Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2010)132 - European environmental economic accounts - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2010)132 - European environmental economic accounts. |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2010)132  |
| date | 09-04-2010 |
The concepts in the European System of Accounts (ESA) are multi-purpose: for a great range of uses the ESA concepts are accepted, though they need to be supplemented for some uses. For some specific data needs, as for e.g. the analysis of the interaction between the environment and the economy, the best solution is to draw up separate satellite accounts.
In its June 2006 conclusions, the European Council called on the European Union and its Member States to extend the national accounts to key aspects of Sustainable Development. The national accounts have therefore to be complemented with integrated environmental-economic accounting that provides data that are fully consistent.
The proposal is expected to ensure the means to reach the following three objectives:
- To implement the ideas laid down in the environmental accounts part of the new chapter on satellite accounts in the forthcoming revised ESA.
- To give priority to regular production of a core set of accounts based on the revised European Strategy for Environmental Accounting (ESEA 2008), as adopted by the Statistical Programme Committee in November 2008.
- To ensure that National Statistical Institutes (NSIs) maintain and potentially expand their work on environmental accounting, with the main objective of providing harmonised and timely data of reasonable quality.
It will help ensure that adequate resources for the development of environmental economic accounts become available at the NSIs.
Following the Amsterdam Treaty, environmental and sustainability policy moved up the political agenda, focusing on the integration of environmental and economic policy making and on integrating environmental concerns into other policy areas. At EU level, key policy initiatives important for environmental accounts include the 6th Environmental Action Programme, the EU Sustainable Development Strategy and various sectoral policy initiatives related to the Cardiff process. Key areas include climate change, sustainable transport, nature and biodiversity, health and the environment, natural resource use and waste management and the international dimension of sustainable development. The structural indicators, designed to monitor progress towards the Lisbon objectives, have been extended by adding environmental indicators.
As long as primary statistics are incomplete, environmental accounting can play a useful role by providing a framework and estimation procedures for missing data, e.g. based on non-statistical sources.
Users put much emphasis on analysis and applications of environmental accounts in modelling and forecasts/outlooks, both for preparing policy proposals and reporting on policy implementation and impacts. Examples are the design of taxation policies related for instance to climate change and energy uses, or the assessment of the effects of international trade on emissions and resource use.
User needs may differ somewhat across countries reflecting national endowments with natural resources and environmental assets or specific national policy priorities but the key standard components of environmental accounts are similar: selected natural resources accounts, air emissions and energy accounts, material flows accounts, environmental expenditure, activities and taxes.
In 1994, the European Commission identified the main lines of action for the development of a Green National Accounting framework based on satellites to National Accounts i. Since then, Eurostat, in collaboration with Member States’ statistical offices and DG Environment’s financial support, has assisted European countries in collecting data through some pilot studies.
Data in relation to Environmental Accounts is reported to Eurostat in a number of different ways. On a mandatory basis:
- Some data on Environmental Expenditure by industries is collected in connection to the Structural Business Statistics (SBS) regulation i
- Data transmitted to Eurostat in connection to the ESA 95 regulation i with regard to National Accounts (e.g. supply-use tables, Input-Output tables, COFOG and tax statistics)
By gentlemen’s agreement, Environmental Accounts data compiled in NSIs is transmitted to Eurostat on a regular basis (yearly or two-yearly) via:
- The Joint Eurostat/OECD questionnaire (environmental protection expenditure and revenues)
- A separate questionnaire on Economy-Wide Material Flows Accounts
- A separate questionnaire on air emissions accounts
- A separate questionnaire regarding environmental taxes by industry
Decision No 1578/2007/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2007 on the Community Statistical Programme 2008 to 2012 makes a clear reference to the need of high quality statistics and accounts in the domain of the environment. Furthermore, under the main initiatives for 2008 to 2012 i it is stated that 'legal bases will be developed, where appropriate, for core areas of environmental data collection currently not covered by legal acts.'
Sustainable development of Europe based on balanced economic growth and price stability, a highly competitive social market economy, aiming at full employment and social progress, and a high level of protection and improvement of the quality of the environment is enshrined in Article 3 of the Treaty.
The Sixth Community Environment Action Programme i confirmed that sound information on the state of the environment and on the key trends, pressures and drivers for environmental change is essential for the development of effective policy, its implementation, and the empowerment of citizens more generally.
The current proposal is consistent with the Commission priorities.
Consultation methods, main sectors targeted and general profile of respondents
The proposal has been discussed with data producers in the European Statistical System and Commission services (DG ENV, JRC, Environmental European Agency), through written consultations, in the relevant working groups and task forces, and with the directors for environmental statistics and accounts.
The current proposal is the result of intensive negotiations between all interested parties.
Scientific/expertise domains concerned
The national and Commission (DG ENV, JRC, Environmental European Agency) representatives at the meetings of DG Eurostat's task force 'Material Flow Accounts', working groups on 'Environmental Accounts' and 'Environmental Expenditure statistics', and Director's Meeting on 'Environmental Statistics and Accounts' (DIMESA) were all experts with knowledge of the existing legislation, the national systems for collecting and compiling environmental accounts and statistics and new trends in the development of environmental accounting.
The experts contributed to task force, working groups and DIMESA meetings and written consultations during the preparation process.
The main experts were from the National Statistical Institutes, Environmental Ministries and Agencies, as well from DG ENV, JRC and Environmental European Agency.
A very positive and supportive response was noted. The existence of potentially serious risks with irreversible consequences was not mentioned.
The working documents and minutes of the meetings of the task force, working groups and DIMESA are available via CIRCA.
Two options have been identified:
- Option 1: to continue with gentlemen's agreement as until now
- Option 2: to establish a legal base to support the data collection on environmental economic accounts.
2.3.1. Option 1: Continue with the gentlemen’s agreement as until now.
No direct effect or consequence is expected. They will be indirectly affected by the continued use of scattered and incomplete information used by policy makers that makes their work more fragmented and less coordinated with information regarding the economy and society.
No direct effect or consequence is expected. They will be indirectly affected by the continued scattered and incomplete information used by policy makers and their decisions based upon it.
Under the current situation which is based on a gentlemen's agreement without any legal base, in the best case scenario the data quality and availability will continue to be at the current less-than-adequate level or, even more likely, data availability will decrease. In connection to the study ‘Environmental Accounts in Europe – State of play of recent work’ carried out for the Commission in 2007, a number of countries made it clear that the priority setting in their country was to focus almost exclusively on legally required reporting and that data compiled and reported under gentlemen's agreements would cease to be compiled due to a lack of legal requirement. This would also be true for well established statistics in environmental accounts due to budgetary constraints.
There are increasing needs to link information on the environment to information on the economy. Integrated assessments are called upon in several EU action plans and strategies. The assessment of the environmental strategies can be done only if reliable data is available. The current situation based on the gentlemen’s agreement does not guarantee data of adequate quality, timeliness and coverage to properly perform this assessment.
By remaining under the gentlemen’s agreement there is a risk that missing data will be estimated and collected elsewhere on an ad hoc basis whenever policy demands requires information on the relationship between the economy and the environment. Thus the possibilities to build up a knowledge base and adequate data to answer the policy demands will be limited under the current conditions.
2.3.2. Option 2: Establish a legal base to support the data collection on environmental economic accounts
Effects and consequences for citizens and households
No direct effect or consequence is expected. They will be indirectly affected by the improved information base provided to the policy makers and their decisions based upon it.
There may be some cases of confidential data that will be necessary to manage.
Environmental Accounting is mainly about re-organising existing data and not collecting new statistics from enterprises.
For the three modules envisaged in this Regulation, namely air emission accounts, environmentally-related taxes by economic activities and economy-wide material flow accounts, the necessary data is compiled on the basis of already established reporting obligations. For example, air emission accounts rely on the data produced for air emission inventories (under the UNFCCC and the CLRTAP mentioned in the Annex I). The data in the second module on environmentally related taxes is derived on the basis of tax statistics and government finance statistics as well as tax data from the national accounts. Finally, the data needed for the economy-wide material flow accounts is derived from agriculture statistics, industrial production statistics and trade statistics.
Thus, no new major reporting requirements for enterprises should arise from the adoption of this Regulation.
Environmental accounts do not generally require new data collection but create additional uses for national accounts data (e.g. supply-use and input-output tables), for environment statistics and other areas of statistics. Primary data needed, alongside the national accounts, are environment, energy, transport, forestry, fisheries, air emission inventories and other statistics as well as other data held by ministries, specialised institutions and environmental agencies.
Based on the replies to the study 'Environmental Accounts – State of play of recent work' carried out for Eurostat in 2007, a number of European countries have declared that Environmental Accounts will not be developed or even continued without a European legal base, providing the legal right to claim for the necessary resources to fulfil this requirement.
The assessment of the European Environmental Policy and its Thematic Strategies can only seriously be done if reliable data is available. The Thematic Strategy on the Sustainable Use of Natural Resources clearly requires data to build up indicators on decoupling of economic growth from natural pressures and indicators on environmental impact. These indicators are based on data that is currently being collected through gentlemen’s agreement. The required consistent and regular production and reporting of environmental accounts would improve the quality of the statistics. Until now the data used for one of the Structural Indicators and three of the Sustainable Development Indicators was not using country-reported data but has been developed from international databases (for example, from the FAO, UN). The data for the indicator reports in 2009 have, for the first time, used country reported data provided under the current voluntary data collection arrangement.
On the other hand, other EU policies (e.g. recycling and prevention of waste, air emissions and climate change, sustainable consumption and production) would be much better monitored if data of good quality linking environment and economy would exist. This data can be collected through the framework of environmental accounts, but it is necessary that every country participates and that harmonisation is fully guaranteed. An appropriate legal base for this data collection can ensure these requirements.
The following benefits are also expected: data collection in an important area EU-wide, increased visibility of environmental accounts as a tool for policy monitoring exploring the possibility to link environmental and economic data, possibility to take advantage of the current revision of SNA / ESA and get synergies for data collection.
If option 2 is not implemented, the following risks have been identified:
- Risk that data is not appropriately collected to provide EU level estimates and that no final complete data set on environmental accounts is available. Thus resulting in incomplete information on the links between the environment and the economy.
- Risk that analysis is done based on non-official data. This includes a risk that other actors will estimate information on the links between the environment and economy and do what Eurostat and the European Statistical System should do in a more systematic and harmonized way.
- Risk that the EU is not recognised as a worldwide, leading actor in the field of environmental accounts. There is a risk that the effort done until now is wasted without any clear final benefit.
The choice between continuing collecting data on environmental accounts using a gentlemen’s agreement or supported by EU legislation clearly points to the second option as the one which produces the best results.
Contents
- LEGAL ELEMENTS OF THE PROPOSAL
- BUDGETARY IMPLICATION
- 1.1. Grounds for and objectives of the proposal
- 1.2. General context
- 1.3. Existing provisions in the area of the proposal
- 1.4. Consistency with other policies and objectives of the Union
- 2. CONSULTATION OF INTERESTED PARTIES AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT
- 2.1. Consultation of interested parties
- Summary of responses and how they have been taken into account
- 2.2. Collection and use of expertise
- Methodology used
- Main organisations/experts consulted
- Summary of advice received and used
- Means used to make the expert advice publicly available
- 2.3. Analysis of effects and consequences
- Effects and consequences for citizens and households
- Effects and consequences for enterprises
- Effects and consequences for Member States
- Effects and consequences for policies at European Union level
- 2.3.2. Option 2: Establish a legal base to support the data collection on environmental economic accounts
- Effects and consequences for enterprises
- Effects and consequences for Member States
- Effects and consequences for policies at European Union level
- 2.3.3. Summary of risks of keeping status quo
- 2.3.4. The preferred option
- 3.1. Summary of the proposed action
- 3.2. Legal basis
- 3.3. Subsidiarity principle
- 3.4 Proportionality principle
- 3.5. Choice of instruments
- 5. Additional information
The objective of this Regulation is to establish a common framework for the collection, compilation, transmission and evaluation of European environmental economic accounts.
Article 338 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union provides the legal basis for European statistics. Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure, the European Parliament and the Council adopt measures for the production of statistics, where necessary, on the performance of the activities of the Union. This Article sets out the requirements relating to the production of European statistics, stating that they must conform to standards of impartiality, reliability, objectivity, scientific independence, cost-effectiveness and statistical confidentiality.
The subsidiarity principle applies insofar as the proposal does not fall within the exclusive competence of the EU.
The objective of the proposed action, namely the collection, compilation, transmission and evaluation of European environmental economic accounts, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States and can therefore be better achieved at EU level on the basis of a Community legal act, because only the Commission can coordinate the necessary harmonisation of statistical information at Community level, while the collection of data and compilation of comparable environmental economic accounts can be organised by the Member States. Consequently, the Community may adopt measures in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty.
The proposal complies with the proportionality principle for the following reason(s).
In line with the principle of proportionality, this Regulation confines itself to the minimum required to achieve its objective and does not go beyond what is necessary for that purpose. This Regulation does not specify the data collection mechanisms for each Member State, but merely defines the data to be supplied so as to ensure a harmonised structure and timing.
For most of the domains, there is no obligation for the Member States to make any changes to the compilation of environmental economic accounts, for which data are already being collected at EU level under gentlemen's agreements. In some domains there might be a change of survey reporting that might affect enterprises. However, environmental accounting is mainly about re-organising existing data and not collecting new statistics from enterprises. In fact, environmental accounts do not generally require new data collection but create additional uses for national accounts data (e.g. supply-use and input-output tables), for environment statistics and other areas of statistics.
Proposed instruments: Regulation
Other means would not be adequate for the following reason(s).
Selection of the appropriate instrument depends on the legislative goal. Given the information needs at European level, the trend for European statistics has been to use Regulations rather than directives for basic acts. A Regulation is preferable because it lays down the same law throughout the EU, assuring its accurate and comprehensive application by the Member States. It is directly applicable, which means that it does not need to be transposed into national law. In contrast, directives, which aim to harmonise national laws, are binding on Member States as regards their objectives, but leave the national authorities the choice of form and methods used to achieve these objectives. They also have to be transposed into national law. The use of a Regulation is in line with other statistical legal acts adopted since 1997.
The data collection has no new implication for the Community budget.
The proposed act concerns an EEA matter and should therefore extend to the European Economic Area.