10. Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)

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The OECD is an international organization founded in 1961. The OECD works to ‘build better policies for better lives,’ with the goal to ‘foster prosperity, equality, opportunity and well-being for all.’ With this broad remit, the work of the OECD spans a diverse array of economic, social, and environmental issues. This year, Costa Rica became the thirty-eighth member of the OECD. OECD membership now includes Austria, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Although economic issues are at the forefront of the OECD’s mandate, increasingly it has also become a repository for environmental advice through its Environment Directorate. The Environment Directorate provides recommendations on substantive environmental policy areas, undertakes environmental policy reviews of OECD members, and provides data and modelling for informed environmental policy. The following sections map the OECD’s efforts this year in each of these areas.