Latin America and Caribbean

Natural assets have underpinned the economic development in Latin America and Caribbean, with strong ties to social aspects of growth. The increasingly large share of the population exposed to the consequences of environmental degradation has escalated the green growth debate in the region. Concrete steps have been taken in Latin America and Caribbean to develop environmental strategies for a net-zero carbon economy.

The OECD is supporting the national efforts in the LAC region to deliver on their sustainable development objectives and green transition. The Latin American Economic Outlook has systematically analysed critical aspects related to sustainable and inclusive development in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) region since its launch in 2007. The 2022 LAC Outlook on Towards a Green and Just Transition analyses the challenges and opportunities of a green and just transition in LAC, and provides policy recommendations to ensure the wellbeing of citizens and the region’s vast and rich ecosystems.

The OECD project Enhancing Green Transition in LAC; From Commitments to Action is implementing the Environmental sustainability priority of the OECD Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Programme (LACRP), with the support of the EU’s Regional Facility for Development in Transition. The project includes support for the development of the LAC Environment at a Glance and Key Environmental Indicators, and organisation of a series of Regional Policy Dialogues and Expert Workshops on domestic climate change mitigation and adaptation challenges and policy solutions.

Albeit governments throughout LAC have established highlevel decarbonisation policies that often focus on solutions like sustainable bioenergy and waste-to-energy, projects often lack access to financing, as identified in the report Enabling conditions for bioenergy finance and investment in Colombia. Through five case studies from Brazil, Chile, Colombia, India and Turkey, the report considers the enabling environment and lessons learnt from bioenergy developments in different countries.

The report Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use in Latin America summarises key findings on biodiversity conservation and sustainable use from the EPRs of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. The report reviews common challenges, the strategies being used to tackle them, the gaps that remain and how these can be addressed.

Key Publications and website

• Environmental Performance Review of Costa Rica, OECD Publishing (forthcoming, 2023)

• Latin American Economic Outlook - Towards a green and just transition (2022)

• Enabling conditions for bioenergy finance and investment in Colombia, Green Finance and Investment (2022)

• Towards Green Growth in Emerging Economies: Evidence from Environmental Performance Reviews (2019)

• Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Use in in Latin America: Evidence from Environmental Performance Reviews (2018)

• www.oecd.org/environment/country-reviews

• www.oecd.org/latin-america/regional-programme/environment/

Contact for more information

Eija Kiiskinen

Environment Directorate

E-mail: Eija.Kiiskinen@oecd.org

Africa and MENA

Commitment towards building climate resilience and achieving a just energy transition is high in the African continent agenda. All 54 African countries signed the Paris Agreement and Agenda 2063, which is Africa’s “blueprint and masterplan for transforming the continent into the global powerhouse of the future”, addresses topics such as climate change, green and blue growth. The OECD is supporting the region in its green transition efforts through multiple actions.

Boosting African cities’ resilience to climate change: The role of green spaces explores the dynamics between urbanisation and green spaces and highlights that availability of green space can be expanded by building vertically in increasingly compact African cities. Moreover, the analysis reveals that the availability of green spaces is not the same as proximity. Communities who live further away from green spaces are less likely to reap their benefit, such as cooling effects during heat waves.

The data underpinning this report is freely available on OECD platform Mapping Territorial Transformations in Africa (MAPTA), which enables users to explore interactive maps on the sustainability and resilience of African cities. This platform includes several types of data related to urban forms, street networks, and pollution to aid actors in decision-making.

COP27 returned the annual meeting to Africa for the first time since 2016. The report, West Africa and the global climate agenda, analyses the 17 NDCs of West African countries (as of September 2022) to understand the region’s ambition, financing needs and potential to implement their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). One of the key takeaways is that so far, mobilised finance has fallen short of the specified needs in the region’s NDCs. West African NDCs state that USD 221.2 to 279.7 billion is needed for mitigation and USD 61.4 to 88.8 billion for adaptation by 2030. So far, according to OECD estimates, the 17 West African countries received less than USD 6 million in 2020 of the “100 billion” mobilised by developed countries, which is far from meeting the region’s needs.

Pricing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Turning climate targets into climate action examines carbon pricing policies in 71 countries, including 12 countries from Africa (Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Madagascar, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Uganda). The report finds that welldesigned energy, carbon tax and subsidy reform can strengthen efforts to improve domestic revenue mobilisation. While the revenue potential varies across countries, it is often substantial.

Revenues from carbon pricing could be used to provide targeted support to improve energy access and affordability, enhance social safety nets, and support other economic and social priorities. For example, in Egypt, where a successful fossil fuel subsidies reform generated fiscal savings, the government was able to allocate more funds to education and health and implement an economic stimulus package to recover from the crisis.

An extensive consultation process is underway between the OECD and African stakeholders to strengthen collaboration on several topics, including green growth. Ongoing discussions on the OECDAfrica Partnership includes how to support the development of policy frameworks to promote green growth and sustainable development that is territorially balanced across Africa. In the 2021 MENA-OECD Ministerial Declaration, Ministers announced their commitment to design and implement a comprehensive programme of work, in order to promote a strong, resilient, green, and inclusive recovery in the MENA region.

Key Publications and website

• West Africa and the global climate agenda, West African Papers (2022)

• Boosting African cities’ resilience to climate change: The role of green spaces West African Papers (2022)

• Towards an OECD Africa partnership (2022)

• Pricing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Turning Climate Targets into Climate Action (2022)

• www.mapping-africa-transformations.org/

• www.oecd.org/mena/

Contact for more information

Brilé Anderson

Sahel and West Africa Club

E-mail: Brile.Anderson@oecd.org

Fianna Jurdant

Global Relation Directorate

E-mail: Fianna.Jurdant@oecd.org