Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Sector National Accounts - Team Labour, Environment, and Regions
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
CBS, Postbus 24500, 2490 HA, Den Haag, The Netherlands
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
28 May 2026
2.2. Metadata last posted
28 May 2026
2.3. Metadata last update
28 May 2026
3.1. Data description
Environmental protection expenditure accounts (EPEA) describe transactions related to preventing, reducing and eliminating pollution and any other degradation of the environment. The main aggregate resulting from EPEA is national expenditure on environmental protection (NEEP), which measures the resources dedicated by resident businesses, households and government to protecting the natural environment. This aggregate covers uses of environmental protection services, investment (gross fixed capital formation) for environmental protection activities, and net transfers to the rest of the world for environmental protection. Countries are required to report on: output, consumption, imports and exports of environmental protection services, investment (gross fixed capital formation and acquisitions less disposals of non-produced non-financial assets) for the production of EP services, transfers for environmental protection.
3.2. Classification system
The scope of environmental protection is defined according to the classification of environmental purposes (CEP). The mandatory reporting is defined by Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1131 of 26 March 2025 amending Regulation (EU) No 691/2011.
For EPEA data reporting in CEP, Eurostat has introduced an ad hoc breakdown of Cross-cutting and other environmental purposes (CEP 08), i.e. the share “of which for environmental protection” (CEP 08 EP) for voluntary reporting to ensure the reconciliation with previous classification (CEPA) and allow the calculation of total environmental protection aggregates including administration, management as well as education, training and information (cross-cutting activities) related to environmental protection.
3.3. Coverage - sector
Data should be reported by institutional sector: general government, corporations, households and the rest of the world. NPISH (non-profit institutions serving households) are not separately identified and are included under general government. The corporations sector is divided between: "corporations as specialist and secondary producers of market EP services" and "corporations other, including corporations as producers of ancillary EP output"; productive activities of households are included under corporations as market producers.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The construction of the EPEA closely follows the concepts, definitions and accounting rules of the core national accounts. The SEEA-CF 2012 (section 4.2) identifies environmental protection activities as those activities whose primary purpose is the prevention, reduction and elimination of pollution and other forms of degradation of the environment. These activities include, but are not limited to, the prevention, reduction or treatment of waste and wastewater; the prevention, reduction or elimination of air emissions; the treatment and disposal of contaminated soil and groundwater; the prevention or reduction of noise and vibration levels; the protection of biodiversity and landscapes, including of their ecological functions; monitoring of the quality of the natural environment (air, water, soil and groundwater); research and development on environmental protection; and the general administration, training and teaching activities oriented towards environmental protection.
3.5. Statistical unit
Environmental protection expenditure accounts present data, in a way that is compatible with the data reported under ESA, on the expenditure for environmental protection, i.e. the economic resources devoted by resident units to environmental protection. EPEA use statistical units from national accounts. National accounts define and use various statistical units and groupings of units that interact economically (see ESA 2010, §§ 1.54-1.56, 2.01-2.03).
3.6. Statistical population
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 to produce environmental protection specific services. While some economic activities may be undertaken only for a single purpose, many activities are undertaken for a variety of purposes. Following general principles of classification, activities are deemed to be environmental activities only if the primary purpose of the activity is consistent with the definitions of the environmental protection.
3.7. Reference area
The reference area of the statistics is the Netherlands. The reference area is the economic territory as defined in the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010). A unit is said to be a resident unit of a country when it has its centre of economic interest in the economic territory of that country, that is, when it engages for an extended period (1 year or more) in economic activities in that territory.
3.8. Coverage - Time
2013-2023
3.9. Base period
Not requested for this metadata collection.
Macro economic variables (output, intermediate consumption, investment etc.) are measured in million units of national currency.
The reference period for EPEA data is the calendar year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
EPEA accounts are compiled and reported in accordance with Regulation (EU) No. 691/2011 on European environmental economic accounts (EEEA) and subsequent amendments. EPEA 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).
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Not applicable.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
The Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2009 on European statistics) applies for EPEA.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Rules are applied for treating the data set to ensure statistical confidentiality and prevent unauthorised disclosure. Individual cells must consist of more than three business units and the value must not exceed 70 percent of the cell value per company to be released.
8.1. Release calendar
All publications are kept on the calendar. Major publications are placed on the calendar well in advance, small publications are placed on the calendar during the year.
We publish our data on the Statistics Netherlands website. Statline is the database tool in which all regular published data can be found: Opendata CBS website. Also, every three to five years, data on environmental protection expenditures is published on the CLO website in the Netherlands, the website for facts and figures on the Dutch environment.
We publish our data on Statistics Netherlands website (StatLine) and on the Compendium website which has many visitors per day.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not available
12.3. Completeness
All mandatory data are provided, as well as several voluntary variables.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
Not requested for this metadata collection.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Statistics Netherlands has all the necessary surveys and data sources in place providing already a high level of accurarcy. Most data is derived directly from COFOG, National Accounts, and the Business Survey on environmental costs and investments.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable. The data is entirely based on other official statistics.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not requested for this metadata collection.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3.1. Coverage error
Not requested for this metadata collection.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not requested for this metadata collection.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
Not requested for this metadata collection.
13.3.2. Measurement error
Not requested for this metadata collection.
13.3.3. Non response error
Not requested for this metadata collection.
13.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate
Not requested for this metadata collection.
13.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate
Not requested for this metadata collection.
13.3.4. Processing error
Not requested for this metadata collection.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not requested for this metadata collection.
14.1. Timeliness
Non final results are available only for part of the data compilation, final results are available after about 22 months, dissemination a few months later.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Non final results are available only for part of the data compilation.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
Final results are available after about 22 months
14.2. Punctuality
The data were delivered to Eurostat on 24 December 2025. The reporting deadline for EPEA to Eurostat is 31 December.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
Not requested for this metadata collection.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Not applicable
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not requested for this metadata collection.
15.2. Comparability - over time
Data is available for the mandatory three years
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Not requested for this metadata collection.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
The same sources are used for all monetary environmental statistics, so there should be no differences, except from scope and definitons. Sometimes, other MEA modules are directly used for EPEA, for example transfer data is based on ESST output.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not requested for this metadata collection.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Data from National Accounts is used in EPEA for the supply and use of environmental services and the environmental services sector (specialist producers and secundary producers).
15.4. Coherence - internal
The data are internally coherent.
0.5 FTE
17.1. Data revision - policy
General revision of source data:
Revised national accounts data and COFOG data on government statistics are published for reporting years 2018-2023. For previous years up to 1995 time series are available from source data that include the major changes of the revision. If not, data from revision year 2021 is used to estimate data for previous years.
17.2. Data revision - practice
The revision of source data from National Accounts and Government statistics has led to some changes in the results for EPEA. We will implement the revised source data since the revised data leads to higher quality and accuracy of the data. We have now updated the data for years 2018-2023. The update includes data for the section Other Nace for S11_S12 in the questionnaire. This has implications for the calculation of NEEP. We have now solved the issue of the output gap we had in the previous two reporting years.
Also, we have added Investments in electric transport into EPEA, using a Tier-1 approach for the extra costs. Starting point is the data on investtments in climate change mitigation from the EGSS module. For categoriies electric vehicles, electric other transport verhicles, and EV charging stations we estimated the extra costs of the investments. In 2023, ~25 percent of investments in electric vehicles and equipments is due to extra costs. A large part of the investments is done by households.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not requested for this metadata collection.
18.1. Source data
The following data main data sources are used for EPEA: COFOG data of expenditures of national and local governments, National Accounts data on supply and use of environmental services and the environmental services sector, Business Survey on environmental costs and investments for NACE B, C, D, and E36.
In particular:
Source data - detailed - General government and NPISH
Main data source is COFOG data of national and local governments for COFOG 05 Environmental Protection. In addition we receive yearly a dataset from government statistics for the national government on addition environmental expenditures based on a micro approach and estimated shares from data of other COFOG categories
Source data - detailed – Corporations (specialist and ancillary)
Data for specialist producers in environmental services is available in National Accounts data (SUTs, IOTs) for NACE 37-39, except 38.3 (Recycling).
Data for ancilary is based on the Environmental Costs and Investments Survey for companies in NACE 06-36.
Source data - detailed - Household
National accounts data for environmental services is used.
Source data - detailed - other macro-economic data (import, export, VAT etc.)
Other macro economic data is based on national accounts data for environmental services
Source data - detailed - national expenditure on environmental protection NEEP
The NEEP data are derived from the automatic NEEP computation.
Source data - detailed – other information
We have added the followin additional sources:
Data on production, expenditures of households and investments in land of nature management organizations
Data on the total number of new sold EV, PHEV, HEV in NL and an average catalogus price. Bestides cars, also other vehicles (busses, trucks, vans, etc.) are added.
Data on investments in charging stations for EV was added.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Yearly
18.3. Data collection
Data from different sources within CBS Netherlands is collected and automatically processed in R for EPEA calculations.
18.4. Data validation
In the R script, values are automatically checked for correctness, such as negative values where this is not possible. Outliers are sometimes inquired with the source statistics, but sufficient explanation is not always available.
18.5. Data compilation
The required variables are compiled from the source data with various R scripts. The distribution according to CEP takes place on the basis of the Production Statistics.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
Not requested for this metadata collection.
18.6. Adjustment
From reporting year 2021 onwards two main data sources are revised. For previous years data will be adjusted and made consistent with the revised data.
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
Not requested for this metadata collection.
No further comments.
Environmental protection expenditure accounts (EPEA) describe transactions related to preventing, reducing and eliminating pollution and any other degradation of the environment. The main aggregate resulting from EPEA is national expenditure on environmental protection (NEEP), which measures the resources dedicated by resident businesses, households and government to protecting the natural environment. This aggregate covers uses of environmental protection services, investment (gross fixed capital formation) for environmental protection activities, and net transfers to the rest of the world for environmental protection. Countries are required to report on: output, consumption, imports and exports of environmental protection services, investment (gross fixed capital formation and acquisitions less disposals of non-produced non-financial assets) for the production of EP services, transfers for environmental protection.
28 May 2026
The construction of the EPEA closely follows the concepts, definitions and accounting rules of the core national accounts. The SEEA-CF 2012 (section 4.2) identifies environmental protection activities as those activities whose primary purpose is the prevention, reduction and elimination of pollution and other forms of degradation of the environment. These activities include, but are not limited to, the prevention, reduction or treatment of waste and wastewater; the prevention, reduction or elimination of air emissions; the treatment and disposal of contaminated soil and groundwater; the prevention or reduction of noise and vibration levels; the protection of biodiversity and landscapes, including of their ecological functions; monitoring of the quality of the natural environment (air, water, soil and groundwater); research and development on environmental protection; and the general administration, training and teaching activities oriented towards environmental protection.
Environmental protection expenditure accounts present data, in a way that is compatible with the data reported under ESA, on the expenditure for environmental protection, i.e. the economic resources devoted by resident units to environmental protection. EPEA use statistical units from national accounts. National accounts define and use various statistical units and groupings of units that interact economically (see ESA 2010, §§ 1.54-1.56, 2.01-2.03).
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 to produce environmental protection specific services. While some economic activities may be undertaken only for a single purpose, many activities are undertaken for a variety of purposes. Following general principles of classification, activities are deemed to be environmental activities only if the primary purpose of the activity is consistent with the definitions of the environmental protection.
The reference area of the statistics is the Netherlands. The reference area is the economic territory as defined in the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010). A unit is said to be a resident unit of a country when it has its centre of economic interest in the economic territory of that country, that is, when it engages for an extended period (1 year or more) in economic activities in that territory.
The reference period for EPEA data is the calendar year.
Statistics Netherlands has all the necessary surveys and data sources in place providing already a high level of accurarcy. Most data is derived directly from COFOG, National Accounts, and the Business Survey on environmental costs and investments.
Macro economic variables (output, intermediate consumption, investment etc.) are measured in million units of national currency.
The required variables are compiled from the source data with various R scripts. The distribution according to CEP takes place on the basis of the Production Statistics.
The following data main data sources are used for EPEA: COFOG data of expenditures of national and local governments, National Accounts data on supply and use of environmental services and the environmental services sector, Business Survey on environmental costs and investments for NACE B, C, D, and E36.
In particular:
Source data - detailed - General government and NPISH
Main data source is COFOG data of national and local governments for COFOG 05 Environmental Protection. In addition we receive yearly a dataset from government statistics for the national government on addition environmental expenditures based on a micro approach and estimated shares from data of other COFOG categories
Source data - detailed – Corporations (specialist and ancillary)
Data for specialist producers in environmental services is available in National Accounts data (SUTs, IOTs) for NACE 37-39, except 38.3 (Recycling).
Data for ancilary is based on the Environmental Costs and Investments Survey for companies in NACE 06-36.
Source data - detailed - Household
National accounts data for environmental services is used.
Source data - detailed - other macro-economic data (import, export, VAT etc.)
Other macro economic data is based on national accounts data for environmental services
Source data - detailed - national expenditure on environmental protection NEEP
The NEEP data are derived from the automatic NEEP computation.
Source data - detailed – other information
We have added the followin additional sources:
Data on production, expenditures of households and investments in land of nature management organizations
Data on the total number of new sold EV, PHEV, HEV in NL and an average catalogus price. Bestides cars, also other vehicles (busses, trucks, vans, etc.) are added.
Data on investments in charging stations for EV was added.
Yearly
Non final results are available only for part of the data compilation, final results are available after about 22 months, dissemination a few months later.
