Nature underpins all economic activities and human well-being. It is the world’s most important asset. Yet humanity is destroying biodiversity at an unprecedented rate, posing significant but often overlooked risks to the economy, the financial sector and the well-being of current and future...

Governments and private sector actors are increasingly recognising the potential of harnessing markets to help arrest the degradation of biodiversity. The private provision of biodiversity products and services is proving to be quite feasible in some circumstances

The implementation of biodiversity policies will often benefit different groups to a greater or lesser degree. For example, in establishing a property right to facilitate management of a biodiversity-related resource, people who previously had unrestricted use will be adversely affected....

In recent years, a significant number of OECD member countries have introduced initiatives to reduce the environmentally damaging effects of public procurement. Many countries have introduced "greener public purchasing" (GPP) policies in order to increase the recycled content of products or...

Agricultural policies are dominated by broad measures such as market price support and general payments to all land, animals or farmers. As a result, it is often difficult to associate a particular policy with any specific objective. Recognising the challenge facing policy makers who wish to...

Oil, coal and natural gas will remain the world’s dominant sources of energy over the next decades, with resulting carbon dioxide emissions set to increase to unsustainable levels. However, technologies that help reduce CO2 emissions from fossil fuels can reverse this trend. CO2 capture and...

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...

There are at least two policy regimes to be considered, one for environmental biotechnology, and another for industrial biotech. Environmental biotechnology is focused on biotechnologies for environmental clean-up, and much of the policy in this area is around compliance. Industrial...