Within the EU4Environment Action, the Government of Moldova expressed an interest to complement the prepared Clean Urban Public Transport (CPT) Programme with a more practice-oriented and more targeted capacity development for allocated staff to implement the designed programme as well as to better manage green public expenditure in general.
The OECD initiatory visit to Moldova for this follow-up capacity development project in January 2020 aimed to assess the current conditions for the programme implementation as the next phase will require that public authorities select the best institutional arrangement, ensure stable and predictable sources of finance, and hire or allocate qualified staff. Despite the unfavourable circumstances with the global pandemic, preparations for the project launch are being finalised and trainings on managing country-wide low-carbon public investment programmes (with a special focus on cleaner mobility) are foreseen to be conducted in Moldova throughout a six-month implementation timeframe (partly, in form of webinars or other virtual events, if need be).
Similar to the initial project in Moldova, several other EaP countries expressed an interest in OECD technical assistance in designing and costing a green public investment programme in line with international good practices. Generally, public expenditure programmes can leverage private investments in low-carbon infrastructure in all environmental sectors (energy efficiency, renewable energy, solid waste management, water supply and sanitation, etc.) and, therefore, are well-suited to facilitate the achievement of countries’ environmental and climate-related targets.
By applying OECD costing methodology, programmes’ overall costs are compared with expected benefits (environmental, socio-economic, etc.). Advanced discussions were held with Azerbaijan and Georgia, but also Armenia and Belarus potentially see benefits from an OECD support in this area, including pre-identification of financing sources (also international). The first of the two planned country projects for 2020-21 is expected to start by mid-2020.