Environment Focus
An environmental lens on policies for better lives
Even with an Olympic event lined up, improving water quality is not that straightforward
By Marijn Korndewal and Sophie Trémolet, OECD Environment Directorate
With the French President and the Mayor of Paris looking to take a dive in the river Seine soon, water quality is hot news in France in the run-up to the Olympics. The burning question is will the river be clean enough for hosting the world’s Olympic athletes? Although making the Seine swimmable in Paris has been a target for decades, the suspense is still on. Following peak rain showers, high levels of E. coli bacteria are often recorded, which could make swimming a health hazard.
Water pollution is a global issue, affecting high- and low-income countries alike. Despite significant investment in wastewater treatment, quality of freshwater resources is set to worsen in many countries due to a growing population, more and new pollutants, and global warming. The quality of our precious groundwater reserves is also often severely degraded, rendering those reserves unusable.
Read MoreCharting climate action through data insights
By Daniel Nachtigall, OECD Environment Directorate
As we turn the page on the hottest year on record, communities across the globe are facing the accelerating impacts from climate change. 2023 witnessed unprecedented extreme weather events, from heatwaves, to wildfires, floods, and hurricanes. From Cyclone Daniel in Libya to raging wildfires in North America and torrential rains in Spain and Europe, the signs are crystal clear—we’re in the midst of a climate emergency.
Implementing effective climate action is key to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and to achieving net-zero targets and the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement. Limiting global warming to 1.5°C or 2°C is paramount to avoid tipping points that could lead to irreversible changes in the climate. The burden of not pushing humanity outside this safe operating space lies largely with governments and political decisionmakers. What have governments actually done to fight climate change? The Climate Action Monitor 2023, an output of the OECD International Programme for Action on Climate (IPAC), provides important insights on how governments’ climate action evolved over the last few decades.
Read MoreRediscover our top 5 blogs of 2023
Find out what our readers enjoyed the most in 2023. Our top 5 blogs discuss a range of issues from financing water to the evolution of climate policies, the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme, the affect of climate change on careers, and building resilience to droughts.
Read MoreTime to Walk the Talk – “Unlocking the Hydrogen Hype: Exploring the Gap Between Talk and Action”
By Moongyung Lee and Joseph Cordonnier, OECD Environment Directorate
In the 19th century, when William Nicholson and Sir Anthony Carlisle discovered the electrolysis process to split water into hydrogen and oxygen, they could not have foreseen the potential to develop a “hydrogen economy” in the 21st century. Over the last few years, more than 40 countries have released national hydrogen strategies. Renewable hydrogen, produced from renewable power via electrolysis, is now considered a cross-cutting option to decarbonise up to 20% of global emissions in the power, transportation and industry sectors by mid-century. It is seen as an essential solution, particularly in sectors such as heavy industry, where direct electrification is not feasible.
Net-zero pathways predict that the global production of hydrogen will be multiplied by 4-6 by 2050, up from around 100 million tonnes today. At least two-thirds of hydrogen is expected to be produced from renewable power (i.e. “renewable” or “green” hydrogen) by 2050, and the remaining volumes from low-carbon hydrogen, where carbon emissions during production would be captured. Achieving this production level of renewable and low-carbon hydrogen, collectively clean hydrogen, would imply a paradigm shift. Yet how can we make the shift, given the current share of clean hydrogen from total hydrogen production is less than 2% and renewable hydrogen costs around three times more than gas-based conventional hydrogen?
Read MoreCharting a Course to Net Zero: The Crucial Role of Shipbuilding in Greening the Maritime Sector
By Halvor Hvideberg, Ambassador of Norway to the OECD
The maritime sector occupies a critical position in global efforts to transition to net-zero. It accounts for up to 3% of global CO2 emissions, surpassing aviation, and if unchecked, could see a dramatic increase by 2050 due to growing international trade volumes. Maritime emissions are also an essential part of global supply chains: simply put, if ships do not turn green, the goods they carry cannot either. Amidst this challenge, the shipbuilding industry carries the responsibility of designing and building vessels compatible with alternative fuels, paving the way for a carbon-neutral future.
Read MoreThe role of households in a more sustainable future
Nicolina Lamhauge, Katherine Hassett, Rose Mba Mébiame and Ioannis Tikoudis, OECD Environment Directorate
Autumn in Paris brings back memories of a cold and uncomfortable winter last year. Not because temperatures were particularly low – quite the opposite. Like a number of other European countries (e.g. Germany, the Netherlands and Denmark), France implemented heating restrictions for public buildings and offices to conserve energy and decrease reliance on Russian gas. Households took similar action, by lowering thermostats, reducing hot water usage and retrofitting buildings. For many, this was a reaction to high energy prices, but for some, a response to calls for collective action. The reduced demand for energy in residential and commercial buildings across the European Union resulted in a drop in the demand for natural gas totalling 7 billion cubic metres in 2022. Over the same period, total demand across all sectors reduced by 55 billion cubic metres, equivalent to the amount of gas needed to supply over 40 million homes.
Read MoreWill the first global stocktake be the spur for getting us on track to reach the Paris Agreement’s goals?
By Sirini Jeudy-Hugo, OECD Environment Directorate
The next round of international climate negotiations at COP28 in Dubai mark a critical juncture. They should prepare the ground for countries to step up their climate ambition and action in response to the first global stocktake of efforts under the Paris Agreement. This blog explains why it is important to seize this pivotal opportunity to course correct.
What is the Paris Agreement’s global stocktake?
In 2015 world leaders agreed to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change and adopted the Paris Agreement which sets goals to limit the rise in average global temperatures, improve our ability to adapt to climate impacts, and align finance flows. The global stocktake (GST) is an exercise, undertaken every five years as part of the Agreement, to assess progress towards these goals. Beyond taking stock of efforts, the GST also informs countries’ climate undertakings, otherwise known as nationally determined contributions (NDCs), and strengthens international co-operation. The GST thus marks a critical milestone in the Paris Agreement and its cycle to raise the ambition of climate efforts over time.
Read MoreGermany’s climate action: “not enough, too slow, too late”: How could Germany accelerate its climate action?
by Julia Wanjiru Nikiema
“Not enough, too slow, too late. Welcome to my world!” With these words, Vice Chancellor Robert Habeck reflected on Germany’s current climate policy at the launch of the 2023 OECD Environmental Performance Review of Germany and the OECD Economic Survey of Germany in Berlin in May 2023. He deplored the many obstacles the country faces as it tries to accelerate its climate action.
Germany has ambitious climate goals. It aims to be climate neutral in 2045 and achieve negative greenhouse gas emissions after 2050. By 2020, the country had managed to reduce its emissions by 41.3% compared to 1990 levels (or 729 Mt CO2-eq), meeting its 40% reduction target. This is better than many other industrialised countries. Moreover, the government launched a new EUR 4 billion Federal Action Plan on Nature-based Solutions for Climate and Biodiversity (Aktionsprogramm Natürlicher Klimaschutz), which could become a game changer and contribute massively to enhancing natural climate protection. Nevertheless, despite progress, Germany is still among the ten largest GHG emitters in the world.
Read MoreClosing the credibility gap: Aligning corporate near-term actions with long-term net-zero targets
by Kern Fastrup, OECD Environment Directorate
Record-breaking temperatures and frequent climate disasters have become a new unsettling reality, causing billion-dollar losses and reversing global development. In response, corporates are stepping up action on climate change. Although still not ubiquitous, net-zero commitments are rapidly becoming commonplace in many companies. The Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi) estimates that companies with science-based targets now represent 34% of the global economy by market capitalisation.
While this may appear promising, not all of those with targets have interim ones. Only 26% of the combined assets under management of the 77 largest asset managers with net-zero pledges have set interim targets for 2030 or earlier. Moreover, less than one third of companies included in the CDP’s Corporate Environmental Action Tracker are on track to meet their climate targets. This gap between long-term targets and near-term actions calls into question the credibility of these commitments, underlines greenwashing risks and has the potential to compromise market integrity.
Read MoreHow the need to mitigate climate change will affect careers and what to do about it
By Elisa Lanzi (OECD Environment Directorate), Francesca Borgonovi (OECD Centre for Skills) and Helke Seitz (OECD Centre for Skills)
Students around the world who have recently finished their secondary education are about to face a new phase of their lives. Those planning to continue their studies, whether in a university setting or through a vocational education and training course, are making choices that will impact their future career prospects.
Many factors influence people’s plans for training and education: a passion for a specific subject or an activity; employment opportunities; and location, to name a few. With efforts to mitigate climate change affecting economies and increasing the demand for green occupations, a key question is whether climate change and climate change mitigation policies should become a deciding factor for educational choices.
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