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

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The OECD was founded in 1961 as an international organization to ‘build better policies for better lives.’ Given its broad remit, the OECD’s work spans various economic, social, and environmental issues. As of this year, the OECD has thirty-eight member countries: 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. On 25 January, the OECD council initiated the first steps towards accession discussions with six candidate countries: Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Croatia, Peru and Romania. Since 1971, the OECD has had a dedicated Environment Directorate. The Environment Directorate provides recommendations on substantive areas of environmental policy, undertakes environmental policy reviews of OECD members, and provides data and modelling for informed environmental policy-making.