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Environmental goods and services sector (env_egs)

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National Reference Metadata in Single Integrated Metadata Structure (SIMS)

Compiling agency: National Statistical Institute

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The environmental goods and services sector (EGSS) accounts report on an economic sector that generates goods and services produced for environmental protection or the management of natural resources.

Products for environmental protection prevent, reduce and eliminate pollution or any other degradation of the environment. Examples are electric vehicles, catalysts and filters to decrease pollutant emissions, wastewater and waste treatment services, noise insulation works or restoration of degraded habitats.

Products for resource management safeguard the stock of natural resources against depletion. Examples are renewable energy production, energy-efficient and passive buildings, seawater desalinization or rainwater recovery, and materials recovery.

EGSS accounts provide data on output and export of environmental goods and services and on the value added of and employment in the environmental goods and services sector.

EGSS data are compiled following the statistical concepts and definitions set out in the UN System of Environmental-Economic Accounting 2012 – Central Framework.

31 October 2024

EGSS has the same system boundaries as the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010) and consists of all environmental products within this production boundary. ESA defines production as the activity carried out under the control and responsibility of an institutional unit that uses input of labour, capital, goods and services to produce output of goods and services.

Only goods and services produced for environmental purposes are included in the scope of the environmental goods and services sector.

'Environmental purpose' means that a good or service helps either 1) preventing, reducing and eliminating pollution and any other degradation of the environment or 2) preserving and maintaining the stock of natural resources and hence safeguarding against depletion.

The EGSS statistics aim at compiling data for the following economic variables:

Output: consists of products that become available for use outside of the producer unit, any goods and services produced for own final use and goods that remain in the inventories at the end of the period in which they are produced. Apart from market output, output for own final use and non-market output, EGSS statistics also include ancillary output, comprising output intended for use within an enterprise.

Market output is to be valued at basic prices, that is, the prices receivable by the producer from the purchaser minus taxes and plus subsidies on products.
Output for own final use is to be valued at basic prices of similar products sold on the market or by the total costs of production.
Non-market output is to be estimated by the total costs of production.
Ancillary output is measured as a total of recurrent production costs (such as intermediate consumption, compensation of employees and consumption of fixed capital) incurred by enterprises to: 1) reduce environmental pressures arising from their production process or 2) produce environmental goods or services not intended for use outside the enterprise, but instead supporting other (non-environmental) activities undertaken within the enterprise (e.g. waste management services carried out in-house). For market producers, a mark-up for net operating surplus is added to the value of the EGSS ancillary output.
Gross Value Added: represents the contribution made by the production of environmental goods and services to GDP. It is the difference between the value of the output and intermediate consumption.

Employment: is measured in full-time equivalent jobs engaged in the production of output of environmental goods and services. Full-time equivalent is defined as total hours worked divided by the average annual working hours in a full-time job.

Exports: consist of sales, barter, gifts, or grants, of environmental goods and services from residents to non-residents.

Council Regulation (EEC) No 696/93 of 15 March 1993 on the statistical units for the observation and analysis of the production system in the Community describes the different statistical units of the production system.

The recommended statistical unit for the collection and compilation of EGSS statistics (excluding general government) is the establishment. For general government, the recommendation is to use institutional units and groupings of units as defined in the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010).

The statistical population is the national economy as defined in SEEA CF 2012 and the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010). It includes all economic activities undertaken by resident units.

The statistical population is composed of active enterprises, type of activity units from all economic activities and institutional units from the General governmet sector, which are producers of environmental goods and services.

The reference area is the economic territory of the country as defined in SEEA CF 2012 and the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010). 

 

The reference period for EGSS data is the calendar year. The mandatory period is 2020, 2021 and 2022 year.

The statistical data have good accuracy and reliability.

Output, gross value added, and exports are measured in million units of national currency. Employment is measured in full time equivalents (i.e., full time equivalent jobs).

Data compilation is in accordance with the definitions and accounting rules described in the EGSS handbook

Formulas from national accounts are used for calculations of market and non-market output and GVA.

Output and GVA are calculated separately for market and non-market output based on the final data from statistical survey for Environmental goods and services (EGSS).

For cross-checking purposes, the reported market output, GVA, employment in EGSS sector, total employment and exports value are checked with SBS database - Income and expenses annual reports.

Shares are used to estimate the environmental services on detailed NACE-level about the produced environemntal goods and services by: type of environmental product (connected goods, adapted products, end-of-pipe technologies, integrated technologies, services) and environmental domain: CEPA/CReMA class and group reported through the annual survey for EGSS each year. The survey covers all listed  products from the EGSS operational list from Eurostat.           

Statistical survey ‘Environmental goods and services’.

Information from other statistical surveys (business statistics, non-financial national accounts, foreign trade, agriculture and forestry, energy statistics) and administrative sources (MAF, SEDA) is also used to define the population, verify the data and make estimates. 

Annual - EGSS data are published at least once a year, after data for a new reference year have become available.

EGSS shall be compiled and transmitted on a yearly basis.

Deadline for the reporting of EGSS data and quality reports is 31 October each year.  NSI disseminates the data after their validation by Eurostat.

According to the Regulation the data are compiled and disseminated within 22 months of the end of the reference year. This applies from the reference year 2020.

The scope of environmental products/activities include those whose primary purpose is to reduce or eliminate pressures on the environment (EP) or to make efficient use of natural resources (RM).

Regulation (EU) 2015/2174 comprises the environmental goods and services as well as the economic activities to be covered by the EGSS accounts. To facilitate the use of the indicative compendium Eurostat maintains two lists, one of activities and one of products.

Geographical comparability is provided by the general conceptual framework (Environmental goods and services sector accounts — Handbook and Practical guide, 2016 edition) and through Implementing Regulation 2174/2015 that provides an indicative compendium of environmental goods and services and thus determines the perimeter of the EGSS sector. Products from the indicative compendium in Regulation (EU) 2015/2174 are all included in statistical survey for Environmental goods and services.

EGSS data are consistent compilations of environmental activities of national economies.

Time-series checks applied during the validation aim to assure good time-series consistency of reporting data.

The data from 2014 to 2018 year is revised.

The methodology for data recalculation for the 2014-2018 period is based on the dataset available for 2019-2022. This period was selected due to the improved accuracy and representativeness of the data collected using the updated methodology from 2019 year.

The recalculation process relies on calculating average proportions between the sample-surveyed data and the total reported EGSS data for key variables: output, gross value added, employment, and exports. These proportions were calculated for both mandatory and voluntary categories across CEPA and CReMA classes, covering total NACE activities, market activities, environmental-specific services, and cleaner and resource-efficient products. The average proportions from 2019-2022 were then applied to estimate missing data for the 2014-2018 period, ensuring consistency with the updated methodology.