Today is Tuesday, December 19, 2023.
A few weeks ago, OECD published the latest comparable OECD-country data on the environment from the OECD Core Set of Environmental Indicators.
This set of indicators is a tool to evaluate environmental performance in countries and to track the course towards sustainable development.
The new web format for Environment at a Glance Indicators provides interactive on-line access and allows users to play with the data and graphics, download and share them, and consult and download thematic web-books.
As you will see, it covers areas such as climate change, biodiversity, water resources, air quality, circular economy and ocean resources. Each of these topics is accompanied by a short report that presents a digest of the key messages stemming from the indicators.
Give a look in each of these links, followed by quotes from the complete text by OECD.
Climate change. "It threatens ecosystems and biodiversity, affects water resources, human settlements and the frequency and scale of extreme weather events, with significant consequences for food production, human well-being, socio-economic activities and economic output.".
Biodiversity. "Integral elements of natural capital.".
Water resources. "Their distribution varies widely among and within countries.".
Air quality. "The world’s leading environmental health risk and a major cause of environmental degradation. ".
Circular economy. "Economic growth generally implies growing demand for raw materials, energy and other natural resources, and growing amounts of materials that end up as waste if not properly managed.".
Ocean resources. "May be a new economic frontier but foremost it is a shared global resource.".
And you can also analysed 38 individual countries. Here some examples:
Australia. "The world's sixth largest country and has the third-largest ocean territory. It is also the driest inhabited continent ... is endowed with a wide variety of natural resources.".
Chile. "A small, open export-oriented economy with abundant mineral resources ... has abundant water resources, making hydropower from the Andean rivers its main energy resource. Water resources are not homogenously distributed across the country, however".
Germany. "One of the world's largest exporters of goods ... government agreed to reopen temporarily some of its coal and oil power plants. Germany depends heavily on imports of other raw materials.".
Japan. "One of the largest economy in the world and one of the most densely populated countries ... is heavily reliant on imported fossil fuels, in particular since the 2011 Fukushima accident, which led to a total suspension of the nuclear power fleet.".
Mexico. "Among the most populated and largest economies in the OECD ... endowed with abundant energy resources, both fossil and renewable, and is still a net exporter of crude oil".
Netherlands. "A small, densely populated country with a very open economy ... a major producer of natural gas, as well as a trade and transit hub for oil, gas, electricity and coal".
United States. "The world’s largest economy based on nominal gross domestic product (GDP) and has one of the highest GDP per capita in the world ... the world’s largest producer of oil and gas and has turned it to a net energy exporter".
Click at the image below for the full original OECD Environment at a Glance Indicators portal.
