The objective of this report is to identify policies, financing and delivery mechanisms with the view of scaling-up thermal retrofit of existing residential and public buildings in Bulgaria, Croatia, Poland, and Romania. These two segments of the building sector are critical to national goals...

This report reviews Europe's experience in spearheading CE policy. Its aim is not only to highlight its features and accomplishments, but also identify existing barriers to future progress and key measures to overcome them. Its objective is dual: contributing to CE policy development within the...

This paper aims to contribute to the Government's plans by highlighting key policy options for reforming the tax system to address environmental concerns. It does this through firstly assessing the existing tax system to understand the incentives and measures in place in relation to...

Evidence from across the world shows that raising taxes sharply on tobacco products, and then adjusting for inflation and increased affordability due to growing incomes, is the single most cost-effective measure to reduce tobacco consumption. A scaled-up and stronger tobacco control effort is...

North Macedonia continues to improve its environmental performance and the efficacy of its environmental regulation. As part of this effort, the World Bank is working with the government of North Macedonia on environmental tax reform. The government is interested in utilizing the tax system to...

Having implemented a substantial fiscal response to COVID-19, Thailand's government now faces the medium-term challenge of reducing elevated deficit and debt levels, and the structural challenge of meeting rising spending needs, including those associated with an aging population, while...

Although global economic activity is recovering and output in Europe and Central Asia (ECA) is expected to grow in 2021, containing COVID-19 remains a challenge in the region. Enterprise survey data for the emerging and developing countries in the region show that COVID-19 had a profound and...

In February 2022, the world was shocked by the Russian Federation's invasion of Ukraine. The war is having a devastating impact on human life and causing economic destruction in both countries, and will lead to significant economic losses in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region and the rest...

In 2018, the World Bank launched the Human Capital Index (HCI), which is designed to highlight how improvements in current health and education outcomes will shape the productivity of the next generation of workers. The HCI measures the amount of human capital that a child born today can expect...