Since the first OECD country published its national adaptation strategy in 2005, there has been a marked increase in national planning for climate change adaptation. This paper provides an overview of national adaptation planning activity across OECD countries and identifies some of the emerging...

In July 2008, the Canadian province of British Columbia (BC) launched North America’s first revenue-neutral carbon tax reform. The tax, which applied to all combustion sources of all fossil fuels, was introduced at a rate of CAD 10 per tonne of CO2, with a schedule for annual increases of CAD...

This report provides a comprehensive overview of the international landscape of environmental labelling and information schemes (ELIS), defined as policies and initiatives that aim to provide information about one or more aspects of the environmental performance of a product or service to...

Beginning in late 2008, Ireland experienced a fiscal crisis. This resulted in November 2010 in agreement between the Irish government and the European Central Bank, the European Commission and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) – known collectively as ‘the Troika’ – whereby the latter...

This paper reviews the use of tax preferences to achieve environmental policy objectives. Tax preferences involve using the tax system to adjust relative prices with a view to influencing producer or consumer behaviour in favour of goods or services that are considered to be environmentally...

This paper analyses the effects of government policies on flows of private finance for investment in renewable energy (inducement effect). It also examines whether direct provision of public finance for a project increases the volume of private finance raised (“crowding in” effect). A unique...

This paper reviews the recent experience of Germany in encouraging innovation to reduce negative environmental impacts of economic activity. The essence of the German approach to policy-induced environmental innovation is discussed in the context of changing policy objectives, and illustrated...

Germany committed itself to challenging greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets to 2020 and beyond. It has implemented a composite mix of policy measures to achieve its climate change mitigation goals, including a range of market-based instruments. These measures have helped reduce...

This paper presents comparative data on innovation in selected climate change mitigation and adaptation technologies in the context of Africa. Such analysis informs policy aimed at encouraging international technology transfer and development of domestic innovation capacities. We present...

This review aims to improve our understanding of the implications of the insights from behavioural economics for environmental policy design. The review focuses on the question of incentive design in two broad areas — risk, conflict and cooperation; and mechanism design. A number of lessons...