Highlights of the
OECD Environmental Outlook

Organization For Economic Co-Operation And Development (OECD) 2001

OECD PUBLICATIONS, 2, rue André-Pascal, 75775 PARIS CEDEX 16. PRINTED IN FRANCE. (00 0001 34 1 P) No. 81219 2001

Mindfully.org note: This is but a small sample of the title document.

[O]verall environmental degradation has persisted in most areas, despite improvements in resource efficiency, as the volume effects of total increases in production and consumption have outweighed the resource efficiency gains per unit of product. Thus, following recent trends, OECD countries are expected to reduce the energy intensity of their economies by 20% to 2020, while increasing total energy use by 35% (see Figure 1). Even with the use of new, more efficient, energy and transport technologies, it is unlikely that total emissions from these sources will decrease much over the next two decades. OECD countries will need to achieve more significant changes in the fuel mix than are currently foreseen, with greater substitution of the more polluting fossil fuels by renewable resources and cleaner fuels.

Figure 1. Resource and material intensity of OECD economies, total use and intensity of use relative to GDP, 1980-2020

Sources: OECD (1999) and Reference Scenario.

Environmental degradation can have a significant impact on human health, for example through increased asthma and respiratory diseases from urban smog, skin cancer from a thinner ozone layer, and poisoning through chemicals in the environment. Estimates of the share of environment-related human health loss are as high as 5% for high-income OECD countries, 8% for middle-income OECD countries and 13% for non-OECD countries. In total, environmental damage may be responsible for up to 6% of the total burden of disease in OECD countries. Air pollution and exposure to hazardous chemicals are important causes of the environment-related burden of disease in OECD countries. The transport and energy sectors are major contributors to air pollution, while important sources of chemical pollution are agriculture, industry, and waste disposal and incineration. In the period to 2020, the effects on human health of the widespread release of chemicals to the environment and of reduced air quality may worsen. At the same time, new environmentally related human health threats may emerge in OECD countries. The possible effects of climate change are a widely recognised future threat to human health, although their exact impact is not yet well understood.

Opportunities for reducing environment-related human health risks are considerable. The benefits of many environmental policies in terms of reduced health care costs and increased productivity significantly exceed the costs of implementing these policies.

source: 21jul2007