PARIS - In OECD countries, they now cover on average 16% of land and 21% of marine areas (vs 10% and 3% in 2000). Worldwide, protected areas followed the same trend and cover 13% of land areas and 17% of marine areas (from 9% and 1% in 2000).
In 1972 OECD pioneered the Polluter Pays Principle and have since adopted 97 legal instruments to advance environmental policy-making.
Over the years, OECD have worked with the International Energy Agency to lay the basis for including GHG emissions trading in the Kyoto Protocol, contributed to the Convention on Biological Diversity, and advocated for the removal of fossil fuel subsidies within the G20 at the highest levels.
Most OECD countries are using forest resources sustainably
In forests available for wood supply, most do not over-harvest, maintaining the use intensity below 100%. However, since the 1990s, intensity has generally increased, partly due to the use of wood as biomass for energy.
But built-up areas have increased by 16% in the OECD area since 2000
OECD Europe is the region with the highest built-up rate (2.6% of total area). There is around 284 m2 of built-up area per inhabitant in OECD countries, almost 3 times the world average.
Most OECD countries are generating more and more waste
The amounts of total waste generated continue to increase generally in line with population and economic growth. Waste is increasingly being recovered for recycling, but landfilling remains the major disposal method in many OECD countries.
Solutions?
While protected areas and sustainable forestry may be growing, which could be good for carbon storage, we are still emitting an unsustainable amount of CO2 emissions through heavy industry, electricity, agriculture, transport and buildings.
Explore the climate action solutions
Some of these climate solutions are being driven by green spending in the wake of the pandemic, but here too, opportunities are being missed in sectors like agriculture, waste management and innovation.
