The share of patents in environment-related technologies is negligible compared to the EU/OECD averages, indicating low innovation activity in the EaP economies.
In recent years, EaP countries have made efforts to increase information transparency about their respective fossil-fuel subsidies. Support in EaP countries is mainly provided to end users for natural gas consumption. Armenia has very limited support for fossil fuels, mainly in tax expenditures, while in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova, support is mainly given out in direct transfers.
The share of territories allocated to national parks in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia is comparable to that in the OECD countries. However, terrestrial area allocated to national parks is less than 2% in Moldova and less than 4% in Ukraine. Much less territory is strictly protected, and all countries in the region remain distant from the Global Biodiversity targets for protected land.
Environment at a Glance in the EU Eastern Partnership Countries
6. Economic opportunities and policy responses
Key messages
Context and policy challenges
As the limited available data illustrates, the EaP countries are at an early stage of producing indicators to monitor policies and other economic aspects. In particular, gaps exist for data on developing green technologies and innovations, associated budget spending, and environmental taxation. Nevertheless, the EaP countries continue to advance in several aspects, notably aligning their environmental taxation policies with international standards, particularly with European environmental taxation regulations (OECD, 2022).
The indicators in this section aim to capture the economic opportunities associated with green growth policies, such as technology and innovation, environmental goods and services, investment and financing, prices, taxes, transfers, education, training, and skills development.
Main trends and recent developments
The share of innovation (measured as the number of patents) in environment-related technologies is negligible compared to the EU/OECD averages, indicating low innovation activity in the EaP economies. However, most countries in the region are implementing programs to support green innovation in Small and Medium Enterprises and broader technology development, which could help drive forward environment-related innovation in the region.
In recent years, EaP countries have made efforts to increase information transparency about their respective fossil-fuel subsidies (FFS). Among them, Ukraine performs best regarding data transparency on FFS and is among the few EaP countries that regularly publish annual information on tax expenditure, including in the energy sector. Information on all EaP countries’ fossil fuel subsidies is now available in the OECD Inventory of Support Measures to Fossil Fuels. This is a major step towards increased transparency and disclosure of relevant information. Data show that support in EaP countries is mainly provided to end users for natural gas consumption. Armenia has very limited support for fossil fuels, mainly in tax expenditures, while in Azerbaijan, Georgia and Moldova, support is mainly given out in direct transfers. Considering the intensification of efforts to reach carbon neutrality worldwide and the EaP countries’ commitment to contribute to the EU Green Deal ambition of making Europe the first neutral continent by 2050, there is a need to rethink the fossil-fuel subsidisation policy. Governments in EaP countries should resist introducing new subsidy schemes that could become a long-term structural feature of their economy.
The EaP countries have also made efforts to promote education and upskill civil servants and the public on the benefits of a green economy. Thus, through the support of the EU4Environment projects, over 750 civil servants have been trained on Strategic Environmental Assessment and Environmental Impact Assessment (SEA/EIA), 941 have been trained on green economy (including 227 on circular economy; 461 on Resource Efficient and Cleaner Production (RECP); 90 on Product Environmental Footprint (PEF); and 163 on gender sensitisation in greening the industry). Furthermore, 1 900 civil servants and experts have been trained in Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP), focusing on eco-labelling and Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR); 400 have trained on green public investment programmes and compliance, and 90 have been trained on the Emerald Network development. In addition, five training courses on green economy have been developed, and discussions are ongoing to incorporate them into the university’s curriculum.
The share of territories allocated to national parks in Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia is comparable to that in the OECD countries. However, there are significant variations among countries in the extent and management objectives of terrestrial protected areas. Protected areas allocated to national parks are less than 2% in Moldova and less than 4% in Ukraine. Much less territory is strictly protected, and all countries in the region remain distant from the Global Biodiversity (GBF) Target 3, to ‘ensure and enable that by 2030 at least 30 per cent of terrestrial, inland water, and of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular important for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, are effectively conserved and managed‘. In addition, protected areas are not always representative of national biodiversity or sufficiently connected, and they do not reflect the effectiveness of the management of these areas.
Available indicators
Development of environment-related technologies, inventions per person
FFS by fuel
FFS by beneficiary
Share of terrestrial and marine protected areas by IUCN categories