The document provides a status update on the implementation of the Programme of Work of the GREEN Action Task Force from May 2023. It summarizes the progress made and upcoming work planned until 2024 across the four work programme areas: 1) Economy-wide, cross-sectoral policies for green growth; 2) Environmental policies for a green economy; 3) Water and ecosystem management and climate adaptation; and 4) Sustainable infrastructure, green investment and finance. Recent and planned activities include analytical reports, policy dialogues, training sessions, and regional conferences aimed at promoting green growth, environmental protection and climate policies in Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

1. Implementation of the
Programme of Work of
the GREEN Action Task Force
Status Update (May 2023)

2. 1. Economy-wide, cross-sectoral policies for green
growth and sustainable development
2. Environmental policies for green growth: Climate
change mitigation, air pollution, circular economy
3. Water and ecosystems management, biodiversity
protection and climate change adaptation
4. Sustainable infrastructure, green investment and
finance
FOUR WORK PROGRAMME AREAS

3. WORK PROGRAMME AREA 1:
ECONOMY-WIDE, CROSS-SECTORAL
POLICIES FOR GREEN GROWTH AND
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

4.  Support to the development of the post-war reconstruction and recovery plan for Ukraine
 Support to developing methodologies for assessing environmental impacts of the Russian aggression
against Ukraine (ongoing)
 Start developing a regional e-book for the EU Eastern Partnerships (EaP) countries on green growth and
environmental indicators on the OECD Environment at a Glance Platform
 Development of indicators-based report on greening the economic development in Uzbekistan
 Green growth indicator-based EU EaP country profiles in English and national languages
 High level meetings on Green Economy in Moldova (September 2022 and February 2023) and 7th High level
national round table “Green Economy – Made in Moldova: Towards a green transition”
 Presentation of the GREEN Action Task Force work at the meeting of the OECD Environmental Policy
Committee (February 2023)
 Development of the Water, Energy & Land-use Linkage: Nexus Solutions for a Climate Resilient Central
Asia programme (May 2023)
 Campaign around the 2022 EU Green Week on biodiversity, circular economy and zero pollution: regional
webinar on “Biodiversity and Resilience in the EaP Countries” and national event “Towards Green
Transformation of Moldova”.
 Green Economy Transition in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia (October 2022)
 Climate-resilient agribusiness in Central Asia: the Nexus approach (May 2023)
1. Progress since the last GATF meeting

5. ● Analytical work to inform and facilitate political dialogue among Central Asian countries to
address the Energy-Water-Land-Climate Nexus in light of climate change and resource security.
● e.g. Nexus “Hotspot Analysis” , regional water-energy coordination mechanism
● Completion of green growth indicators-based report for Uzbekistan and launch of projects in
Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia
● Regional e-book for the EaP countries on the OECD Environment at a Glance Platform and
regional event to present the findings (Q4 2023)
● Support to Ukraine on the methodologies for environmental damages from war and the post-
war reconstruction and recovery programme
● Contribution to Green Economy Forum in Kyrgyzstan and 2023 Almaty Energy Forum
● Campaign around the 2023 EU Green Week: Enhancing skills for a green transition in the EaP
countries (June 2023)
● EU4Environment 4th Regional Assembly (September 2023, TBC)
● High level meeting on Green Economy in Moldova (September 2023 and February 2024)
1. Upcoming work for 2023-2024:

6. WORK PROGRAMME AREA 2:
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICIES FOR
GREEN GROWTH: CLIMATE CHANGE
MITIGATION, AIR POLLUTION,
CIRCULAR ECONOMY

7. 2. Progress since the last GATF meeting
 7th meeting of the OECD Expert Group on Best Available Techniques (October 2022)
– presentation of the recent developments on regulations related to the EU Industrial
Emission Directive and the BAT application in the EU EaP countries.
 EU4Environment – Green Economy Regional Assembly (September 2022)
 Regional meeting on environmental compliance assurance in the EU EaP
countries (December 2022)
 Report on environmental compliance assurance in Georgia
 Draft report on the regulatory framework for environmental liability in Moldova
 Regional capacity building seminar on environmental liability (September 2022)
 Analysis of administrative capacity for environmental management and greening
the economy in the EaP countries
 Development of a new project: Promoting Green Deal Readiness in the EU EaP
Countries (ProGRess) (start expected in July 2023)

8. ● EaP participation at 8th meeting of the OECD Expert Group on Best Available Techniques
(TBC)
● A webinar on environmental inspections for the State Environmental Inspectorate of
Ukraine (tbc)
● Report on environmental inspections in Azerbaijan
● Analysis of environmental liability legislation in Armenia
● Brochure on environmental compliance assurance in the Eastern Partnership
● Online regional meeting on environmental compliance assurance (Q4 2023)
● Launch of the report with analysis of environmental liability legislation in Moldova
● Completion of the administrative capacity reports and regional knowledge-sharing event
in the Eastern Partnership countries (Q4 2023)
● Inception phase of “Promoting Green Deal Readiness in the Eastern Partnership Countries
(ProGRess)” project (country missions and regional meetings)
2. Upcoming work for 2023-2024

9. PROGRAMME AREA 3:
WATER AND ECOSYSTEMS
MANAGEMENT, BIODIVERSITY
PROTECTION AND CLIMATE CHANGE
ADAPTATION

10. Area 3. Progress since the last GATF meeting
Multi-stakeholder dialogues on water policy in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus
• National Policy Dialogues on Water in Armenia, Georgia, Uzbekistan,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan (September 2022 to February
2023), Azerbaijan and Moldova (April 2023), and upcoming dialogue in
Ukraine in May 2023
• 2nd Regional Action Group Meeting (Q2 2023), including a workshop
on mobilising finance for river basin management
10

11. ● Enhance the National Policy Dialogues (NPD) facilitated jointly by UNECE and OECD in
the EaP and Central Asia regions (e.g. NbS thematic workshops).
● EU4Environment “Water Resources and Environmental Data” project, analytical work
on strengthening the economic soundness of water policies and finance mobilisation for
priority actions.
● Exploring financing mechanisms for Nature-based Solutions as well as for
biodiversity conservation in the EaP and Central Asia regions.
● Strengthen the inter-sectoral coordination for water security at the national level in
Central Asia,
– feeding into the NPD process and will be complemented by the Energy-Water-Land-
Climate Nexus project.
3. Upcoming work for 2023-2024

12. PROGRAMME AREA 4:
SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE,
GREEN INVESTMENT AND FINANCE

13.  Support to reforming the National Ecological Fund and reform of
environmental taxes and charges in Moldova
 Analysis of prospects for reforming environmental taxes / charges and
public environmental expenditure in Ukraine
 Finalisation of work on designing Green Public Investment Programmes
in Azerbaijan (water supply in rural areas), Georgia (biowaste) and
Moldova (urban transport), with several webinars and training sessions
 Analysis of the use of green bonds in the EaP countries and
Kazakhstan
4. Progress since the last GATF meeting

14. ● Regional Conference on Green Finance in Eastern Europe and
Central Asia (19-20 September 2023, Brussels)
● Launching work on analysing de-risking instruments for green
investments in EECCA
● Update of the OECD database of fossil fuel subsidies in the EU
EaP countries
● Development of a new programme on supporting green bonds
in the EU EaP countries (with the EU funding in co-operation with
GIZ as a follow up of the EU4Energy)
4. Upcoming work for 2023-2024

15. 4. Progress since the last GATF meeting
 SIPA Summer School - Accelerating the race to net zero in Central Asia
(Kyrgyzstan, 21-23 September 2022)
 Kazakhstan – SIPA Training on ISO standards for carbon footprint of products
(14-18 November 2022)
 Armenia/Uzbekistan – Peer learning workshop on green bonds (Yerevan, 15-
21 November 2022)
 Uzbekistan – Clean Transport - Dissemination event - ITF (Tashkent, 24
February 2023)
 Mongolia – SIPA Roundtable on green hydrogen and sustainable
infrastructure development (Ulaanbaatar, 21 March 2023)
 Mongolia – Clean transport - Dissemination event - ITF (Ulaanbaatar, 22
March 2023)
 Regional – Launch of regional study on clean freight transport – ITF (Istanbul,
5 April 2023)

16.  Supporting national strategic and decision-making frameworks for
infrastructure planning
 Building national capacity on policy approaches and tools for enabling
clean transitions in energy, transport and industry sectors
Forthcoming main events
 Regional workshop on industry decarbonisation (in Astana, 3-5 July)
 SIPA summer school on sustainable infrastructure for Central Asia (in
Istanbul, on 03-05 October)
 Launch of the report on Greening capital markets in Uzbekistan (date and
place TBC)
 High-level event on Building Sustainable Infrastructure in Eurasia, as a
dedicated session of OECD Eurasia Week 2023 (date TBC)
4. Upcoming work for 2023-2024