March 2013: The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has published the third review of Italy’s environmental performance, including progress towards a green low-carbon economy and international commitments. The Environmental Performance Review (EPR) presents 29 recommendations on how performance could be improved.

Main issues addressed in the report include: Italy’s environmental challenges; water mangement; strengthening Italy’s environmental governance; greening Italy’s growth; promoting eco-innovation; addressing climate change; and mitigating the impact of the transport sector.

Recommendations made in the report include: develop coherent and consistent national strategies at the regional and municipal level, to address issues such as water and waste management; enhance the role of the Network of Environment Agencies to establish consistent regional environmental requirements; strengthen efforts to combat environment crimes; apply economic instruments, including, user fees and pollution charges, more systematically; strengthen collection, analysis and dissemination of information on economic and financial aspects of water resource management; further develop the renewable energy policy in the context of a national energy strategy; streamline energy efficiency incentive measures; extend the use of price-based mechanisms, such as pollution and congestion charges; and enhance efforts to implement investment in urban public transport infrastructure and multimodal freight networks.

EPRs of OECD member countries are now in their third cycle, with the reviews focusing on performance and on selected issues of high priority for the reviewed countries. [Publication: OECD Environmental Performance Reviews: Italy 2013] [OECD Press Release]