European environmental accounts
Context
Environmental accounts are a system for organising statistical data using the accounting framework and national accounting concepts for the calculation of consistent indicators to monitor interactions between the economy and the environment in order to better inform policy decision-making (United Nations, European Commission, FAO, IMF, OECD, The World Bank 2014).
Objectives
The objective was to support Eurostat in the following activities:
- Develop and test data collection methodologies on environmental expenditure (for environmental protection and sustainable management of natural resources), environmental taxes, environmental subsidies and the environmental goods and services sector;
- Ensure the internal consistency of the data provided (consistency of historical changes, etc.) by the member states;
- Ensure comparability of data between member states despite different collection methodologies.
Execution
As part of this study, ICEDD coordinated and participated in:
- The implementation of data collection methodologies;
- The production of methodological manuals;
- The implementation of tools for validating the data transmitted by the Member States;
- The drafting of articles to disclose the data collection results;
- The transposition of these collection methodologies into the Statistical Regulations on Environmental Accounts.