course content with employer demands in Umbria, with results showing that alignment is relatively good for some occupations but that this can be strengthened to provide job seekers with up-to-date training options that match the demand of the labour market.

This report examines how big data from mobile phones and other sources can help to forecast travel demand. It identifies the strengths and potential use-cases for big data in transport modelling and mobility analysis. It also examines potential biases, commercial sensitivities and threats to privacy. The report presents approaches to resolve such issues and offers recommendations for governance arrangements that make data sharing easier.

Dispute prevention is a fundamental tenet of tax certainty. Bilateral Advance Pricing Arrangements (“BAPAs”), in a growing number of cases, have successfully contributed to providing advance tax certainty to both taxpayers and tax administrations, ensuring predictability in the tax treatment of international transactions. However, stakeholders have identified obstacles that prevent an optimal use of BAPAs. In continuing with its commitment to advancing the tax certainty agenda, the FTA MAP Forum, in conjunction with the FTA Large Business International Programme, has developed the Bilateral Advance Pricing Arrangement Manual (“BAPAM’) which is intended as a guide for streamlining the BAPA process. The BAPAM provides tax administrations and taxpayers with information on the operation of BAPAs and identifies 29 best practices for BAPAs without imposing a set of binding rules. As part of the BAPAM’s development, tax administrations have committed to assessing whether implementation of these best practices is appropriate, considering the circumstances of their own BAPA programme and the unique features of each BAPA application, so that the best practices are applied appropriately and with enough flexibility to improve current BAPA processes. The BAPAM also highlights what tax administrations expect from taxpayers in the BAPA process to facilitate a cooperative and collaborative process.

This report synthesises key findings on biodiversity and ecosystem services from the Environmental Performance Reviews completed for Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru between 2013 and 2017. The report aims to provide a sense of the common challenges facing these Latin American countries, the strategies being used to tackle them, the gaps that remain and how these can be addressed. Focusing on Latin America is particularly pertinent given the great wealth of biodiversity in the region and the growing pressures on its conservation and sustainable use.

This report examines the key design and implementation features that need to be considered to ensure that biodiversity offset programmes are environmentally effective, economically efficient, and distributionally equitable. Biodiversity offsets are being increasingly used in a wide range of sectors as a mechanism to help compensate for the adverse effects caused by development projects in a variety of ecosystems. In this report, insights and lessons learned are drawn from more than 40 case studies from around the world, with an additional 3 in-depth country case studies from the United States, Germany and Mexico.

This report provides a year-by-year overview of the main trends in development finance with biodiversity-related objectives over 2015-22, considering a wide range of sources: bilateral providers from the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members and beyond, including South-South and triangular co-operation providers, multilateral development banks (MDBs) and other multilateral institutions, private finance mobilised by development finance, and private philanthropy. The estimates are based on OECD statistical data, capturing both official development assistance (ODA) and non-concessional development finance. They include breakdowns by providers, sectors, financial instruments, recipient country groupings, as well as details on financial allocations to the mainstreaming of biodiversity; climate change; Indigenous Peoples and local communities; and gender equality. The evidence aims to help DAC members and other stakeholders implement the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity, and track the contribution of development finance against its Target 19 on resource mobilisation.

The Technology Roadmap Bioenergy for Heat and Power highlights the importance of bioenergy in providing heat in the buildings sector and in industry, and shows what contribution it could make to meeting steadlily growing world electricity demand. The critical role of sustainability as well as the importance of international trade in meeting the projected demand for bioenergy, are highlighted in the roadmap, as well as the need for large-scale biomass plants in providing The roadmap identifies key actions by different stakeholders in the bioenergy sector, and sets out milestones for technology development in order to achieve a doubling of global bioenergy supply by 2050. It addresses the need for further R&D efforts, highlights measures to ensure sustainability of biomass production, and underlines the need for international collaboration to enhance the production and use of sustainable, modern bioenergy in different world regions.

Governments in many OECD countries, as well as in a number of countries outside the OECD area, actively promote the production and use of alternative transport fuels made from agricultural commodities. This report, jointly produced by the OECD and the IEA and drawing on information from a number of other organisations, analyses the implications of this support from various perspectives. The report shows that the high level of policy support contributes little to reduced greenhouse-gas emissions and other policy objectives, while it adds to a range of factors that raise international prices for food commodities. It concludes that there are alternatives to current support policies for biofuels that would more effectively allow governments to achieve their objectives.

Biofuels could provide up to 27% of total transport fuel worldwide by 2050. The use of transport fuels from biomass, when produced sustainably, can help cut petroleum use and reduce CO2 emissions in the transport sector, especially in heavy transport. Sustainable biofuel technologies, in particular advanced biofuels, will play an important role in achieving this roadmap vision.

The roadmap describes the steps necessary to realise this ambitious biofuels target; identifies key actions by different stakeholders, and the role for government policy to adopt measures needed to ensure the sustainable expansion of both conventional and advanced biofuel production.

In the absence of strong government policies, the IEA projects that the worldwide use of oil in transport will nearly double between 2000 and 2030, leading to a similar increase in greenhouse gas emissions. Bio fuels, such as ethanol, bio diesel, and other liquid and gaseous fuels, could offer an important alternative to petroleum over this timeframe and help reduce atmospheric pollution. This book looks at recent trends in bio fuel production and considers what the future might hold if such alternatives were to displace petroleum in transport.