National Statistics Office

Environment, Agriculture and Fisheries Statistics Unit

National Statistics Office (NSO), Lascaris, Valletta, VLT2000, Malta

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.

Malta

Data series cover years 2012-2021

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 at National level.

At the National level:

The NSO requests information for the compilation of official statistics according to the articles of the Malta Statistics Authority (MSA) Act – Cap. 422 (https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/422/eng/pdf) and the Data Protection Act – Cap. 586 (https://legislation.mt/eli/cap/586/eng/pdf) of the Laws of Malta implementing the General Data Protection Regulations (GDPR).

Article 40 of the MSA Act stipulates the restrictions on the use of information while Article 41 stipulates the prohibition of disclosure of information. Furthermore, Section IX of the Act (Offences and Penalties) lays down the measures to be taken in case of unlawful exercise of any officer of statistics regarding confidentiality of data.

Since its inception, the NSO has always assured that all data collected remains confidential and that it is used for statistical purposes only according to the articles and derogations stipulated in the laws quoted above. The Office is obliged to protect the identity of data providers and refrain from divulging any data to third parties that might lead to the identification of persons or entities.

In 2009, the NSO has set up a Statistical Disclosure Committee to ensure that statistical confidentiality is observed, especially when requests for microdata are received.

Upon employment, all NSO employees are informed of the rules and duties pertaining to confidential information and its treatment. In line with stipulations of the MSA Act, before commencing work, every employee is required to take an oath of secrecy whose text is included in the same Act.

An internal policy on anonymisation and pseudo-anonymisation is in place to ascertain that adequate methods are used for the protection of data that the office collects and shares with the public in its capacity as the National Statistics Office. The policy is meant to safeguard the confidentiality of both personal and business data entrusted to the NSO. The document provides guidance for all NSO employees who process data on a daily basis as to how anonymisation and pseudo-anonymisation methods should be applied. The policy applies to all confidential, restricted and internal information, regardless of form (paper or electronic documents, applications and databases) that is received, processed, stored and disseminated by the NSO.

Confidentiality issues arise at the NACE division level in Malta. The following rules are applied for tabular data:

• The 2.80 dominance rule means that if the largest two contributors make up 80% or more of the cell total, then the value is confidential.
• A minimum frequency count of 3, meaning that if a value has 1 or 2 contributors only then the value is confidential.

NSO does not publish the environmental goods and services sector (EGSS) accounts.

Not applicable.

Policies directly related to the user's access to statistical data include the 'Dissemination' Policy.

See concept 8.1

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

Not applicable.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

Not applicable.

Quality of data is assured by adherence to the Technical Note Validation rules for environmental goods and services accounts, version: 24 April 2023. A quality assurance approach comprises checks of the source data statistics (National Accounts and Public Finance Units’ data), ongoing verification of the results and methodology applied, and external consultation (validation of the results by Eurostat).

The input data is regularly checked, questioned and verified with the providers: Public Finance Unit and National Accounts Unit. The procedures and processes are reviewed on an annual basis for each questionnaire transmission.

Not available

Not available

All mandatory variables and the majority of the voluntary variables were compiled in previous data collection. Not all issues and concerns can be addressed with the currently available sources. NSO does not compile PRODCOM statistics.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

The source data are the NSO Public Finance, National Accounts Units and energy statistics. The quality of the estimates calculations is continuously checked during the production process. It includes the introduction of various checks like a comparison with the source data and other monetary environmental modules (mainly EPEA) and the final estimates produced and reported in the questionnaire.

EGSS accounts are compiled using a range of primary statistical sources. 

Not requested for this metadata collection.

EGSS accounts are compiled using a range of primary statistical sources. 

Not requested for this metadata collection.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

EGSS data is transmitted to Eurostat at t+22 months.

First estimates of EGSS data are available at t+22 months.

EGSS data is transmitted to Eurostat at t+22 months.

The data were delivered to Eurostat on 23rd October. The reporting deadline for EGSS to Eurostat is 31 October.

EGSS data is submitted to Eurostat without delays. The number of days between the delivery date of the data and the target date on which they were scheduled for delivery is 8.

EGSS accounts are compiled according to harmonized methodology and guidelines provided by Eurostat, which ensures consistency across EU member states.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

The methodology applied is based mainly on the SUTs ratios, various national accounts estimates and energy statistics. Therefore, the data is comparable for CEPA 2,3,4 and CReMA 10 and 13.

Not applicable

There are no breaks in the time series. Any revisions result in recalculations of the years affected.

There are no breaks in the 2012-2021 time series.

The data is comparable from 2012 to 2021.

EGSS account is consistent with national accounts, public finance statistics, environmental protection expenditure accounts (EPEA) and other internal statistics used as source data.

Not applicable. Only annual data is compiled and transmitted.

EGSS estimates were built on the outcome of national accounts estimates (SUT, Production and Generation of Income Account, sector accounts) and Public Finance Unit statistics (GG expenditure by COFOG). 

EPEA results are applied in EGSS estimates and verified during the production process.

EGSS estimates apply, and consequently are coherent with the agricultural, business, energy and foreign trade statistics.

The data reported in the EGSS questionnaire are internally coherent (totals are consistent with the sum of the breakdowns).

The national accounts' definitions and measurement rules are followed. The same source data is used for the estimates of Output, GVA, Export and employment. It is national accounts and public finance data, including GVA/output and FTE/output ratios.

Different vintages of source data are applied to compile the EGSS accounts for a given year. This is due to different Eurostat reporting of various units. National accounts data is applied as of May News Release (reference Q1 of the current year). COFOG statistics provided by NSO Public Finance Unit are as of January Eurostat transmission. Updated COFOG statistics are requested during the third quarter of the compilation year to account for revisions. Information from the Institutional Sector depends on the national accounts final estimate. During the 2023 compilation, the September 2022 final result was used. 

EGSS is compiled by 1 FTE.

The costs and burdens are comparable to those of other accounts.

A written revision policy related to the Environmental Goods and Services Sector (EGSS) accounts compilation is not in place.

Revisions in EGSS estimates follow the revisions in the source data: public finance and national accounts statistics. A complex revision in the National Accounts Unit, availability of new SUT results and SBS results are followed by the Environmental Unit, depending on the period between the availability of revised statistics and transmission deadlines.

Between 2022 and 2023, data collection revisions took place across many variables due to the National Accounts revisions:

-      New estimates of the production and generation of income accounts following revision in years 2017-2021 in NR 2023Q1 published in May 2023.

-      New SUT 2017 and SBS 2018-2019 results were incorporated in the estimates of MKT Output. Revisions were registered across various NACE activities, mainly in the following NACE activities: C10-12, C16-18, E37, E38 and E39.

-      Market output (P11) in CReMA 13A, NACE 35 was revised downwards by an average of 1% between 2012-2020 due to a revision in the estimate of production of biogas (Item revised: Price of Biogas (EUR/TJ)) to ensure consistency between all years (2012-2021)

-      Market output (P11) in CReMA 10, NACE E36: revision in the national accounts estimates due to new SUT 2017 and SBS 2018-2019.

-      Revisions in non-market output are due to two exercises carried out during the 2023 data collection, which resulted in the shift between various CEPA and CReMA reporting. Firstly, we addressed the discrepancies between CEPA and COFOG reporting. Following this, we also created new estimates for the consumption of fixed capital (CFC), which reflect better distribution between years of the environmental investment.   

-      GVA revisions follow the EGSS output revisions and national accounts GVA/Output ratios.

-      Employment revisions follow the EGSS output revisions and national accounts FTE ratios.

EGSS data follow the source data revisions, mainly National Accounts revisions based on new SUTs and SBS results. All series will also follow the National Accounts benchmark revision, which is preliminary planned for 2024.

The main data sources are: 

• National accounts: Production and Generation of Income Account annual data, Institutional Sector Accounts annual data, Supply and Use table and other sources related to GDP compilation
• Public finance statistics: Government expenditure by COFOG, non-consolidated transfers within government departments and bodies
• Structural business statistics: variables 303001-303005 & 303999
• Environmental protection expenditure accounts
• Foreign trade statistics

EPEA is used for market and non-market output. EGSS output is used to estimate GVA and employment.

One statistician compiles all the monetary environmental modules. The source data applied is constantly verified and cross-checked with the environmental modules' results.

• Agriculture statistics: percentage of Organic farming area in Total Utilized Agricultural Area (UAA) is applied to estimate organic farming,
• Energy statistics: Total electricity generated, and electricity generated from renewable sources (Gwh), Production of Biogas and Biodiesel (TJ), Fuel Prices in Malta,
• Eurostat database: Gas - domestic consumers - bi-annual prices,
• Water statistics – to estimate CReMA 10 activities,
• International trade data for the calculation of export,
• National accounts – to estimate CReMA 10 activities, production of electricity from renewable sources, and employment.

Not applicable

To ensure the completeness of environmental and resource management activities, we follow the websites of companies and various publications of the Malta Environmental and Resources Authority.

Data is collected annually from various NSO internal units.

Not applicable.

The EGSS estimate depends on the data of the three Units: National Accounts, Public Finance Statistics and Structural Business Statistics. The units’ results are compared and questioned. The process covers the investigation of the main producers, the methodology of the estimates, past trends, various ratios, and growth rates compared with the EGSS result.

Also, EPEA is compiled parallel with EGSS by one statistician, therefore, the source data is validated by comparison of both results of the environmental modules.

During the EGSS compilation years, new validation rules were incorporated within the working environment following the validation reports. This includes a time series of reported variables, a set of ratios GVA/Output, GVA/FTE, Export/P1 and consistency checks across Output, GVA and FTE. The checks are incorporated by reported NACE activity and CEPA and CReMA classification codes.

The methodology applied is based mainly on the SUTs ratios, various national accounts estimates and energy statistics. The currently available data within NSO is not detailed enough to identify (or exclude) environmental products and activities. The EGSS estimate is not strictly based on the compendium.

No environmental products/ activities shares were applied. 

Not requested for this metadata collection.

Output

For the compilation of output, we follow the recommendations presented in the EGSS practical guide. 

We use the estimates of EPEA for market and non-market output by environmental protection domain (CEPA codes). The EPEA estimates are set up by NACE activities and directly applied in EGSS. 

Currently, we estimate the ancillary output as zero. We base our estimate on the SBS variable 21140 (Current expenditure on EP). Current expenditure is the sum of “in-house expenditure” and “purchases of environmental protection services.” Following last year's EPEA data collection and further investigation of the SBS reporting, we consider the expenses mainly as purchases of environmental protection services. The bulk of the expenditure is related to waste collection and is classified under NACE C (Manufacturing). We have not explored yet other sources for the ancillary output estimates.

The EGSS estimates are updated with output estimated for resource management activities (CReMA codes):

• NACE E and CReMA10 (Water Management): The estimate is based on data from water statistics. The output for CReMA10 covers reverse osmosis production. 
• NACE E and CReMA 14: The whole amount reported under CPA38.3 in national accounts has been reported under CReMA14 following EGSS guidelines. Currently, we do not have information that would allow us to split the materials recovery activity by material. 
• Electricity produced from renewable sources: We combined national accounts data for CPA D35 (electricity, gas steam and air condition supply) with the shares of electricity output, electricity generation in electricity output and electricity generation from renewable sources. 
• Small shares of output cover the production of biofuels and biogas: the estimates were built applying the price times quantity approach. The quantities were supplied from NSO energy statistics.

To break down the output of the EGSS into market and non-market, we use EPEA results of market and non-market output. Our estimates are built on the SUTs by NACE with further subdivisions into sectors. The market output covers corporations and depends on SUT ratios. The non-market output is the result of COFOG statistics of the S.13 sector.

GVA

For the compilation of gross value added, national accounts ratios GVA/P.11 and GVA/P.1 are applied:

• GVA of Market activities: ratios GVA/P11 by NACE activities in the production and generation of income account of the Institutional sectors S11, S12 and S14,
• GVA of Non-market activities: ratios GVA/P1 by NACE activities in the production and generation of income account of the Institutional sectors S13.

Employment

Estimates are based on national accounts employment data of full-time equivalents (FTEs number of jobs) by NACE activities:

• FTEs of Market activities: ratios FTE GO/P11 by NACE activities in the production and generation of income account of the Institutional sectors S11, S12 and S14,
• GVA of Non-market activities:  ratios FTE GO/P1 by NACE activities in the production and generation of income account of the Institutional sectors S13.

Export

Export detailed data by company and by HS code was investigated for the years 2012-2021. We link the products with the Indicative compendium list to identify possible environmental products and environmental producers.

We could identify the export of products that would fall under the EGSS scope with 100%. It is mainly the export of waste, which we reported in the EGSS questionnaire.

We base the export estimate on the international trade of goods statistics. BOP statistics in the environmental domain reported are of low quality and highly underreported.

The breakdown by NACE is based on the classification of the producer of EGSS goods and activities for the market and non-market sectors.

NZEB data required for the memo item are not yet estimated in Malta EGSS.

Not applicable.

Not requested for this metadata collection.

1. Consistency checks for 2021 (new estimates) are listed below. Comments on the consistency check for 2012-2020 were provided during the 2022 data collection:

CEPA domains

-      NACE E38, non-market activities: 13% increase drop in FTE with a 4.2% increase in P1 and GVA (2021) is confirmed by the NSO’s Public Finance Statistics Unit. 

-      NACE N, non-market activities: 4.9% drop in FTE with a 2.6% increase in P1 and GVA (2021) inconsistency is confirmed by the NSO’s Public Finance Statistics Unit.

CReMA domains

-      NACE O: excessive increase in P1, GVA and FTE in 2020 (CReMA 13) is related to EU Cohesion Funds in 2020 (CF10.136 Rainwater network).

2. GVA/output ratio checks (2012-2021):

-      High GVA/output ratios are confirmed for the NM activities in NACE N and O.

-      Low GVA/output ratios confirmed as National Accounts estimates for NACE D 2012-2014. The relatively low GVA/output ratios in our estimates reflect the level of these ratios in National Accounts estimates. The National Accounts Unit compiles this NACE directly from quarterly returns and audited financial statements.

-      Break in series in the GVA/output ratios reflects differences between SUT results for various years.