Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Environmental Accounting is a statistical synthesis operation whose general objective is the integration of environmental information in the central system of National Accounts, following the methodology of the Economic and Environmental Accounting System developed by the United Nations (SEEA), which constitutes the conceptual structure of Environmental Accounting.
It comprises a set of satellite accounts prepared from accounting formats applicable to different sectoral and territorial areas, with a strong presence of physical data. The use of similar concepts, classifications and norms that in the National Accounts allow to expand the analysis without overloading the central system.
It is an indispensable instrument for the analysis of the interrelationships between the environment and the economy in general and, in particular, for the assessment of sustainable development through the design and construction of the Sustainable Development Indicator Systems, and for the monitoring of actions environmental policies at national and international level.
The Air Emissions Accounts collect and present data on the emissions of air pollutants, in a manner compatible with the System of National Accounts, registering as final consumers the issuing agents disaggregated by branches of economic activity and household sector.
The estimates of the Emissions to Air Accounts are made from the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Transition (National Inventory of Atmospheric Emissions (INERPA)), which use the IPCC and EMEP / EEA methodology, with the nomenclature NFR / CRF (Nomenclature for Reporting / Common Reporting Format), which groups emissions into sectors, categories and subcategories.
The Emissions Account is prepared by adapting the Inventory data to the classification based on CAE Rev.3 (plus the household sector, as final consumers). Most inventory categories correspond to a single economic activity registered with a CAE Rev.3 entity, but in some cases emissions must be divided into several branches (combustion, transport and other plants). Since atmospheric emissions are distributed by branches of economic activity according to the rules of the system of National Accounts, those caused by secondary and auxiliary activities are grouped with those of the main activity of economic units. In the domestic sector, as final consumers, direct emissions corresponding to own transport, heating and other secondary emissions are considered.
3.2. Classification system
The classifications of activities and sectors used are consistent with the European System of Accounts (SEC),
Producers: Economic activities are classified according to the A * 64 classification contained in Commission Regulation (EU) No. 715/2010 of 10 August 2010. The A * 64 classification is the result of the addition of the NACE Rev. divisions. 2, which corresponds to CAE Rev.3 in the Portuguese case. Europa CELEX.
Consumers: Resident and non-resident families.
Air pollutant: Emissions to air of the following gaseous and particulate substances are collected (greenhouse gases, air pollutants):
Carbon dioxide without emissions from biomass (CO2),
Carbon dioxide from biomass (Biomass CO2)*,
Nitrous oxide (N2O), Methane (CH4),
Perfluorocarbons (PFCs),
Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs),
Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6) including nitrogen trifluoride (NF3),
Nitrogen oxides (NOx),
Non-methane volatile organic compounds, (NMVOC),
Carbon monoxide (CO),
Particulate matter < 10μm (PM10),
Particulate matter < 2,5μm (PM2,5),
Sulphur dioxide (SO2),
Ammonia (NH3).
3.3. Coverage - sector
The Air Emissions Accounts have the same limits as the European System of Accounts (ESA)
Like the National Accounts, it follows the principle of residence, which is why they account for the emissions of pollutants into the atmosphere generated by the activity of all resident units, regardless of the geographic location where these emissions actually occur.
These reports record the flows of gaseous materials and residual particles from the national economy that flow into the atmosphere. For the purposes of these accounts, the term "atmosphere" refers to a component of the environmental system, and the system boundary is the boundary between the national economy (as part of the economic system) and the atmosphere (as part of the system). Environment); After exceeding this system limit, the substances emitted are beyond any human control and become part of the natural cycles of materials that can have several consequences for the environment.
The global coverage of Emissions Accounts and the Emissions Inventory differs due to the framework used in the first, the National Accounts system, which considers only national economic activities (residence principle), while inventories present emissions from all sources in the country. National territory. In addition, Emissions Accounts do not include emissions from non-economic agents (nature) or the absorption of gases by nature (CO2 absorption). Thus, in the Atmospheric Emissions Accounts, the emissions collected are those generated by national economic activity (resident units), with emissions from these units abroad, tourists and international carriers, which must be included in the corresponding line of activity or in families as final consumers, excluding emissions from non-resident units within national borders.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
EMEP / CORINAIR
The methodology developed by the European Environment Agency and the EMEP program (European Evaluation and Control Program for
Geneva Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Pollution)
EMEP: European Monitoring and Evaluation Program
CORINAIR: Coordination of Environmental Information on air emissions
Pollutant emissions included in the Account of emissions to the atmosphere
Greenhouse effect
CO2 - Carbon dioxide
CH4 Methane
N2O Nitrous oxide
HFC Hydrofluorocarbon compounds
PFC Polyfluorocarbon compounds
SF6 Sulfur Hexafluoride
Acid rain or acidifiers
SOx Sulfur oxides
NOx Nitrogen oxides
NH3 Ammonia
Precursors of the ozone layer
HFC Hydrofluorocarbon compounds
PFC Polyfluorocarbon compounds
SF6 Sulfur Hexafluoride
CO Carbon monoxide
Photochemical contamination
NOx Nitrogen oxides
NMVOC Volatile organic compounds (except methane)
Particles
PM10 particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10 microns
PM 2.5 particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 microns
National Inventory of Atmospheric Emissions
Annual registry of anthropogenic emissions by sources and the absorption of sinks, of greenhouse gases regulated by the Kyoto Protocol of the Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well as other pollutants regulated by the Geneva Convention on Long Distance Transboundary Atmospheric Pollution and the National Emission Ceilings Directive, in accordance with current international and community criteria and standards. The Ministry of the Environment and the Energy Transition is responsible for its preparation.
SNAP (Selected Nomenclature for Air Pollution)
Nomenclature that groups emissions functionally by process, created by the European project EMEP / CORINAIR.
Local economic activity unit
A local economic activity unit is understood to be part of a company that carries out a certain activity in a certain geographic location.
Institutional Unit
An elementary center of economic decision, characterized by a uniformity of behavior and autonomy of decision in the exercise of its main function and are grouped into institutional sectors (IS). They can be, for example, a home, a company or a unit of the Public Administrations.
3.5. Statistical unit
As they are satellite accounts, the same units are used as in the National Accounts, that is, those collected in the European System of Accounts (ESA).
For more information, you can consult the ESA: EuropaCELEX.
3.6. Statistical population
Environmental Accounts combine data from several different statistical sources. The concept of statistical population cannot be applied strictly in this context.
3.7. Reference area
Accounts for emissions to the atmosphere must be consistent with national economic accounts. The National Accounts define the national economy as the set of activities and operations of resident economic agents that have a center of interest in the national economic territory. Some operations of these units are carried out outside the national economic territory and other transactions, in this territory, are carried out by non-national units.
residents. Therefore, in the Accounts of emissions to the atmosphere, it is necessary, as in the National Accounts, to apply the principle of residence. In accordance with this principle, the emissions generated by the resident units outside the national territory must be considered as inputs of the national economy and the emissions generated by non-resident units in the national economic territory must be excluded from the accounting framework.
3.8. Coverage - Time
Air Emission Accounts are prepared annually.
There is information for the 1995-2021 period and progress data for 2022.
3.9. Base period
The environmental accounts must be updated periodically to incorporate the pertinent methodological and statistical changes, especially the base changes of the economic accounts.
Basis: The results correspond to the 2016 Statistical Review (ESA 2010), in line with the National Accounts data.
The unit of measure is tonnes or thousand tonnes.
F-gases (HFC, PFC, SF6 and NF3) are reported in tonnes of CO2 equivalents.
SOX are reported in tonnes of SO2 equivalents, and NOX are reported in tonnes of NO2 equivalents.
Accounting period is calendar year.
Data referring to the period: Annual 2022.
The National Statistical System (NSS) includes the Statistical Council, the State body that superintends and coordinates the system; the National Statistical Institute, IP (hereinafter referred to as Statistics Portugal), the central body responsible for the production and dissemination of official statistics, that ensures the supervision and the technical and scientific coordination of the NSS; the Bank of Portugal that, as part of its mission, is responsible for the collection and compilation of monetary, financial, foreign exchange and balance of payments statistics; the Regional Services of Statistics of the Autonomous Regions of Açores and Madeira that act as delegations of the Statistics Portugal in relation to nationwide statistics as statistical authorities in what concerns regional statistics; and other entities producing official statistics by delegation of Statistics Portugal.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
The activity of Statistics Portugal is ruled by the following legislation:
Statistics Portugal, Bank of Portugal, Regional Services of Statistics of the Autonomous Regions of Açores and Madeira and entities producing official statistics by delegation of Statistics Portugal are considered statistical authorities, having responsibility for the production of official statistics, and empowered to require (mandatory and gratuitously) to all departments or agencies, individuals and legal entities, information necessary for the production of official statistics.
The official statistics are produced with technical independence and considered as public good, observing the national and international quality standards, and meeting the users' needs in an efficient manner, preventing the providers of information to the statistical authorities from an excessive burden, by using increasingly the administrative data.
All personal data collected by the statistical authorities for statistical purposes, are considered confidential, and legally protected All people connected with the production of official statistics are obliged to professional secrecy. To break confidentiality is considered a very serious administrative offence that implies criminal responsibility.
Miss or delay response to surveys from statistical authorities is considered a serious administrative offence, submitted to financial punishment.
It defines the organic structure of Statistics Portugal.
Abstract:
Statistics Portugal is a public institute with a special regime integrating the indirect State administration, endowed with administrative autonomy. Its mission is to produce and disseminate, in an effective, efficient and independent manner, high-quality official statistical information relevant for society as a whole.
In the exercise of official statistical activities, Statistics Portugal enjoys technical independence and may, in its capacity as national statistical authority, require information to be reported, which shall be mandatory and free of charge, safeguarding respect for statistical confidentiality, according the National Statistical System Law.
The structure of Statistics Portugal is organized in three hierarchical levels: departments, units and sections. This executive order also defines the competences and areas of intervention of 1st level as well as the possibility of creating two project teams with multidisciplinary and transversal nature to the different areas of activity. The data protection officer of Statistics Portugal is also responsible for the coordination of matters concerning personal data.
This Regulation lays down rules relating to the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and rules relating to the free movement of personal data.
Law nº 58/2019 ensures the implementation, in the national legal order, of Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the Parliament and of the Council of 27 April 2016 on the protection of natural persons with regard to processing of personal data and the free movement of such data.
Regulation (EU) 691/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2011 on environmental economic accounts in Europe constitutes the framework for common accounting concepts, definitions, classifications and standards for the preparation of environmental accounts. Air emissions accounts (AEA) are legally covered by Regulation (EU) 691/2011 on European Environmental Economic Accounts.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Not applicable at national level.
Statistics Portugal's Statistical Confidentiality Policy stems from the Constitution of the Portuguese Republic, Law No. 22/2008 of 13 May, which establishes the principles, rules and structure of the National Statistical System (SEN), and in particular the Principle of the Statistical Secret. (Article 6) of Regulation (EC) 223/2009 of 11 March (Article 20 et seq.), as amended by Regulation 2015/759 of 29 April establishing the legal framework for development, production and dissemination European Statistics and Regulation (EU) 557/2013 of 17 June concerning access to confidential data for scientific purposes.
It is also governed by the principles agreed between EU Member States and contained in the European Statistics Code of Conduct (2nd revision / 2017), namely Principle 5 on Statistical Confidentiality and, more broadly, by the Fundamental Principles of Statistics Officers, established by the United Nations Statistical Commission in 1994 and approved by the United Nations General Assembly in January 2014 (principle 6).
With regard to the processing of personal data the exercise of statistical activity also complies with Regulation (EU) 2016/679 of the Parliament and of the Council of 27 April laying down the rules on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data. and the free movement of such data and other applicable legislation.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Statistical production is a process through which from information gathered (censual or sampling) from institutions or departments, individuals or collectives we produce statistics that represent an important tool for analyzing and taking decisions for the whole Society.
It is recognized that the whole decision process, in its several levels — political, economic and social —, whether individual or collective, is supported on information, including statistical information, which must be accurate, exempt and up-to-date.
However, the knowledge provided by the statistics is inseparable from the respect for confidentiality associated to information collected near Information providers, and leads to the inevitable legal appeal of "considerations of proportionality", which means that production of statistics has necessarily to operate the practical concordance and the harmonization between the information that should be of public domain and the one that should be kept under secrecy. Only in this way it can be ensured confidence in the Statistical System.
Thus, the following publication (available only in Portuguese), was prepared:
Statistics Portugal adopts the logical, physical and administrative measures necessary for the protection of confidential data to be effective, from data collection to its publication.
Survey questionnaires include a legal clause that informs about the protection that protects the collected data.
In the information processing phases, data that allow direct identification is kept only as long as strictly necessary to ensure the quality of the processes.
Publishing result tables analyzes the details of the information to prevent sensitive data from being deduced from statistical units. Where microdata files are disseminated, they are always anonymized.
Environmental Accounts are a statistical operation included in the National Statistical Plan, therefore subject to the Law no 22/2008, of May 13th, 2008, that defines the general basis of the National Statistical System. and, therefore, their data are protected by the Statistical Secret, at all stages of their preparation process.
Statistical data are a key asset in today society, and an essential tool in supporting the most relevant decision-making processes, both at the public and private level, and in carrying out analyses and research.
Statistical data are therefore of great interest to public and private decision-makers, politicians, economic agents, analysts and researchers, paving the way for all individuals to gain more awareness of their citizenship.
Data dissemination, which is a key stage of statistical activity, is instrumental in implementing and highlighting strict compliance with the mission of statistical authorities.
The Dissemination policy of Statistics Portugal lays down the fundamental principles governing the dissemination of official statistics, directly or indirectly produced under its responsibility. It should have as main reference the applicable principles of the National Statistical System: technical independence, statistical confidentiality, quality and accessibility.
In accordance with provision 15, Chapter B of the Dissemination Policy, prior access, under embargo, to official statistical data is granted (at around 9 am of the release day) to the Directors of Madeira and Azores Regional Statistics Offices, when data allow for NUTS 2 breakdown.
Early calendar publishing is performed in the last quarter of each year and shows the exact dates of press releases and publications.
8.2. Release calendar access
The publication calendar is published on the Statistics Portugal website (publication calendar).
8.3. Release policy - user access
Data are simultaneously released, according to the publication schedule, to all stakeholders, in most cases accompanied by a press release. At the same time, the data are published on Statistics Portugal website (INE). Custom requests are also sent to registered users. Some users may receive information under embargo as specified in the European Statistics Code of Practice. The release policy determines the dissemination of statistical data to all users at the same time. The scope of dissemination is public. Users are informed that data is being released through a press release.
Data are disseminated annually.
Wide and easy access to official statistical data is a standing priority of Statistics Portugal, as well as the commitment to quality improvement of the service provided. In this vein, access to statistical data is made available using modern information and communication technology in order to meet user needs and permitting easy access to information.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
A press release was available on the Statistics Portugal website on 15 October 2024.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
We have no publication on this topic.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
The data was available on the Statistics Portugal website on 15 October 2024.
10.3.1. Data tables - consultations
Will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
Many statistical operations disclose anonymized files for public use, available for free download from the Statistics Portugal website.
Due to the nature of Environmental Accounting, microdata is not available.
Information is available in EXCEL tables.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
The policy of attention to personalized requests is to analyze if confidentiality and statistical significance conditions are met. After this analysis, a feasibility report is prepared and sent to the petitioner.
Statistics Portugal is part of the European Statistical System and has adopted the European Statistics Code of Practice, since its first edition (2005), as firm guidance for the success of its mission. Since its last revision (November 2017), the Code comprises the Quality Declaration of the European Statistical System, 16 Principles and 84 indicators of best practices and standards for each of the Principles, defining the European benchmarks for the statistical activity, covering the institutional environment, statistical processes, and statistical outputs.
11.1. Quality assurance
Statistics Portugal (SP) is the main authority for the production and dissemination of official statistics in Portugal and its work is steered by the underlying principles of its mission, vision, and values, which are quality-oriented and known to the public. In what concerns its legal framework, quality in statistics is defined by the Portuguese Statistical System Law, article 7 (Law no. 22/2008) and the Regulation (EC) nº 223/2009, (amended by the European Regulation 2015/759), at national and European levels, respectively.
SP is part of the European Statistical System (ESS) and has adopted the European Statistics Code of Practice, since its first edition (2005), as firm guidance for the success of its mission. Since its last revision (November 2017), the Code comprises the Quality Declaration of the European Statistical System, 16 Principles and 84 indicators of best practices and standards for each of the Principles, defining the European benchmarks for the statistical activity, covering the institutional environment, statistical processes, and statistical outputs. Although all 16 principles are essential, it is important to highlight the Principle 4: Commitment to Quality:
Principle 4: Commitment to Quality
Statistical authorities are committed to quality. They systematically and regularly identify strengths and weaknesses to continuously improve process and output quality.
The Quality Assurance Framework (QAF) is a useful tool in implementing the Code of Practice in the member states, recommending possible actions at the institutional and process level for each of the Code’s indicators.
In the framework of its mission and in line with the Code of Practice, SP follows reliable and robust methodologies and adequate procedures, according to the best international practices. It also maintains and makes public an extensive set of documentation on concepts and classifications, included on its Metadata System, as an important and constant groundwork for its activity. Moreover, SP produces and disseminates statistics in an impartial, objective and transparent manner and treats all users equally, in agreement with its Dissemination Policy. All these aspects have a positive impact on the credibility of the produced statistics and the perceived quality and trust of the institution as a whole.
SP’s quality commitment is clearly and publicly stated and is an essential aspect in conveying the trustworthiness of Portuguese official statistics. This standard is the cornerstone of its customer and information provider’s relationship management. SP’s users and partners recognize the quality of statistics, of services and products, of staff’s excellence and of the overall image of the institution, past and present. With this goal in mind, SP’s latest version of its Quality Chart, released in 2019, establishes SP’s public commitment towards the following stakeholders and areas:
•Information security
•Relation with respondents;
•Relation with statistical information users;
•Revisions policy;
•Data dissemination practices;
•Availability of statistical products and other products;
•Tailor-made responses to specific user requests and general user support;
•Welcoming procedures for visitors to SP’s premises;
•Management of users’ suggestions and complaints;
•Users’ satisfaction and evaluation activities;
•Management of Human Resources;
•Cooperation with external entities.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
The General Guidelines of Official Statistical Activity 2018-2022, constitute an important framework for the strategic objectives of the National Statistical System (NSS) and the relevant actions for the Statistical Authorities. Quality-related aspects are prominent in this particular document.
The quality management system implemented by SP follows the principles of the ISO 9001:2015 Standard, whenever convenient, having adopted a systematic and process-oriented approach in accordance with the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle. This system comprises a wide range of instruments, methods, and activities covering process documentation, performance assessment, and user relations, as follows:
•Internal and external audits, highlighting the two rounds of Peer Review (2008 and 2015) in what external audits are concerned;
•Performance indicators and management tools, drawing attention to QUAR (in the context of the Public Administration performance assessment and management system – SIADAP) and a specific set of quality monitoring criteria;
•User and respondent satisfaction questionnaires, towards the different services provided (in compliance with the ISO 10004:2012 Standard);
•Suggestions and complaints management system (observing the ISO 10002:2014 Standard);
•Documentation system (E.g. methodological documentation, internal procedures, statistical activity´s quality reports). In the context of the latter, SP reports directly to EUROSTAT, meeting the requirements of the European Standard – ESS Handbook for Quality reports (2014). These reports are available for each survey and can be accessed on EUROSTAT’s website by statistical domain.
The Commission (Eurostat) will assess the quality of the data transmitted and, within one month of receiving the data, may request additional information on the data or a revised data set from the Member State as appropriate (Art.7.4 of Regulation 691/2011).
Estimates of the material flow account are based on Eurostat's projected methodology, using national account principles, rules and classifications, thus ensuring their internal consistency and with other environmental account modules as well as comparability with national account aggregates.
Environmental accounts allow us to look at the pressure that the economy exerts on the environment and to study how to reduce it. They show the interactions between the economy, households and environmental factors and thus offer a greater degree of information than national accounts in this area.
As a fundamental source of environmental data, they are essential for environmental policy decisions and the development of impact assessments, nationally and internationally. In accordance with the principles of sustainable development included in the Europe 2020 strategy and other initiatives, as well as progress towards a resource-efficient and low-emission economy, it is increasingly necessary to develop and implement a framework structure. systematically include environmental issues along with economic issues. Moreover, as they constitute a synthesis statistic in the environmental field, they allow to identify gaps and improvements in the Portuguese statistical system.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Among the users of environmental accounts, it is worth mentioning:
• Ministries and other public bodies (observatories, etc.)
• Regional Administrations
• Researchers and academic institutions
• Companies and non-profit institutions (business study services, foundations, associations, etc.), unions and employers' organizations.
• Press and specialized media
There are also institutional foreign users (Eurostat, OECD, United Nations, etc.).
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
We do not regularly collect user reviews on this topic.
12.3. Completeness
In the Air Emissions Accounts (AEA), Statistics Portugal complies with the reporting requirements of Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2011 on European environmental economic accounts. You can tell that they are exhausting.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
Not applicable; To ensure comparability, this will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT in the European quality report using a standardised method.
Environmental accounts are a summary statistic; therefore, the sampling errors that affect them are from the sources from which the information is collected, which are analyzed to ensure that they are kept within reasonable limits. Non-sampling errors can come from the sources and handling of information in this operation (lack of coverage, measurement errors).
Not applicable because data are not based on a sample survey.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable because data are not based on a sample survey.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3.1. Coverage error
Not applicable.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
Not applicable.
13.3.2. Measurement error
Not applicable.
13.3.3. Non response error
Not applicable.
13.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.4. Processing error
Not applicable.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not applicable.
With respect to the release of official statistics, the Dissemination Policy of Statistics Portugal establishes that “Statistics Portugal makes official statistics available under the terms of international and national, legal and ethical framework governing the production of official statistics.”.
The Dissemination Policy of Statistics Portugal also makes explicit reference to the European Statistics Code of Practice indicators regarding statistical releases, in particular, Principle 6 (Impartiality and objectivity), Principle 13 (Timeliness and punctuality) and to some extent Principle 15 (Accessibility and clarity).
14.1. Timeliness
The data was available on the Statistics Portugal website on 15 October 2024.
We transmitted the data to Eurostat on 24 July 2024.
Aware that one of Eurostat's objectives, when designing the 2018 edition of the Economy-wide material flow accounts Handbook, was to alleviate the conceptual differences in the measurements used and consequently to harmonize the results obtained by the Member States, Statistics Portugal tries to apply its indications as strictly as possible.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
AEA are compiled according to harmonised guidelines provided by Eurostat and hence comparable across European countries reporting AEA to Eurostat.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable; To ensure comparability, this will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT in the European quality report using a standardised method.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Environmental accounts are consistent with national accounts.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable, because AEA data are annual.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
The AEA is consistent with the main aggregates derived from the European System of Accounts (ESA). The AEA follows the residency principle.
15.4. Coherence - internal
The annual results of the AEA are consistent with each other and with respect to the available annual series.
The estimated budgetary credit required to finance the operation Environmental Accounts: AEA, provided for in the 2024 Annual Program, is 21.5 thousand euros.
The burden on informants is nil since information provided by other statistics is used. No specific collection operations are performed for the AEA.
No data revisions are planned.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Statistical data are a key asset in today’s society, and an essential tool in supporting the most relevant decision-making processes, both at the public and private level and in carrying out analyses and research.
Statistical data are therefore of interest to public and decision-makers, policy-makers, economic agents, analysts and researchers, paving the way for all individuals to gain more awareness of their citizenship.
Statistical data is only truly useful if it is credible and of high quality particularly as regards accuracy and timeliness.
In order to ensure quality dimensions, statistical producers are required to establish a commitment between rigour and swiftness as regards data released.
This commitment often gives rise to the need to conduct data revisions.
The need for revisions may also stem from the introduction of methodological improvements or the updating of statistical standards often decided on an international level.
Transparency, which must underlie the production and dissemination of official statistics, thus requires a detailed clarification of the Revisions policy.
Statistics Portugal has a policy that regulates the basic aspects of the revision of statistical data, ensuring the transparency of processes and the quality of products.
The document on the revisions policy set out by Statistics Portugal, hereby presented, seeks to clarify the key factors of a revision, the typology of revision that may occur and the dimensions governing a revision’s analysis. It also explains the General and Operational Principles of the revisions policy that Statistics Portugal will consolidate in the future.
This policy is described in the document approved by the Board of Directors in 2008. The document is available in "Revisions policy”.
This general policy defines the criteria that must be followed for different types of reviews: routine - for statistics that, by their nature, are reviewed regularly; major revisions due to methodological changes or basic sources of statistical reference; and extraordinary revisions (due to an error in the statistics already published).
Environmental Accounts data is revised in a manner consistent with the annual National Accounting data review scheme.
Regulation (EU) 691/2011 provides that for each annual data transmission years n-4, n-3, n-2, n-1 and n are provided, where n is the reference year.
See Statistics Portugal Revisions Policy document (attached).
The factors that determine the revisions in the estimates of the Air Emissions Accounts are basically the changes in the data of the Annual National Accounts, the updates of the Emissions Inventory, as well as the changes induced by the improvement of the estimation procedures.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable; To ensure comparability, this will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT in the European quality report using a standardised method.
As a summary statistic, Environmental Accounting integrates and reconciles a large number of sources of economic and environmental information.
18.1. Source data
AEA are compiled from a wide range of existing data, namely:
- Economic data referring to National Accounts indexed by NACE, Rev. 2.
- Data on atmospheric emissions from the National Inventory of Atmospheric Emissions (INERPA), with the objective of communicating emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases to the main international agreements: Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
- Energy statistics, the main source of which is the energy balance of the Directorate-General for Energy and Geology. For the household’s energy use and associated Emissions, we adopt European energy statistics on household final energy consumption.
- Other sources related to tourism, fishing, land, air and sea traffic, waste and air conditioning, refrigeration and aerosols.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Data collection frequency is annual.
18.3. Data collection
Data collection techniques may vary by source type, data availability date, etc..
In general, data is sent to the Unit for Satellite Accounts and Quality Assessment of the National Accounts by the different Statistics Portugal units that produce them, although sometimes the information can be obtained directly from the corresponding database.
This database includes annual information on CO2 emissions related to commercial passenger and freight flights, on both a territory and a residence basis, for 186 countries. These CO2 emissions are estimated by the OECD, based on a consistent methodology across countries.
This database compiled by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) with all commercial passenger and freight flights scheduled around the world. For each flight, this database includes information on the departure and arrival airports, the operating airline and the type of aircraft used. For each airline, we also know which country has delivered its Air Operator’s Certificate (AOC). An AOC is the approval granted by a national aviation authority to an aircraft operator allowing it to use aircrafts for commercial purposes. This information is used to estimate aviation-related CO2 emissions on a residence basis.
The ICAO database on scheduled commercial flights is coupled with a CO2 emission calculator provided by Eurocontrol. Given an aircraft type equipped with specific engines and a (great-circle) distance to travel, this tool calculates a flight trajectory, a quantity of fuel burnt and a quantity of CO2 emitted. Additional details are available in Eurocontrol (2016). This method corresponds to a Tier-3A methodology in the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for the compilation of national GHG inventories.
To regressively calculate the OECD series values prior to 2013, the annual variations of the UNFCCC series (Domestic Aviation and International Aviation values) are used.
18.4. Data validation
Basic information, derived from different statistics, is subject to a series of treatments: identification of outliers, debugging errors, adaptation to the terms of the Environmental and National Accounts.
18.5. Data compilation
The data compilation process used follows the guidelines in Eurostat's Manual for air emissions accounts 2015.
The elaboration process can be structured in several phases:
1. Basic Information Update: Data Collection Available
2. Treatment of basic information: performs a series of treatments, consisting of identifying outliers, debugging errors and adapting to the terms of the Environmental Accounts.
3. Preparation of the general structure file. With the new information available, the working file is completed to the level of breakdown required by the European Accounts Regulation. For each type of material, and for the purpose of obtaining more accurate estimates, auxiliary files are used to work with the highest possible degree of disaggregation of the different identifiable components.
4. Process of analysis and revision of estimates. Time series of results are analyzed for each product and operation to detect possible inconsistencies.
5. Preparation of final results files in the different formats required: format for submission to EUROSTAT and files for dissemination in the Statistics Portugal Portal (Results, Methodology, Press release).
18.5.2. Method used to allocate emissions to economic activities
To compile the AEA, the approach called inventory-first was used, which starts from the existing national emissions inventories, reported to UNFCCC and CLRTAP, and adjusts and reorganizes this data to the AEA format.
In this sequence, it is necessary to transform the atmospheric emissions carried out by economic agents, available from emission sources, into emissions resulting from the exercise of the activities of economic agents, that is, affect them to the respective branches of economic activity, insofar as this is the National Accounts Observation Unit. This allocation is made taking into account, as previously mentioned, the principles of National Accounts.
In a first stage, the limits of the system are adjusted in order to obtain the totals of the AEA. National emission inventories follow the principle of territory, while AEA follow the principle of residence.
In a second step, each source category of the inventory (source code CRF / NFR) has to be assigned to the issuing production activities (ie NACE grouping) and / or to the households' private consumption activities.
Illustrative examples are: 1) the SNAP 97 category (corresponding to emissions from road transport) was distributed among all economic activities and families using road transport. In addition, emissions were allocated to the branches according to the use of the primary energy consumed, even if it is later converted into other forms of energy. 2) In the electricity sector, the emissions resulting from the generation of electricity were attributed to the branch of electricity and not to the branch that uses that electricity. In addition, any secondary production of electricity is attributed to the branch of electricity and not to the branch that produced that energy.
Thus, when compiling AEAs, two main adjustments to the emissions inventory data are needed:
1. Emissions caused by resident economic units must be estimated from emissions caused by all sources of emissions (economic and non-economic) in the geographical territory;
2. The inventory data, following a process-oriented classification (Selected Activities for Air Pollution - SNAP 97 (Selected Nomenclature for sources of Air Pollution - year 1997)) must be attributed to economic activities.
In this assignment, Statistics Portugal often uses the structure of Supply and Use Tables. When National Accounts data is not available for year n-2, at the time that the AEAs are compiled, the n-3 structure is used as a proxy.
In year n, Statistics Portugal calculates data from 1995 to year n-2, using NACE Rev. 2 for all years. In each edition of the account, Portugal calculates a new year and recalculates the complete series until 1995, using the same method for all years. This is because the entire series of data from the national emissions inventory (from 1990) is reviewed annually. The series has no discontinuities.
In a third step, the differences between the inventory totals (territory principle) and the AEA totals (residence principle) are determined in detail and attributed to the bridging items.
18.5.3. Method used to determine and distribute road transport emissions
Statistics Portugal distributes all SNAPs from road transport emissions by NACE divisions according to the structure of NA SUT products 1922 - unleaded gasoline, 1924 - Gas oils, and 1926 - Propane and butane, liquefied), except the non-residents part, computed according to specific mix methods.
Road transport allocation to NACE/HH starts with Air Emissions Inventories, where all Selected Nomenclature for sources of Air Pollution (SNAP) from road transport emissions are distributed by 64 NACE branches, according to the structure of National Accounts Supply and Use Table (SUT) intermediate consumption of products. The fuel use structure is obtained from emission-relevant energy consumption (for combustion purposes). Electricity and lubricants are not considered for emission purposes, so the allocation structure for these energy flows is obtained as follows: electric energy for road transport on the territory is obtained from the Directorate-General for Energy and Geology database for electricity consumption by branch; lubricants for road transport on the territory are obtained from the Directorate-general for Energy and Geology database for oil product sales by branch.
AEA uses the same principle of residence as National Accounts, that is, an economic unit is considered to be a resident unit of a country when it has a centre of economic interest in that country's economic territory, that is when it has economic activities in that territory for an extended period (1 year or more). As a result, AEA record air emissions from the activities of resident units that make up a given national economy, regardless of where these emissions occur.
Generally, the majority of the national totals of atmospheric emissions are issued by the activities of units residing in the territory of the respective country. However, the relevant emissions activities of non-residents in the territory and the relevant emissions activities of residents abroad can be significant compared to national totals.
It is important to note that national emissions inventories under international conventions, Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the underlying activity data (for example, energy statistics ) do not follow the residency principle as applied in the National Accounts. National emission inventories follow the principle of territory, that is, they record emissions from the territory, regardless of who issues them (ie resident or non-resident units).
This is considered by Statistics Portugal as work permanently in progress, as it is not granted that all possibilities might have been exhaustively explored. Therefore, it is kept in mind that continuous search for better synergies between different EA is the background of the developed work. For example, studies on the resident adjustments carried out on the AEA framework will have an impact on EW-MFA, implying a quality improvement on data compilation.
The relative size of the flows accounted for adjustment for residence principle can vary from one year to another, naturally reflecting variation on the concerned flows throughout the time series. The airport hubs and ports on the national economic territory have seen changes in their activity importance on the last 20 years, where air traffic and significantly sized shipping fleets movements have been occurring. Important transit routes have been built for the last two decades and, consequently, international road traffic observed transformations. The amount of fuel bunkered by non-resident units domestically, as well as fuel purchased by resident units abroad, can be considerable. Adjustments are necessary and, therefore, calculated.
When using national emission inventories and/or energy statistics to compile AEA, certain adjustments are necessary to take into account conceptual differences between territory and the principle of residence. These adjustments are explicitly presented in the so-called bridging items, which show the differences between the AEA totals and the national totals in the UNFCCC and CLRTAP emission inventories. International transport is the main source of differences.
The data required for these adjustments are not always readily available, as there are no corresponding items for those entries in the National Accounts. As suggested on Eurostat’s MFA compilation guide, three ways for obtaining the required information (or a combination of these paths) are potentially viable:
Energy and transport statistics;
Other physical flow accounts such as e.g. EW-MFA and PEFA;
National Accounts;
Other sources such as fishery, tourism and waste statistics.
Regulation (EU) No 691/2011, on European environmental economic accounts, refers that: “Air emissions accounts have the same system boundaries as ESA 95 and are also based on the residence principle. In accordance with ESA 95, the concept of residence is based on the following principle: a unit is said to be a resident unit of a country when it has a centre of economic interest in the economic territory of that country, that is when it engages for an extended period (1 year or more) in economic activities in that territory. Air emissions accounts record emissions arising from the activities of all resident units, regardless of where these emissions actually occur geographically.” Thus, the work developed on AEA has a particular focus on evaluating the available sources to complement and validate air emissions statistics, to populate the AEA questionnaire tables as exhaustively as possible, always bearing in mind that basic data from air emissions statistics follow the territorial principle, which implies that some adjustments to the resident principle used on the National Accounts have been done.
Regarding domestic navigation it was assumed that the share of energy consumption for residents and non-residents should correspond mainly to cargo (ex: Port wine cargo), being 100% for EU28.
Proxies for calculating EU-28 and non-EU countries distribution for the acquisition of energy products by territory and non-residents, for international navigation, aviation and road transport, have been calculated, based on data from the Statistics of Transports.
- International navigation
Proxy for the energy use structure for residents (EU-28 and non-EU countries): structure of cargo tonnage imported by country of origin, by maritime transport;
Proxy for the energy use structure for non-residents (EU-28 and non-EU countries): structure of cargo tonnage exported by country of destiny, by maritime transport;
The underlying assumptions beneath this proxy consider:
the clear predominance of goods transportation in this mode of transport;
the hypothesis of a direct link between the fuel consumption and the cargo tonnage (note that there is no available data for the tonnes-kilometre);
it was also assumed that the resident cargo ship-owners when importing from countries of origin intra-EU or extra-EU have to supply of fuel in those countries of origin while, for the non-resident's cargo ship-owners, when transporting export products from Portugal to countries of destination intra-EU or extra-EU have to supply of fuel in the national territory.
- Road transport
Proxy for the energy use structure for residents (EU-28 and non-EU countries): structure of cargo tonnage imported by country of origin, by road transport;
Proxy for the energy use structure for non-residents (EU-28 and non-EU countries): structure of cargo tonnage exported by country of destiny, by road transport.
Similar underlying assumptions as international navigation have been assumed for this proxy, considering the same behaviour of fuel supply for the cargo carriers.
Estimates of emissions from air transport are calculated by the various types of flights specified in the OECD Model.
For the period 2013 to 2020 they are broken down by the various types of flight, (A), (C), (D) and (G), through a structure obtained based on the OECD Model.
For the years prior to 2013, a retropolation is made based on the annual variations of the UNFCCC data, discriminating according to whether the flight is domestic or international.
For the types of flights departing from foreign territory, (B), (E) and (F), only the OECD Model provides data in terms of emissions.
For the years 2013-2020, the OECD Model values are used. For years prior to 2013, as these are considered to be the same type of aircraft, we retropolate based on the UNFCCC values for flights (D) (international aviation).
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable; i.e. in AEA no time series adjustment is necessary.
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
Not applicable.
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Environmental Accounting is a statistical synthesis operation whose general objective is the integration of environmental information in the central system of National Accounts, following the methodology of the Economic and Environmental Accounting System developed by the United Nations (SEEA), which constitutes the conceptual structure of Environmental Accounting.
It comprises a set of satellite accounts prepared from accounting formats applicable to different sectoral and territorial areas, with a strong presence of physical data. The use of similar concepts, classifications and norms that in the National Accounts allow to expand the analysis without overloading the central system.
It is an indispensable instrument for the analysis of the interrelationships between the environment and the economy in general and, in particular, for the assessment of sustainable development through the design and construction of the Sustainable Development Indicator Systems, and for the monitoring of actions environmental policies at national and international level.
The Air Emissions Accounts collect and present data on the emissions of air pollutants, in a manner compatible with the System of National Accounts, registering as final consumers the issuing agents disaggregated by branches of economic activity and household sector.
The estimates of the Emissions to Air Accounts are made from the Ministry of the Environment and Energy Transition (National Inventory of Atmospheric Emissions (INERPA)), which use the IPCC and EMEP / EEA methodology, with the nomenclature NFR / CRF (Nomenclature for Reporting / Common Reporting Format), which groups emissions into sectors, categories and subcategories.
The Emissions Account is prepared by adapting the Inventory data to the classification based on CAE Rev.3 (plus the household sector, as final consumers). Most inventory categories correspond to a single economic activity registered with a CAE Rev.3 entity, but in some cases emissions must be divided into several branches (combustion, transport and other plants). Since atmospheric emissions are distributed by branches of economic activity according to the rules of the system of National Accounts, those caused by secondary and auxiliary activities are grouped with those of the main activity of economic units. In the domestic sector, as final consumers, direct emissions corresponding to own transport, heating and other secondary emissions are considered.
23 July 2024
EMEP / CORINAIR
The methodology developed by the European Environment Agency and the EMEP program (European Evaluation and Control Program for
Geneva Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Pollution)
EMEP: European Monitoring and Evaluation Program
CORINAIR: Coordination of Environmental Information on air emissions
Pollutant emissions included in the Account of emissions to the atmosphere
Greenhouse effect
CO2 - Carbon dioxide
CH4 Methane
N2O Nitrous oxide
HFC Hydrofluorocarbon compounds
PFC Polyfluorocarbon compounds
SF6 Sulfur Hexafluoride
Acid rain or acidifiers
SOx Sulfur oxides
NOx Nitrogen oxides
NH3 Ammonia
Precursors of the ozone layer
HFC Hydrofluorocarbon compounds
PFC Polyfluorocarbon compounds
SF6 Sulfur Hexafluoride
CO Carbon monoxide
Photochemical contamination
NOx Nitrogen oxides
NMVOC Volatile organic compounds (except methane)
Particles
PM10 particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than 10 microns
PM 2.5 particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 microns
National Inventory of Atmospheric Emissions
Annual registry of anthropogenic emissions by sources and the absorption of sinks, of greenhouse gases regulated by the Kyoto Protocol of the Framework Convention on Climate Change, as well as other pollutants regulated by the Geneva Convention on Long Distance Transboundary Atmospheric Pollution and the National Emission Ceilings Directive, in accordance with current international and community criteria and standards. The Ministry of the Environment and the Energy Transition is responsible for its preparation.
SNAP (Selected Nomenclature for Air Pollution)
Nomenclature that groups emissions functionally by process, created by the European project EMEP / CORINAIR.
Local economic activity unit
A local economic activity unit is understood to be part of a company that carries out a certain activity in a certain geographic location.
Institutional Unit
An elementary center of economic decision, characterized by a uniformity of behavior and autonomy of decision in the exercise of its main function and are grouped into institutional sectors (IS). They can be, for example, a home, a company or a unit of the Public Administrations.
As they are satellite accounts, the same units are used as in the National Accounts, that is, those collected in the European System of Accounts (ESA).
For more information, you can consult the ESA: EuropaCELEX.
Environmental Accounts combine data from several different statistical sources. The concept of statistical population cannot be applied strictly in this context.
Accounts for emissions to the atmosphere must be consistent with national economic accounts. The National Accounts define the national economy as the set of activities and operations of resident economic agents that have a center of interest in the national economic territory. Some operations of these units are carried out outside the national economic territory and other transactions, in this territory, are carried out by non-national units.
residents. Therefore, in the Accounts of emissions to the atmosphere, it is necessary, as in the National Accounts, to apply the principle of residence. In accordance with this principle, the emissions generated by the resident units outside the national territory must be considered as inputs of the national economy and the emissions generated by non-resident units in the national economic territory must be excluded from the accounting framework.
F-gases (HFC, PFC, SF6 and NF3) are reported in tonnes of CO2 equivalents.
SOX are reported in tonnes of SO2 equivalents, and NOX are reported in tonnes of NO2 equivalents.
The data compilation process used follows the guidelines in Eurostat's Manual for air emissions accounts 2015.
The elaboration process can be structured in several phases:
1. Basic Information Update: Data Collection Available
2. Treatment of basic information: performs a series of treatments, consisting of identifying outliers, debugging errors and adapting to the terms of the Environmental Accounts.
3. Preparation of the general structure file. With the new information available, the working file is completed to the level of breakdown required by the European Accounts Regulation. For each type of material, and for the purpose of obtaining more accurate estimates, auxiliary files are used to work with the highest possible degree of disaggregation of the different identifiable components.
4. Process of analysis and revision of estimates. Time series of results are analyzed for each product and operation to detect possible inconsistencies.
5. Preparation of final results files in the different formats required: format for submission to EUROSTAT and files for dissemination in the Statistics Portugal Portal (Results, Methodology, Press release).
AEA are compiled from a wide range of existing data, namely:
- Economic data referring to National Accounts indexed by NACE, Rev. 2.
- Data on atmospheric emissions from the National Inventory of Atmospheric Emissions (INERPA), with the objective of communicating emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases to the main international agreements: Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (CLRTAP) and United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
- Energy statistics, the main source of which is the energy balance of the Directorate-General for Energy and Geology. For the household’s energy use and associated Emissions, we adopt European energy statistics on household final energy consumption.
- Other sources related to tourism, fishing, land, air and sea traffic, waste and air conditioning, refrigeration and aerosols.
Data are disseminated annually.
The data was available on the Statistics Portugal website on 15 October 2024.
AEA are compiled according to harmonised guidelines provided by Eurostat and hence comparable across European countries reporting AEA to Eurostat.
