Raw materials are essential for the global economy and future development depends on their continued supply. Like fossil fuels, minerals are non-renewable. In general, their deposits in the Earth’s crust are also geographically clustered, making security of supply a potential risk. In many...

Cost-benefit analyses and other quantitative appraisals are used in many countries to support decision-making in different areas of public policy, including many investment projects in sectors such as transport and energy. These decisions can have significant effects – either negative or...

The topic of biodiversity loss has been the subject of a vast and growing scientific and economic literature. Species are estimated to be going extinct at rates 100 to 1000 times faster than in geological times. Globally, terrestrial biodiversity is projected to decrease by a further 10% by...

This report provides an overview of spatial and land-use planning systems in OECD countries1 focusing on: (i) the governance systems across countries, (ii) the institutional and legal frameworks for spatial planning, and (iii) the various policy instruments used at different levels of...

Building on the OECD’s Better Life Initiative and new work using geospatial analysis, this paper investigates how reported life satisfaction relates to some of the urban structure indicators. To this end, it merges OECD household survey data with urban structure data from OECD’s Metropolitan...

This paper investigates the relationship between local air pollution and urban structure with an emphasis on urban fragmentation. Using a unique dataset of 249 Large Urban Zones (LUZ) across Europe, a Bayesian Model Averaging selection method is employed to empirically identify the determinants...

While the basic principles of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) are long-standing, the challenges entailed in applying these principles are constantly evolving. This paper reviews recent developments in environmental CBA since the publication of an OECD volume on this topic by Pearce et al. (2006)....

In order to help address climate finance-related information needs under the UNFCCC, this paper explores the extent to which currently-available secondary data make it possible to estimate private finance mobilised by developed countries for climate action in developing countries. This is done...

This paper presents an analysis of the effect of international co-authorship of scientific publications on patenting in wind energy technologies. It is found that the number of scientific publications co-authored by researchers in OECD countries has a positive and very significant impact on the...

This paper identifies over 50 000 patents filed worldwide in various water-related adaptation technologies between 1990 and 2010, distinguishing between those related to water availability (supply) and water conservation (demand) technologies. The paper then analyses the innovation activity –...