On 10 December in Katowice, the 9th annual High-Level Breakfast on Institutional Investors and the Low-carbon Transition, co-hosted by the OECD and the Institutional Investors Group on Climate Change (IIGCC), highlighted significant progress in mobilising green institutional investment, as well as important remaining challenges.

Turkey will see its greenhouse gas emissions continue their steady rise of recent years without concrete actions to improve energy efficiency and increase the use of renewable energy sources, according to a new OECD report.

The conference discussed the results of the project as well as policy recommendations on training and skills development for the creation of an innovative and competitive SME sector in OECD countries.

The 2011 Green Growth Strategy provided initial guidance to governments on how to achieve economic growth and development, while preventing costly environmental damage and inefficient resource use. What progress have countries made in aligning economic and environmental priorities since 2011?

Further structural reforms are needed to help the business sector boost productivity growth and overcome the key challenges of sluggish investment in advanced economies and excess capacity in emerging economies, according to a new OECD report.

Despite a challenging global environment, the growth prospects of Emerging Asia (Southeast Asia, China and India) remain robust over the medium term, according to the latest edition of the OECD Development Centre’s Economic Outlook for Southeast Asia, China and India.

This country note explains how Israel taxes energy use. The note shows the distribution of effective energy tax rates across all domestic energy use. It also details the country-specific assumptions made when calculating effective energy tax rates and matching tax rates to the corresponding energy base.

The tax-to-GDP ratio in Israel decreased by 1.4 percentage points from 32.5% in 2017 to 31.1% in 2018. The corresponding figure for the OECD average was a slight increase of 0.1 percentage point from 34.2% to 34.3% over the same period.

The tax wedge for the average single worker in Israel increased by 0.2 percentage points from 22.5 in 2018 to 22.7 in 2019. The OECD average tax wedge in 2019 was 36.0 (2018, 36.1). In 2019 Israel had the 32nd lowest tax wedge among the 36 OECD member countries, occupying the same position in 2018.

This country note explains how Ireland taxes energy use. The note shows the distribution of effective energy tax rates across all domestic energy use. It also details the country-specific assumptions made when calculating effective energy tax rates and matching tax rates to the corresponding energy base.

The tax-to-GDP ratio in Ireland decreased by 0.2 percentage points from 22.5% in 2017 to 22.3% in 2018. The corresponding figure for the OECD average was a slight increase of 0.1 percentage point from 34.2% to 34.3% over the same period.

The tax wedge for the average single worker in Ireland increased by 0.3 percentage points from 32.9 in 2018 to 33.2 in 2019. The OECD average tax wedge in 2019 was 36.0 (2018, 36.1). In 2019 Ireland had the 24th lowest tax wedge among the 36 OECD member countries, compared with the 25th in 2018.

This one-pager note presents key findings for Germany from Society at a Glance 2011 - OECD Social indicators. This 2011 publication also provides a special chapter on unpaid work across the OECD.

Education at a Glance 2013 - Country notes and key fact tables

This note presents key findings for Germany from Society at a Glance 2014 - OECD Social indicators. This 2014 publication also provides a special chapter on: the crisis and its aftermath: a “stress test” for societies and for social policies.

Progress has been made to reduce smoking rates and alcohol consumption in Germany, but obesity is on the rise as in most other EU countries. As in other EU countries, spending for prevention in Germany accounts only for around 3% of current health spending.

Going for Growth 2015: Key findings for Germany

Health spending in Germany has slowed in recent years with growth rates being above OECD average. Germany spends over 30% more per capita on pharmaceuticals than the OECD average and spending has increased strongly in 2014.

Der Anstieg der Ausgaben für Gesundheit hat in Deutschland in jüngster Zeit etwas nachgelassen wobei die Wachstumsraten über dem OECD-Durchschnitt lagen. Pro Kopf gibt Deutschland 30% mehr als der OECD-Durchschnitt für Arzneimittel aus und die Ausgaben sind im Jahr 2014 stark angestiegen.

This country note provides an environmental tax and carbon pricing profile for Germany. It shows environmentally related tax revenues, taxes on energy use and effective carbon rates.

Selected findings for Germany from the report "The Pursuit of Gender Equality: An Uphill Battle"

Selected findings for Germany from the report "Preventing Ageing Unequally"

Key findings for Germany from the report "Pensions at a Glance 2017"

Renten auf einen Blick 2017: Wie steht DEUTSCHLAND im Vergleich da?

This note presents marginal effective tax rates (METRs) that summarise the tax system’s impact on the incentives to make an additional investment in a particular type of savings. By comparing METRs on different types of household savings, we can gain insights into which assets or savings types receive the most favourable treatment from the tax system.

A broken social elevator? Key findings for Germany

This country note for Germany provides detail on the proportion of CO2 emissions from energy use subject to different effective carbon rates (ECR), as well as on the level and components of average ECRs in each of the six economic sectors (road transport, off-road transport, industry, agriculture and fishing, residential & commercial, and electricity).

The digital revolution, globalisation and demographic changes are transforming labour markets at a time when policy makers are also struggling with slow productivity and wage growth and high levels of income inequality. The new OECD Jobs Strategy provides a comprehensive framework and policy recommendations to help countries address these challenges.

The German standard VAT rate is 19.0%, which is close to the OECD average. The average VAT/GST¹ standard rate in the OECD was 19.3% as of 1 January 2019. The previous standard VAT rate in Germany was 16% in 2006. It changed to the current level in 2007. Germany applies a reduced rate of 7% to a number of goods and services.

In Germany, more jobs are at a high risk of automation or a significant risk of change than in the OECD on average. The higher risk of automatability is in part the result of the large manufacturing sector in Germany. Low-skilled jobs with routine tasks are generally at a higher risk of automation than high-skilled jobs with cognitive tasks.

Just under one in four adults in Germany are obese. As a result, Germans live on average 2.6 years less due to overweight. Overweight accounts for 10.7% of health expenditure one of the largest rates of all countries analysed. Labour market outputs are lower due to overweight by the equivalent of 1 m full time workers per year. Combined, this means that overweight reduces Germany’s GDP by 3.0%.

This country note explains how Germany taxes energy use. The note shows the distribution of effective energy tax rates across all domestic energy use. It also details the country-specific assumptions made when calculating effective energy tax rates and matching tax rates to the corresponding energy base.

Across the OECD, Germany is among the top five spenders on health care, both as a proportion of GDP (11.2%) and per person (USD 5,986). Health spending is projected to further increase to reach 12.3% of GDP by 2030. With such high level of spending, Germany guarantees good access to health care services.

Renten auf einen Blick 2019: Wie steht DEUTSCHLAND im Vergleich da?

Key findings for Germany from the report "Pensions at a Glance 2019"

The tax-to-GDP ratio in Germany increased by 0.6 percentage points from 37.6% in 2017 to 38.2% in 2018. The corresponding figure for the OECD average was a slight increase of 0.1 percentage point from 34.2% to 34.3% over the same period.

The tax wedge for the average single worker in Germany decreased by 0.1 percentage points from 49.5 in 2018 to 49.4 in 2019. The OECD average tax wedge in 2019 was 36.0 (2018, 36.1). In 2019 Germany had the 2nd highest tax wedge among the 36 OECD member countries, occupying the same position in 2018.

DELSA-G20 Country Note Turkey-en

The conference discussed the results of the project as well as policy recommendations on training and skills development for the creation of an innovative and competitive SME sector in OECD countries.

Many areas like Manisa suffer from a local lack of sophisticated demand in terms of expressed SME requirements. This leaves considerable scope for demand and supply side initiatives set within KOSGEB’s framework that will assist in shaping intervention and promoting a coherent approach to SME development.

Closer collaboration between local employment, training, and economic development agencies to develop the right skills in jobseekers is crucial to support export-oriented growth in Northern Ireland, according to a new OECD report.

Switzerland has high employment rates and low unemployment. The overall employment rate remained stable since the start of the crisis and stands at 79% (first quarter of 2014), the second highest in the OECD after Iceland, well above the OECD average of 65.6%. As for unemployment, among OECD countries only Japan, Korea, and Norway have lower unemployment rates.

Unemployment rose substantially in the Slovak Republic as a result of the crisis and has only declined slowly since reaching a peak of 14.8% of the labour force in early 2010. At 13.3% in August 2014, the unemployment rate remains one of the highest among developed countries and is twice as high as the OECD average.

Hungary was hit harder by the global crisis than most OECD countries. Unemployment reached record levels at the peak of the crisis but has since recovered to its pre-crisis level around the current OECD average of 8%.

Poland’s employment rate at 61% (Q2 2014) remains well below the OECD average but, in contrast to many other countries, it has increased slowly since the onset of the economic crisis (from 57.9% in Q1 2007).

India’s economic growth has slowed since 2010 in the aftermath of the global crisis, but growth is expected to pick up according to the May 2014 projections of the OECD Economic Outlook. The unemployment rate was 3.6% in 2012 in India, lower than in 2006 (4.4%) before the onset of the global financial crisis.

The South African labour market continues to perform poorly compared to OECD and other G20 countries, and the global financial crisis appears to have worsened the situation.

The unemployment rate in Indonesia continues to trend downwards. At 5.7% in Q1 2014, Indonesia’s unemployment rate is considerably below the levels observed in 2007 (above 9%). It is also now well below the OECD average of 7.4%.

The unemployment rate in Brazil continues its downward trend, despite a slowdown in GDP growth. At 4.9% (for urban areas), Brazil’s unemployment rate is considerably below the OECD average of 7.4%.

Latin America’s GDP growth rate has slowed down in 2014, dropping below 1.5%. This is the first time in a decade that the region grows less than the OECD average, according to the OECD Development Centre, the Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean and the development bank for Latin America. Given the projections in the past weeks, any recovery in 2015 is likely to be challenging.