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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: ISTAT - 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.

16 April 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.

Italy

The reference period for EGSS data is the calendar year.

Validation procedures and plausibility checks are mostly based on the comparison of EGSS estimates with broader national accounts aggregates, ensuring the overall quality of the data reported.

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).

See section below

Main sources used for EGSS variable MARKET OUTPUT for all CEPA/CReMA are:

National accounts - agriculture
National accounts - supply tables
National accounts - use tables
National accounts - gross fixed capital formation
Istat surveys on Economic and financial accounts of enterprises - current expenditure for environmental protection by CEPA; sections other than environmental protection expenditure: investments, expenditure for repair and maintenance, other
PRODCOM Statistics
Physical Energy Flow Accounts (PEFA)
Vehicles inspection register
Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS) certification register
Students enrolled in University courses
Individual companies' financial, economic and environmental accounts
Industrial Associations of producers of equipment for energy production from renewable sources - reports
Gestore Servizi Energetici (GSE) - Statistics

Census of Non profit institutions

Data on Nzeb built (ENEA)

National accounts - costs of construction of buildings

Ad hoc survey on noise abatement 


Main sources used for EGSS variable OUTPUT (other than market) for all CEPA/CReMA are:

General Government expenditure by function - detailed working level data; General Government accounts - detailed working level data (non market output);
Ad hoc survey on General Government vehicles inspection (non market output);
Financial and economic accounts of individual Institutes/Agencies;
Survey on Economic and financial accounts of large enterprises data and on Small and Medium Enterprises (ancillary environmental protection output);
Physical Energy Flow Accounts (PEFA) (own account output - renewable energy)
Ad hoc survey on noise abatement (ancillary output)


Main sources used for EGSS variable of which EXPORTS for all CEPA/CReMA are: national accounts export data by product
Main sources used for EGSS variable VALUE ADDED for all CEPA/CReMA are: national accounts value added data by economic activity
Main sources used for EGSS variable EMPLOYMENT for all CEPA/CReMA are: national accounts data on FTE

Annual

First EGSS estimates are available 22 months after the reference period

Very few products from the indicative compendium in Regulation (EU) 2015/2174 are not covered from the Italian EGSS account. See section 12.3.

No products or activities beyond those mentioned in the indicative compendium are included in the Italian EGSS account.

The calculation process does not cause break in time series.

EGSS Italian data delivered on the 31th of October 2024 cover the period 2016-2022, due to the revision of the series of national accounts estimates and the updating of the indicative compendium