OECD says progress on green growth ‘is too slow’

Many countries’ progress on green growth is too slow. That’s according to a new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which suggests although the world’s nations […]

Many countries’ progress on green growth is too slow.

That’s according to a new report from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which suggests although the world’s nations are generally becoming more efficient, advances in environmental productivity are more modest when emissions from international trade are factored in.

The study of 46 countries finds Denmark, Estonia, the UK, Italy and Slovakia have made the most progress on green growth since 2000.

However, the report shows no single country is performing well on all green growth areas and most of the countries studied have yet to fully disconnect economic growth from fossil fuel use and pollutant emissions.

Carbon productivity (GDP per unit of carbon dioxide emitted) has improved, with half of the 35 OECD members decoupling emissions from growth.

However, this figure falls to only 12 countries when carbon dioxide emitted during production stages of goods or services abroad is included in calculations.

OECD Environment Director, Simon Upton, said: “While there are signs of greening growth, most countries show progress on just one or two fronts and little on the others.

“We need much greater efforts across the board if we are to safeguard natural assets, reduce our collective environmental footprint and sever the link between growth and environmental pressures.”

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