Central Statistics Office

Environment and Climate Division

Environment and Climate Division, Central Statistics Office, Ardee Road, Rathmines, Dublin 6, D06 FX52

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 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. 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.

Ireland

2014-2021

Not requested for this metadata collection.

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).

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).

Not applicable

All information supplied to the CSO is treated as strictly confidential. The Statistics Act, 1993 sets stringent confidentiality standards: Information collected may be used only for statistical purposes, and no details that might be related to an identifiable person or business undertaking may be divulged to any other government department or body.

These national statistical confidentiality provisions are reinforced by the following EU legislation: Council Regulation (EC) No. 223/2009 on European statistics for data collected for EU statistical purposes. Further details are outlined in the CSO's Code of Practice on Statistical Confidentiality.

For more information on the CSO confidentiality policy please visit: https://www.cso.ie/en/aboutus/lgdp/csodatapolicies/statisticalconfidentiality/

All confidential data are treated in accordance with Part V of the Statistics Act, 1993.

The date of dissemination of all statistics released by the CSO can be found in the Release Calendar published by the CSO. This calendar is regularly updated.

The release calendar can be accessed via the CSO website, www.cso.ie, or directly from this link: https://www.cso.ie/en/csolatestnews/releasecalendar/

In accordance with Principle 6 of the European Statistics Code of Practice all users of CSO statistics have equal access via the CSO website at the same time of 11 am. Any privileged pre-release access to any outside user is limited, controlled, and publicised. If leaks occur, pre-release arrangements are revised to ensure impartiality.

Annual

The EGSS is published as a statistical release.

https://www.cso.ie/en/statistics/environmentaccounts/environmentgoodsandservicessector/

PxStat CSO main dissemination database.
https://data.cso.ie/#

Not requested for this metadata collection.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

For further details on the EGSS please see the Methods page on the CSO's website

https://www.cso.ie/en/methods/environmentaccounts/environmentgoodsandservicessector/

Not requested for this metadata collection.

https://www.cso.ie/en/methods/environment/environmentgoodsandservicessector/

The CSO avails of an office wide Quality Management Framework (QMF). This framework allows all CSO processes and outputs to meet the required standard as set out in the European Statistics Code of Practice (ESCOP). The QMF foundations are based on establishing the UNECE’s Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM) as the operating statistical production model to achieve a standardised approach to Quality Management. All and any changes implemented to CSO processes and outputs require adherence to the QMF.

Quality Management Self-Assessments (QMSA) are carried out on an annual basis by the CSO.

Our estimates are published in Ireland annually and are available for users e.g., policy makers.

Not measured.

EGSS are one of the environmental-economics accounts. They provide information on output, gross value added, exports and employment in a way that is fully compatible with concepts principles and classifications of national accounts.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

Our primary Structural Business Statistics (SBS) source supply high quality data, otherwise we use audited accounts.

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.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

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Not requested for this metadata collection.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

21 Months.

Not applicable.

21 Months.

The data were delivered to Eurostat on 31 October 2023. The reporting deadline for EGSS to Eurostat is 31 October. 

The data were delivered to Eurostat before the reporting deadline.

Data on EGSS are computed according to international guidelines and insofar comparable.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

The EGSS is comparable over time.

2014-2021

The EGSS are subject to revisions.

EGSS data are coherent with EPEA, SBS and national accounts.

Not applicable; reported EGSS data are only annual.

SBS sources are used which mirrors national accounts compilation procedures.

EGSS data are used in the compilation of EPEA (e.g., export of EP services and ancillary output).

Not applicable.

We project forward the Supply Table using relevant CSO indices and growth rates.

The EGSS is compiled primarily using SBS data and audited accounts. Some ad-hoc surveys (e.g. charities) have been carried out in the past to fill data gaps. These surveys would have an additional cost and burden on respondents.

The Environmental Accounts modules primarily reuse existing data.

Revisions refer to changes made to published statistical data when the information used in its production has been updated or corrected. This information includes all data used in compiling the statistic e.g., respondent data, administrative data, weights and factors, methodology, classifications, definitions.

The data revision policy that CSO statistics adheres to can be found via the following link: https://www.cso.ie/en/methods/quality/treatmentofrevisions/

The EGSS are subject to revisions.

For 2020 the Commission for Regulation of Utilities and Irish Water revised their accounting methods which resulted in very large revisions to Water and Wastewater estimates.

The resulting revised data for EGSS 2020 have been published.

Data sources used to produce EGSS are: 

National survey data relating to Agriculture (Farm Structure Survey), SBS (Industry, Prodcom and Services) (all CEPA/CReMA).
National Accounts Supply Use Tables data and GVA estimates (all sectors)
Labour Force Survey Estimates (all sectors)
Wind Energy Europe (CReMA 13)
Commission for Regulation of Utilities (water & energy)
Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (CReMA 13)
Government Estimates of Public Spending (Water and Wastewater investment)

Not applicable.

SBS primarily Census of Industrial Production, Annual Services Inquiry, and Prodcom.

Ad-hoc surveys (e.g., charities).

Annual audited accounts for public bodies and organisations.

Annual.

The data used to produce EGSS is collected on an annual basis.

We compare with previous years estimates. We work continuously to improve our methodology and data sources.

Year on year changes of +/- 15% are flagged for checking.

The data are compiled using SAS and MS Excel.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

EGSS Output: Mainly via turnover from our survey sources. For others (e.g. water/wastewater/ energy/public bodies), we use audited accounts from relevant annual reports.

EGSS Gross Value Added: Directly from SBS whenever possible. Otherwise from Supply Table to GVA ratio from National Accounts outputs.

EGSS Exports: Directly from SBS.

EGSS Employment: Directly from SBS whenever possible. Otherwise from Supply Table to GVA ratio from National Accounts outputs.

NACE Rev 2 codes are obtained from the CSO's Central Business Register.

Building Energy Ratings data show approximately 97% of all new buildings are A rated.

Not applicable.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

For 2021 we have new data directly from our Census of Industrial Production as a new environment question was added for 2021.
Note: This introduced a discontinuity in our EGSS series. But this new data will be more reliable, relevant, and timely.
See new question on forms
https://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/methods/censusofindustrialproductionenterprises/CIP_2021_C_Form.pdf
https://www.cso.ie/en/media/csoie/methods/censusofindustrialproductionenterprises/CIP_2021_F_Form.pdf