OECD Environmental Performance Reviews provide independent assessments of countries’ progress towards their environmental policy objectives. Reviews promote peer learning, enhance government accountability, and provide targeted recommendations aimed at improving environmental performance ...

This is the third Environmental Performance Review of Switzerland. It evaluates progress towards sustainable development and green growth, with a focus on water management and biodiversity conservation and sustainable use.

The 38 million Indigenous peoples living across 13 OECD countries contribute to stronger regional and national economies, and have unique assets and knowledge that address global challenges such as climate change.

This is the third Environmental Performance Review of Canada. It evaluates progress towards sustainable development and green growth, with special features on climate change mitigation and urban wastewater management.

Land use is central to many of the environmental and socio-economic issues facing society today. This report examines on-going challenges for aligning land-use policy with climate, biodiversity and food objectives, and the opportunities to enhance the sustainability of land-use systems.

Well-being in New Zealand is generally high, although there is room for improvement in incomes, housing affordability, distribution, water quality and GHG emissions. Economic growth is projected to remain around 21⁄2 per cent. The main risks to the outlook are rising trade restrictions and a housing market correction. Labour market reforms have been initiated to increase wages for the low paid but will need to be implemented cautiously to minimise potential adverse effects. Substantial planned increases in bank capital requirements should reduce the expected costs of financial crises but might reduce economic activity.

Lithuania’s rapid economic growth has increased many environmental pressures. This is the first OECD Environmental Performance Review of Lithuania. It evaluates progress towards green growth and sustainable development, with a special chapter focusing on sustainable mobility.

Australia has managed to decouple economic growth from the main environmental pressures and has made impressive progress in expanding protected areas. However, it is one of the most resource- and carbon-intensive OECD countries, and the state of its biodiversity is poor and worsening. Advancing ...

This is the third Environmental Performance Review of Denmark. It evaluates progress towards sustainable development and green growth, with special features on waste, materials management and the circular economy and chemicals management.

Politicians and economists fixate on “growing the economy”—measured by a country’s gross domestic product. But this yardstick counts harmful activities such as greenhouse gas emissions, plastic waste, and cigarette sales as gains, and it ignores environmental protection, voluntary community work, and other benefits. What we measure is a choice, and what is and isn’t counted determines what sorts of policies are enacted. How can we shift the focus to well-being and quality of life? What Really Counts is an essential, firsthand story of the promise and challenges of accounting for social, economic, and environmental benefits and costs. Ronald Colman recounts two decades of working with three governments to adopt measures that more accurately and comprehensively assess true progress. Chronicling his path from Nova Scotia to New Zealand to Bhutan, Colman details the challenge of devising meaningful metrics, the effort to lay the foundations of a new economic system, and the obstacles that stand in the way. Reflecting on successes and failures, he considers how to shift policy priorities from a narrow economic-growth agenda toward a future built on sustainability and equity. Colman has taken the critique of GDP outside the academy and attempted to realize an alternative. The lessons he offers in What Really Counts are vital for anyone interested in how we can measure what matters—and how better measures can help build a better world.