Environmental policy in South East Europe

This chapter on environmental policy assesses the quality of legal and policy frameworks and the extent of their implementation in six South East Europe (SEE) economies. It uses four sub-dimensions based on the OECD Green Growth measurement framework to assess progress towards environmentally sustainable development within the socio-economic context of the SEE economies. The first sub-dimension, resource productivity, describes the efficiency with which economic activities use natural resources. The second sub-dimension, natural asset base, examines the accessibility and ability of natural stocks to provide environmental inputs for development, and highlights potential risks to growth from a declining natural asset base. The third sub-dimension, environmental quality of life, assesses the interactions of environmental conditions and risks to people’s quality of life and well-being. The final sub-dimension, policies for green growth, gauges whether policies foster green business opportunities while addressing concerns on income distribution. The chapter includes suggestions for enhancing the policies in each of these sub-dimensions to strengthen green growth, which in turn would foster the competitiveness of these economies.