Statistical department (SDES) of the French Ministry for the Ecological Transition

SDES/SDIE/BSESE

Commissariat général au développement durable
CS 16105

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.

Data are reported cross-classified by 1) the type of environmental protection or resource management activity and 2) economic activity. Environmental protection activities are classified by environmental domain as set out in the Classification of Environmental Protection Activities - CEPA. Resource management activities are classified as set out in the Classification of Resource Management Activities - CReMA. see the revised CEPA and CReMA explanatory notes for detail. Economic activity is classified according to the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community, Rev. 2 (2008).

EGSS comprises a sector of the economy that produces goods and services aimed at environmental protection and resource management (see SEEA CF 2012 chapter 4). Environmental goods and services either reduce environmental pressures or help maintaining the stock of natural resources or they are designed to be cleaner and more resource efficient than conventional products. Environmental goods and services can be produced by corporations, households, governments and non-profit institutions. The list of environmental activities and products has been set out in the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2174 ('the indicative compendium of environmental goods and services').

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.

France including overseas territories

2008-2021

Not requested for this metadata collection.

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

The reference period for EGSS data is the calendar year.

EGSS accounts are compiled and reported in accordance with Regulation (EU) No. 691/2011 on European environmental economic accounts (EEEA).

The EEEA follow internationally agreed concepts and definitions set out in the SEEA Central Framework (2012), the international statistical standard adopted by the UN Statistical Commission. They present data in a way that is compatible with National Accounts (ESA, 2010).

No information

Usual rules are applied as regards enterprises data.

Regarding data about turover of enterprises ("EAP" survey from Insee), following rules apply:

statistical secret when :

- nil amount

- less than 3 legal units

- one legal unit represent 85% of the turnover or more.

Regarding customs data, the same rules apply.

Confidential data are mentioned in two data sources we use for EGSS: annual production survey and customs data. All cases of figures under secret have been flagged c) and d) for preventing any recalculation.

For EAP, the rules are related to the number of enterprises involved in the category or linked to the percentage of turnover.

For customs data there are two kinds of confidentiality (product related or country related).

No specific calendar is applied. New results on EGSS are published into a annual web article. First results are released at the end of the year (n-2 data published at the end of year n) in the French annual report on the environment.

No specific calendar applied.

No specific calendar applied.

Dissemination is carried out on an annual basis.

Not applicable

An annual article is released into the website of the statistical department of the Ministry of Ecological Transition

See https://www.statistiques.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/les-eco-activites-et-lemploi-environnemental-en-2020?rubrique=40&dossier=190

Not requested for this metadata collection.

Not applicable

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Not requested for this metadata collection.

See https://www.statistiques.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/les-eco-activites-et-lemploi-environnemental-en-2020?rubrique=40&dossier=190

Not requested for this metadata collection.

No information

Quality is aimed through the search of accurate data sources and through the documentation of the compiling processes.

No specific assessment is done.

EGSS data are mainly used by the French Ministry for an Ecological Transition, ADEME (Environment and energy control Agency) and medias.

The share of EGSS gross value added in GDP is an indicator of the French 2015-2020 national strategy of ecological transition towards a sustainable development (SNTEDD)

In France, specific questions relating to some domains or activities often occur, generally not for the whole EGSS accounts. There is also an increasing demand for local (sub-national) results, in particular for green jobs. Demand for local results is difficult to satisfy, however help on methodological aspects can be provided. Departments of the Ministry of Ecological Transition are more interested in circular economy than in green economy. Works are in progress for defining a comprehensive scope on circular economy (many issues are pending).

Progress were done these last years for improving the completeness of EGSS scope. In 2022 environmental trainings (NACE P) were compiled and in 2023 this is the case of near zero emission buildings.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

Data sources used for EGSS compilation, as Insee annual production survey for goods and EPEA data for services, allow a high level of accuracy concerning output data. Gross value added and employment figures are generally estmated on the basis of ratios. 

EGSS accounts are compiled using a range of primary statistical sources. The sampling and non-sampling errors are described in the metadata of the underlying statistical data.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

EGSS accounts are compiled using a range of primary statistical sources. The sampling and non-sampling errors are described in the metadata of the underlying statistical data.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

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Provisional data estimates for year n-2 are achieved in October of year n, i.e. 21 months after the reference period.

First results are released at the end of the year for n-2 data through the publication of the French annual report of the environment.

Final results are released in July of the year n for n-3 data through the publication of the web article about eco-industries and the environmental employment.

The data were delivered to Eurostat on 13.11.2023.The reporting deadline for EGSS data transmission to Eurostat is 31 October. 

Punctuality is generally satisfactory.

No issue is seen as regards geographical comparability. However, results are only produced at the national level, not for the local subdivisions.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

Some products mentioned in the indicative compendium are still not observed:

- Supporting services to organic agriculture;

- Organic aquaculture products;

- Supporting services to organic aquaculture;

- Pumps for use in wastewater treatment;

- Vehicles for wastewater treatment, vehicles for sewer cleaning, trucks for waste collection;

- Tubes and pipes for wastewater treatment plants as well as for water management;

- Boards, blocks and similar articles of vegetable fibre, straw or wood waste, agglomerated with mineral binders;

- Lead containers for radioactive waste;

- Specific equipment for the prodcution of energy from renewable sources: storage systems for biogas made from high tech textiles;

- Charcoal when complying with sustainability measures;

- Reconditioned wooden containers;

- Discharge lamps as low pressure lamps (e.g. compact fluorescent lamps) and most efficient domestic appliances;

- Desalinated water and collection of rainwater;

- Engineering and architectural services for low energy consumption and passive buildings and energetic refurbishment of existing buildings;

- Environmental consulting services: forest management consulting services;

- Environmental consulting services.

No products not present in Indicative Compendium are added.

Series are provided over the period 2008-2021.

Series are provided over the period 2008-2021. All time series are homogeneous (concepts and scope are comparable over the full length of time) with two exceptions:

- Near zero emission buildings are observed from 2011 to 2021. This generates a break in series in 2011 for energy saving and management (NACE F, CReMA13B). This break in series is still visible at the scale of total EGSS.

In addition, a second break in series arises in 2013 due to a change in method used and legislation: in 2013, a new "2012 thermal regulation" enters into force in France for which all new residential buildings are considered as NZEB. This is why from 2013 on all new residential buildings are included into EGSS accounts. However it was taken into account of delays between permits delivery and construction completion. Consequently, in 2013, 2014 and 2015 there are still a share (decreasing) of new buildings corresponding to former 2005 thermal regulation. Those buildings are excluded from the scope till 2016, when 100% of all new buildings are under 2012 thermal regulation.   

- Exports of organic wine in 2012 are observed from 2012 onwards. This generates a break in series in 2012 for exports by organic farming (NACE A, CEPA4). This has a minor impact on other totals.

See details in 15.3.2 and 15.3.3

Sub annual statistics are not provided for EGSS in France.

No explicit procedure is applied to ensure coherence with macroeconomic statistics. However, indicators are built upon aggregates that are related to national accounts figures. Examination of resulting time series allows to detect some inconsistencies.

EPEA data is an input for EGSS for many services activities and also for ancillary activities. For goods and equipments some gaps exist, especially in waste or wastewater management. Data sources and concepts are different in both data collections.

Comparison with national accounts aggregates are done especially for industries in NA with a high coverage of environmental activities (NACE 37-39).

For specific environmental activities for which NA cannot be used, different professional data sources are confronted. Arbitration is done for selecting information that are the closest to the phenomenon to be observed.

0.8 FTE

Data revision is relying on two factors:

- revision occured by the different data sources used

- change in the methods used for estimating variables

Revisions depend on the data sources used and the changes in the methodology applied.

Magnitude of revisions (only totals in 2020 between the current and the previous data collection):
- Output : + 38 %
- GVA: + 41 %
- Employment : + 51 %
- Exports: - 4,6 %
The main reason of this big upwards revision relies on the introduction of near zero emission buildings that were not previously compiled.
Other revisions led to less impact:

- Output in organic farming follows a new method: percentage of crop area used for organic farming is applied to the total output by NACE A1 in national accounts. This leads to divide by circa 2 as well as value added. Employment is unchanged.

- For noise management, some revisions have been implemented leading to a downwards estimate. This is in particular the case for noise insulating windows, for which operating expenditures have been removed (only capital expenditures are included).

- For wastewater management services, national accounts are now used in replacement of different series from different sources (COFOG, Ministry of Economy). This leads to a downwards revision for output and an upwards revision for value added and employment.

- For R&D, following a new method adopted in EPEA accounts (in conformity with current NA rules), estimates have been downwards revised.

Different kinds of data sources are used: EAP (Enquêtes Annuelles de Production - annual production survey carried out by the National Statistical Institute (INSEE) for industries from B to E (except industrial food industry).

For services, mainly EPEA data are used.

For NACE A and CEPA 4, more specifically organic farming, data published by "Agence Bio" (public interest group) are of interest and used. For CReMA 13A & 13B we use data provided by ADEME (French Agency for ecological transition) for production and employment.

For forest management EFA accounts, national accounts and MSA data ("Mutualité sociale agricole" - social protection fund for farmers) are used.

For exports data produced by the Customs directorate and ADEME are mobilised.

Almost all GVA and employment data are estimated on the basis of ratios.

Annual

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See details in the different points of this section.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

OUTPUT:

Annual production survey (EAP) by Insee is used for a lot of goods and equipments. ADEME and EPEA results are also mobilised. EAP provides for each industrial product the sales amount except taxes during the year. EPEA data are used for service activities. Data from ADEME are used for energy management, data from Agence Bio are used for estimating employment, production and value added by organic farming. EFA accounts are used for compiling CReMA 11A.

The breakdown by NACE is based on the classification of products (CPA) for all data provided by EAP survey. For other sources a link is established with the most relevant NACE industry.

For estimating the CReMA 13B memo item a 20 % share is applied to the output/value added/employment to nearzero emission buildings (NZEB).

NZEB are defined as:

- for years 2011 and 2012 residential buildings certified by the lablel "BBC Effinergie" (information provided by Effinergie association)

- for years between 2013 and 2021, the full residential construction in conformity with the French 2012 thermal regulation.

No adjustment done

Not requested for this metadata collection.