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.
Environmental protection expenditure accounts (EPEA) describe, in a way consistent with the European System of Accounts (ESA), transactions related to prevention, reduction and elimination of pollution and of any other degradation of the environment.
The key aggregate produced based on the EPEA data is national expenditure on environmental protection (‘NEEP’). It measures the resources devoted by resident units to protecting the natural environment. It is calculated as a sum of uses of environmental protection (EP) services by resident units, gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) for EP activities, and net transfers to the rest of the world for EP.
Under Regulation (EU) 691/2011(Annex IV), as amended on 19 November 2021 by the Commission delegated regulation 2022/125, the reporting of EPEA data according to the new requirements is mandatory from 2018-onwards. EPEA data are collected on an annual basis.
EPEA data are reported by the Member States, EFTA countries and candidate countries.
Eurostat estimates the missing values and calculates the EU aggregates.
3.2. Classification system
The datasets use the following dimensions (not all dimensions are relevant in all tables):
Environmental economic characteristics: see section 3.4. below.
Geopolitical entity (GEO): EU Member States, EFTA Countries, Candidate Countries, Potential Candidate Countries.
Classification of environmental protection activities (CEPA). The following categories exist:
CEPA 1 — Protection of ambient air and climate
CEPA 1.1.2 - 1.2.2 — (of which CEPA1) Protection of climate and ozone layer (climate change)
CEPA 2 — Wastewater management
CEPA 3 — Waste management
CEPA 4 — Protection and remediation of soil, groundwater and surface water
CEPA 5 — Noise and vibration abatement
CEPA 6 — Protection of biodiversity and landscapes
CEPA 7 — Protection against radiation
CEPA 8 — Environmental research and development
CEPA 9 — Other environmental protection activities.
Groupings of categories are also used according to EPEA mandatory data compilation and reporting.
Classification of economic activities - NACE rev.2 (NACE_R2): Data are aggregated for publication with special groupings divisions (2-digits of the classification) relevant for EPEA.
Sector: Institutional sector as defined in SEEA CF 2012 and ESA2010, with the following groupings: corporations, general government and non-profit institutions serving households, households, rest of the world (as beneficiary, or origin, of transfers for environmental protection).
Period of time (TIME): Data are annual.
Unit (UNIT): Millions of euros, million units of national currency.
3.3. Coverage - sector
The data set covers the entire national economy as defined in National Accounts (ESA 2010, paragraph 2.04). The institutional sectors in ESA 2010 are non-financial corporations (sector S11), financial corporations (sector S12), general government (sector S13), households, NPISH (sector S15), and the rest of the world (sector S2). EPEA further groups these sectors for simplification. This is relevant because the groupings of sectors for EPEA determine the data compilation and reporting.
In EPEA the following sectors are distinguished:
general government and NPISH (S13 and S15) as producers and consumers of EP services;
corporations (S11 and S12) as producers and consumers of EP services. This sector includes in particular specialist and secondary market producers of EP services (i.e. the units of the corporations sector whose principal activity is the production of EP services, classified primarily to NACE Rev. 2 divisions 37, 38.1, 38.2 and 39, and units for which production of EP services is a secondary activity). EPEA accounts also provide information on the ancillary activities of corporations other than the specialist producers (see 3.4 below);
households, as consumers of EP services. Households as producers of EP market goods and services or goods and services for exclusively own final use are classified together with corporations;
the rest of the world as beneficiary, or origin, of transfers for environmental protection. The institutions of the EU and international organisations are included in EPEA as part of the rest of the world sector.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
Environmental protection (EP) includes all activities and actions which have as their main purpose the prevention, reduction and elimination of pollution and of any other degradation of the environment. Those activities and actions include all measures taken in order to restore the environment after it has been degraded. Activities which, while beneficial to the environment, primarily satisfy the technical needs or the internal requirements for hygiene or safety and security of an enterprise or other institution are excluded from this definition.
The mandatory reporting covers the following characteristics which are defined in accordance with ESA:
output of environmental protection services. Market output, non-market output and output of ancillary activities are distinguished,
intermediate consumption of environmental protection services,
intermediate consumption of environmental protection services for production of environmental protection services,
imports and exports of environmental protection services,
valued added tax (VAT) and other taxes less subsidies on products on environmental protection services,
gross fixed capital formation and acquisitions less disposals of non-financial non-produced assets for the production of environmental protection services,
final consumption of environmental protection services,
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, paragraph 2.12)
Institutional units are grouped in institutional sectors.
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 Republic of Croatia.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
2018 - 2022
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Macro economic variables (output, intermediate consumption, investment etc.) are measured in million units of national currency.
The data refer to calendar years.
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). 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
No agreements with other national agencies.
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
Law on Official Statistics (OG 25/20) The Ordinance on the conditions and manner of use of confidential statistical data for scientific purposes (OG 137/2013) Statistical data collected by surveys, according to the Law on Official Statistics (OG 25/20) is confidential and its purpose is restricted exclusively to statistical usage.
8.1. Release calendar
Data are disseminated according to a predefined calendar and are simultaneously available to all users on the pages of Croatian Bureau of statistics (CBS). Data dissemination is based on the State Statistical Office on the basis of the Official Statistics Act (Official Gazette, No. 25/20.) and Annual Implementation Plan of Statistical Activities of the Republic of Croatia for 2023 (Official Gazette No. 35/23).
The right to information access and the re - use of information is achieved in accordance with the Act on Access to Information (Official Gazette 25/13 and 85/15) and the Directives of Directive 2003/98 / EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 November 2003.
Data are disseminated annually.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Data are disseminated in electronic form - publication on the website of CBS in the form of first releases and PC AXIS data base.
The conditions under which certain users can have access to microdata are regulated by The Ordinance on the conditions and manner of use of confidential statistical data for scientific purposes (OG 5/23).
10.5. Dissemination format - other
No other publications besides those mentioned above.
10.5.1. Metadata - consultations
Not applicable.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
The basic methodological explanations are published within the Statistics in Line and in the PC Axis database.
The First release contains short methodological explanations such as source and methods of data collection, coverage and comparability, definitions and etc. Metadata are also available in the database.
11.1. Quality assurance
The main tool for the systematic quality assessment and quality management is the database on quality information (DBQI). The DBQI has in first stage the Basic analytical tool for comparative analyses of quality indicators and later will contain Advanced analytical tool for comparative analyses of quality indicators.
Data is collected from reliable sources applying high standards regarding the methodology and ensuring a high degree of comparability.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Data quality can be improved by gathering more sources or making a comparison with data collected by different sources. Some data such as households were estimated based on data from national accounts. Some data were revised to unsure better data quality.
Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 on European environmental accounts adopted on 6 July 2011 and amended by Regulation (EU) 538/2014 adopted on 16 April 2014 in Article 7 requires that “Member States shall provide the Commission with a report on the quality of the data transmitted. The quality criteria as referred to in Article 12(1) of Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 shall be applied.” Those quality criteria are: relevance, accuracy, timeliness, punctuality, accessibility and clarity, comparability and coherence.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Main users are government entities and corporations that need this data in order to plan their business activities.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
CBS conducted a survey on the satisfaction of users.
The results of the survey are available on the website of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics User satisfaction surveys.
12.3. Completeness
Progres during years was made, data are higher quality now then it was on the first mandatory reporting years. Some revisions were made to make sure that data is of higher quality.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
All mandatory data has been submitted.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Data quality can be improved by gathering more sources or making a comparison with data collected by different sources. Some data such as households were estimated based on data from national accounts. Some data were revised to unsure better data quality.
13.2. Sampling error
Some data calculations are based on survey results, but main data source for EPEA compilation are national accounts. When it comes to survey results, the response rate is around 75% and the non response is rather low and mostly includes small reporting units that dont report significant values on environmental expenditures. Imputation rate is very low and is based on administrative data from Financial reports and previous reporting periods.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable.
13.3.1. Coverage error
Not applicable.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
Not applicable.
13.3.2. Measurement error
Not applicable.
13.3.3. Non response error
Not applicable.
13.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.4. Processing error
Reported survey data is individually checked and corrected; if needed reporting units are contacted for further explanations and information
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
Deadline for the reporting of EPEA data and quality reports is the 31st December.
Eurostat publishes the data once the validation process has been completed.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Few months after reference period data was produced (when annual survey collection period is complete). Few months after the research provisional data was provided to users at national level (during first release).
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
Data will be final after validation process is complete.
14.2. Punctuality
All data are always delivered in time based on the planned date of publication.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
31 December 2024.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
None. Data refers to Republic of Croatia.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
No breaks were reported.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
2018-2022
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Data are coherent cross domain.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable, because EPEA data are annual.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
The National Accounts are working to improve the SUT and COFOG tables, and adjustments can be made afterwards.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Data are coherent - internal
One
17.1. Data revision - policy
Yes, data were revised for previous years (data on GG, Corporations and export-import data).
The reason for this revision is that the national accounts also had a data revision.
Data on EPEA had to be revised accordingly for whole data series.
17.2. Data revision - practice
In order to be coherent with National accounts data for EPEA had to be revised.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
15%
18.1. Source data
For the purpose of collecting EPEA data for the year 2024 and other mandatory reporting years, the Environmental Statistics Unit of the Central Bureau of Statistics conducted an annual web survey for monetary environmental data and this data was the source used for one part of the data for the EPEA compilation. The survey was conducted annually and covered about 2,000 units (most units were the same as in previous reporting years). The units that participated in the research were either state bodies and NPISH or business entities (corporations) that reported investments and/or expenditures for EP services. In addition to these data, administrative sources were also used (national accounts data; COFOG data, foreign trade statistics).
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annually.
18.3. Data collection
On-line survey consisting of list of products related to environmental protection. Reporting units need to report output, expenditures, investments.
18.4. Data validation
The data are cross-checked across time series and there are some internal checks in the collection of survey data. We do not have validation and plausibility checks in place yet. So far only comparisons with previous years have been made until the input-output tables are fully completed, and then we can develop further verification methods. We also use feedback from Eurostat through validation checks as the main source of verification.
18.5. Data compilation
No other methods used.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
Not applicable.
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable.
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
No seasonal adjustments.
No other comments.
Environmental protection expenditure accounts (EPEA) describe, in a way consistent with the European System of Accounts (ESA), transactions related to prevention, reduction and elimination of pollution and of any other degradation of the environment.
The key aggregate produced based on the EPEA data is national expenditure on environmental protection (‘NEEP’). It measures the resources devoted by resident units to protecting the natural environment. It is calculated as a sum of uses of environmental protection (EP) services by resident units, gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) for EP activities, and net transfers to the rest of the world for EP.
Under Regulation (EU) 691/2011(Annex IV), as amended on 19 November 2021 by the Commission delegated regulation 2022/125, the reporting of EPEA data according to the new requirements is mandatory from 2018-onwards. EPEA data are collected on an annual basis.
EPEA data are reported by the Member States, EFTA countries and candidate countries.
Eurostat estimates the missing values and calculates the EU aggregates.
30 December 2024
Environmental protection (EP) includes all activities and actions which have as their main purpose the prevention, reduction and elimination of pollution and of any other degradation of the environment. Those activities and actions include all measures taken in order to restore the environment after it has been degraded. Activities which, while beneficial to the environment, primarily satisfy the technical needs or the internal requirements for hygiene or safety and security of an enterprise or other institution are excluded from this definition.
The mandatory reporting covers the following characteristics which are defined in accordance with ESA:
output of environmental protection services. Market output, non-market output and output of ancillary activities are distinguished,
intermediate consumption of environmental protection services,
intermediate consumption of environmental protection services for production of environmental protection services,
imports and exports of environmental protection services,
valued added tax (VAT) and other taxes less subsidies on products on environmental protection services,
gross fixed capital formation and acquisitions less disposals of non-financial non-produced assets for the production of environmental protection services,
final consumption of environmental protection services,
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, paragraph 2.12)
Institutional units are grouped in institutional sectors.
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 Republic of Croatia.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 data refer to calendar years.
Data quality can be improved by gathering more sources or making a comparison with data collected by different sources. Some data such as households were estimated based on data from national accounts. Some data were revised to unsure better data quality.
Macro economic variables (output, intermediate consumption, investment etc.) are measured in million units of national currency.
No other methods used.
For the purpose of collecting EPEA data for the year 2024 and other mandatory reporting years, the Environmental Statistics Unit of the Central Bureau of Statistics conducted an annual web survey for monetary environmental data and this data was the source used for one part of the data for the EPEA compilation. The survey was conducted annually and covered about 2,000 units (most units were the same as in previous reporting years). The units that participated in the research were either state bodies and NPISH or business entities (corporations) that reported investments and/or expenditures for EP services. In addition to these data, administrative sources were also used (national accounts data; COFOG data, foreign trade statistics).
Data are disseminated annually.
Deadline for the reporting of EPEA data and quality reports is the 31st December.
Eurostat publishes the data once the validation process has been completed.
