Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development

The gross nutrient balances (N and P) are calculated as the difference between the total quantity of nutrient inputs entering an agricultural system (mainly fertilisers, livestock manure), and the quantity of nutrient outputs leaving the system (mainly uptake of nutrients by crops and grassland). Gross nutrient balances are expressed in tonnes of nutrient surplus (when positive) or deficit (when negative). This calculation can be used as a proxy to reveal the status of environmental pressures, such as declining soil fertility in the case of a nutrient deficit, or for a nutrient surplus the risk of polluting soil, water and air. The nutrient balance indicator is also expressed in terms of kilogrammes of nutrient surplus per hectare of agricultural land to facilitate the comparison of the relative intensity of nutrients in agricultural systems between countries.

The gross nutrient balances (N and P) are calculated as the difference between the total quantity of nutrient inputs entering an agricultural system (mainly fertilizers, livestock manure), and the quantity of nutrient outputs leaving the system (mainly uptake of nutrients by crops and grassland). Gross nutrient balances are expressed in tonnes of nutrient surplus (when positive) or deficit (when negative). This calculation can be used as a proxy to reveal the status of environmental pressures, such as declining soil fertility in the case of a nutrient deficit, or for a nutrient surplus the risk of polluting soil, water and air. The nutrient balance indicator is also expressed in terms of kilogrammes of nutrient surplus per hectare of agricultural land to facilitate the comparison of the relative intensity of nutrients in agricultural systems between countries.

This dataset describes the emissions to the atmosphere released as a result of production and consumption processes. The productive activities are broken down by economic activity and the household consumption activities are broken down by purpose (transport, heating, and other activities). Air emissions include emissions of individual greenhouse gases (GHG) as well as air pollutants such as sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate matter. The emissions are also aggregated (using equivalence factors) to report on environmental pressures: global warming potential, acidifying gases and ozone precursors.

This database includes annual, quarterly and monthly information on carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions related to commercial passenger, freight, and general aviation flights, on both a territory and a residence basis, for 186 countries. These CO2 emissions are estimated by the OECD, based on a consistent methodology across countries. The main source used for the estimation of these CO2 emissions is a database compiled by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) with all commercial passenger and freight flights around the world.

OECD Indicators on Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions embodied in international trade (TeCO2) are derived by combining the 2021 editions of OECD Inter-Country Input-Output (ICIO) Database and of International Energy Agency (IEA) statistics on CO2 emissions from fuel combustion. In this release of TeCO2, emissions from fuels used for international aviation and maritime transport (i.e. aviation and marine bunkers) are also considered.Production-based CO2 emissions are estimated by allocating the CO2 emissions to the 45 target industries in OECD ICIO and, to household final consumption of fuels, by both residents and non-residents.Demand-based CO2 emissions are calculated by multiplying the intensities of the production-based emissions (c) with the global Leontief inverse (I-A)(-1) and global final demand matrix (Y) from OECD ICIO, taking the column sums of the resulting matrix and adding residential and private road emissions (FNLC), i.e. direct emissions from final demand: colsum [ diag(c) (I-A)(-1) Y ] + FNLC.For more information, see TeCO2 web page: http://oe.cd/io-co2.

This indicator reports the amount of carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion embodied in imports and exports in mega tonnes of CO2 (MtCO2) for 63 countries and 34 industries between 1995 and 2011.

The indicator reports the hypothetical amount of carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion embodied in imports if imported goods were produced with a carbon intensity (i.e. emissions factors) equal to that of the importing country at a given time – the Equal Carbon Intensity (ECI) assumption. It covers 65 countries and 34 industries between 1995 and 2011.

The OECD, in cooperation with the EU, has developed a harmonised definition of urban areas which overcomes previous limitations linked to administrative definitions (OECD, 2012). According to this definition an urban area is a functional economic unit characterised by densely inhabited “city core” and “commuting zone” whose labour market is highly integrated with the core. The Metropolitan database provides indicators of 649 OECD metropolitan areas identified in 33 OECD countries and the functional urban areas of Colombia. Comparable values of population, GDP, employment, and other indicators are presented.

This dataset provides selected information on national emissions of air pollutants: man-made emissions of sulphur oxides (SOx), nitrogen oxides (NOx), particulate matter (PM), carbon monoxide (CO) and volatile organic compounds (VOC). Categories presented are based on the NFR (nomenclature for reporting) 2014 classification. 

EAMFP growth measures the residual growth in the joint production of both the desirable and the undesirable outputs that cannot be explained by changes in the consumption of factor inputs (including labour, produced capital and natural capital). Therefore, for a given growth of input use, EAMFP increases when GDP increases or when pollution decreases. As part of the growth accounting framework underlying the EAMFP indicator, the growth contribution of natural capital and growth adjustment for pollution abatement indicators are derived: Growth contribution of natural capital - measures to what extent a country's growth in output is attributable to natural resource use; Growth adjustment for pollution abatement - measures to what extent a country's GDP growth should be corrected for pollution abatement efforts - adding what has been undervalued due to resources being diverted to pollution abatement, or deducing the ‘excess' growth which is generated at the expense of environmental quality.

This dataset presents the data collected from OECD and partner economies on environmentally related tax revenue accounts with a breakdown by tax-base category and industrial activity. The data collection follows the OECD methodological guidelines for compiling Environmentally Related Tax Revenue (ERTR) accounts in line with the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting - Central Framework (SEEA-CF). The OECD ERTR accounts are consistent with the existing data collection by Eurostat. Nevertheless, in an effort to enhance the policy relevance of this SEEA module, the OECD approach goes slightly further and includes several additional revenue categories: Taxes levied on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are explicitly reported in two sub-categories: an energy related part (recorded as an energy tax) and a non-energy related part, such as certain GHG emissions related to landfills or agriculture (recorded as a pollution tax). Four "memo items" (i.e. information items that do not change the total) are included: (i) Certain land taxes; (ii) Taxes on oil and natural gas extraction; (iii) Taxes on the resource rent; (iv) Elevated value added taxes levied on environmentally related tax-bases. The dataset covers OECD member countries, accession candidates and selected partner economies since the year 1995. For EU countries, it includes the information on ERTR accounts reported to Eurostat.

Air pollution is considered one of the most pressing environmental and health issues across OECD countries and beyond. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) has potentially the most significant adverse effects on health compared to other pollutants. PM2.5 can be inhaled and cause serious health problems including both respiratory and cardiovascular disease, having its most severe effects on children and elderly people. Exposure to PM2.5 has been shown to considerably increase the risk of heart disease and stroke in particular. For these reasons, population exposure to (outdoor or ambient) PM2.5 has been identified as an OECD Green Growth headline indicator. The underlying PM2.5 concentrations estimates are taken from van Donkelaar et al. (2016). They have been derived using satellite observations and a chemical transport model, calibrated to global ground-based measurements using Geographically Weighted Regression at 0.01° resolution. The underlying population data, Gridded Population of the World, version 4 (GPWv4) are taken from the Socioeconomic Data and Applications Center (SEDAC) at the NASA. The underlying boundary geometries are taken from the Global Administrative Unit Layers (GAUL) developed by the FAO, and the OECD Territorial Classification, when available. The current version of the database presents much more variation with respect to the previous one. The reason is that the underlying concentration estimates previously included smoothed multi-year averages and interpolations; while in the current version annual concentration estimates are used. Establishing trends of pollution exposure should be done with care, especially at smaller output areas, as their inputs (e.g. underlying data and models) can change from year to year. We recommend using a 3-year moving average for visualisation.

The OECD Green Growth database contains selected indicators for monitoring progress towards green growth to support policy making and inform the public at large. The database synthesises data and indicators across a wide range of domains including a range of OECD databases as well as external data sources. The database covers OECD member and accession countries, key partners (including Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and South Africa) and other selected non-OECD countries.

This dataset presents trends in man-made emissions of major greenhouse gases and emissions by gas.   Data refer to total emissions of CO2 (emissions from energy use and industrial processes, e.g. cement production), CH4 (methane emissions from solid waste, livestock, mining of hard coal and lignite, rice paddies, agriculture and leaks from natural gas pipelines), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) and nitrogen trifluoride (NF3). Data exclude indirect CO2.   Intensities (per unit of GDP and per capita) as well as index are calculated on gross direct emissions excluding emissions or removals from land-use, land-use change and forestry (LULUCF).   The GDP used to calculate intensities is expressed in USD at 2010 prices and PPPs.

These data are part of a larger database, hosted on a different website, which includes both quantitative and qualitative data, as well as graphs.

Land resources are one of the four components of the natural environment: water, air, land and living resources. In this context land is both: a physical "milieu" necessary for the development of natural vegetation as well as cultivated vegetation;a resource for human activities.  The data presented here give information concerning land use state and changes (e.g. agricultural land, forest land).  Land area excludes area under inland water bodies (i.e. major rivers and lakes).   Arable refers to all land generally under rotation, whether for temporary crops (double-cropped areas are counted only once) or meadows, or left fallow (less than five years). These data are not meant to indicate the amount of land that is potentially cultivable.  Permanent crops are those that occupy land for a long period and do not have to be planted for several years after each harvest (e.g. cocoa, coffee, rubber). Land under vines and trees and shrubs producing fruits, nuts and flowers, such as roses and jasmine, is so classified, as are nurseries (except those for forest trees, which should be classified under "forests and other wooded land").  Arable and permanent crop land is defined as the sum of arable area and land under permanent crops.  Permanent meadows and pastures refer to land used for five years or more to grow herbaceous forage crops, either cultivated or growing wild (wild prairie or grazing land).  Forest refers to land spanning more than 0.5 hectare (0.005 km2) and a canopy cover of more than 10 percent, or trees able to reach these thresholds in situ. This includes land from which forests have been cleared but that will be reforested in the foreseeable future. This excludes woodland or forest predominantly under agricultural or urban land use and used only for recreation purposes.

Air pollution is considered one of the most pressing environmental and health issues across OECD countries and beyond. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), exposure to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ground-level ozone (O3) have potentially the most significant adverse effects on health compared to other pollutants. PM2.5 can be inhaled and cause serious health problems including both respiratory and cardiovascular disease, having its most severe effects on children and elderly people. Exposure to PM2.5 has been shown to considerably increase the risk of heart disease and stroke in particular. For these reasons, population exposure to (outdoor or ambient) PM2.5 has been identified as an OECD Green Growth headline indicator. Exposure to ground-level ozone (O3) has serious consequences for human health, contributing to, or triggering, respiratory diseases. These include breathing problems, asthma and reduced lung function (WHO, 2016; Brauer et al., 2016). Ozone exposure is highest in emission-dense countries with warm and sunny summers. The most important determinants are background atmospheric chemistry, climate, anthropogenic and biogenic emissions of ozone precursors such as volatile organic compounds, and the ratios between different emitted chemicals.

This dataset presents trends in amounts of municipal waste generated (including household waste), and the treatment and disposal method used. The amount of waste generated in each country is related to the rate of urbanisation, the types and pattern of consumption, household revenue and lifestyles.

The OECD Sustainable Ocean Economy Database synthesizes available ocean-related datasets and indicators from across the Organisation to improve their discoverability and comparability. The database brings together relevant indicators from the Environment Directorate (ENV), the Trade and Agriculture Directorate (TAD), the Centre for Entrepreneurship, SMEs, Regions and Cities (CFE), the International Transport Forum (ITF), the International Energy Agency (IEA), and others.

This dataset presents national-level data on water made available for use, by sector. The interpretation of those data should take into account some variations in countries' definitions, as reflected in metadata. Data source(s): Joint OECD/Eurostat questionnaire on Inland Waters. Data for non-OECD countries is sourced from UNSD (https://unstats.un.org/unsd/envstats/country_files)