This report provides a review of recent firm-level and plant-level surveys containing questions on environmental policies, innovation practices or performance which are relevant for environmental policy analysis and assessment. We specifically focus on the core element that relates environmental...

This paper explores the relationship between environmental regulation, innovation, and competitiveness, drawing upon a unique dataset on environmental regulations directed at combustion plants, a global dataset of power plants, and a global dataset of ‘environmental’ patents. The analysis is...

This report provides a brief review of how national government policies and guidelines apply to or regulate the use of environmental labelling and information schemes (ELIS) in selected OECD countries. The report reviews definitions relevant to environmental claims and identifies four types of...

This report explores potential effects of the recent rapid growth in Environmental Labelling Information Schemes (ELIS) around the world, with a focus on the implications of ELIS multiplication for environmental effectiveness and international trade. As empirical work on the environmental...

This paper provides an in-depth review of experiences and insights from mainstreaming biodiversity and development in South Africa. More specifically, it describes how biodiversity considerations have been mainstreamed in five key sectors/areas, namely: land use planning, mining, water,...

This paper presents a review of existing approaches to estimate the costs of inaction, as well as the benefits of policy action, for air pollution. It focuses primarily on health impacts from air pollution. The paper presents the “impact pathway approach”, which includes various steps in the...

Global freshwater demand is projected to increase substantially in the coming decades, making water one of the most fiercely contested resources on the planet. Water is linked to many economic activities, and there are complex channels through which water affects economic growth. The purpose of...

This study provides an empirical analysis of the effects of environmental zoning on urban development. It focuses on the case of Natural Regional Parks (NRPs) in France. Of the environmental zoning instruments used in France, NRPs extend over the widest physical area. The analysis uses a...

Ease of entry is crucial to well-functioning electricity markets. This paper investigates the patterns of entry in the generation segment of the electricity industry of OECD countries and seeks to provide an understanding of their key determinants. It aims to derive implications for the design...

The provision of open space is at the heart of a complex arbitration of local public finance and urban quality of life. The amount of open space varies substantially across urban areas. This variation raises some natural questions: What determines the amount of open space in an urban area? How...