Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union

Unit E.2: Environmental statistics and accounts; sustainable development

5 r. Alphonse Weicker - bâtim. Joseph Bech, 2721 Kirchberg Luxembourg 

The dataset includes estimates of land use 'footprints' for the EU as a whole. The data set presents land use in the rest of the world (extra-EU) serving EU consumption next to land use in the EU serving consumption by the EU and serving consumption by the rest of the world. Three types of land use are considered: cropland, grassland and forest land.

The estimation methodology is referred to as physical-based accounting approach. Point of departure is the domestic land use of the EU to which land use associated with imports are added and land use associated with exports are deducted. The land uses associated with imports and exports are estimated through product-specific land use coefficients. The latter are derived from literature and are multiplied with trade data derived from international trade in goods statistics (ITGS).

The dataset has the following coverage:

• European Union and Extra-EU (i.e. all countries outside the EU)
• 2014 to two years before the current year (t – 2)
• Three land use types: cropland, grassland and forest land

The data set has five dimensions:

1) Country of origin [C_ORIG]: place of origin, where the land use takes place. This dimension has two entities: European Union (EU) and extra-EU.

2) Country of destination [C_DEST]: the geographical entity where the consumption takes place. This dimension includes two entities: European Union (EU) and extra-EU.

3) Land use type [INDIC_ENV]: the type of land associated with the production and consumption of goods and services. This dimension includes three types: cropland, grassland and forest land.

4) Period of time [TIME]: data are annual.

5) Unit [UNIT]: hectares

Not applicable.

The land use footprint concept refers to the amount of land use, direct and indirect, needed to fulfil the consumption of a country (or region), or in other words, the land use embedded in the products that are consumed in a country in one year. The land use footprint of a country takes into account the land use domestically required and the land use internationally required to fulfil a country’s consumption.

Three types of land use are considered: cropland, grassland and forest land. The resulting cropland, grassland and forest land footprints are derived by adding domestic production with imports and deducting exports.

Cropland concerns the harvested area necessary to grow annual and permanent crops (fallow land is excluded from this definition), as defined in Eurostat’s Annual Crop Statistics Handbook (2023) and in line with the definition of “Area harvested” applied in FAOSTAT.

The EU’s domestic cropland use is calculated by considering the harvested area (apro_cpsh1). Cropland embodied in imported primary crops is calculated based on the imported quantity of each crop (after subtracting the quantity re-exported as such or after transformation) and its yield in the country of production. Cropland embodied in exported primary crops is calculated considering the amount of each crop exported outside the EU (after subtracting the quantity originating from imports) and the average EU yield.

In this dataset, grassland refers to the hypothetical area needed for grazing if a country's grazing land were used at maximum intensity, based on the current productivity of natural grazing land (i.e. without use of fertilisers). This assumes that livestock can utilise up to 75% of the aboveground Net Primary Productivity (NPP), leaving the remaining 25% for the ecosystem.

The domestic grassland is modelled starting from the EU production of milk (apro_mk_farm), bovine meat and sheep meat (apro_mt_pann).

Traded quantities of plant-based products, livestock products and fish products are modelled in order to derive the embodied grassland and cropland areas.

Forest land – in this data set – refers to a hypothetical use of land, equivalent to the consumption of timber and timber-based products (‘net annual increment approach’) under the assumption of non-depleting stocks. This approach uses the net annual increment (NAI) of forests (i.e. yearly growth per unit of area) to estimate the area needed to grow the volume of timber consumed per year. The value is multiplied by a scaling factor of 0.9 to calculate the related “forest land yield” under the assumption of maximum intensity levels with non-depleting stock (i.e. assuming that annual harvests correspond to 90% of annual growth). NAI values taken from this model refer to all forest types, including both production forests and forest plantations. As the timber consumed is calculated in m³ and the NAI per hectare in [m³]/[ha*y] the result of the ratio between the two is measured in [ha*y]. This can also be interpreted as the forest area equivalent needed to grow within one year the volume of timber consumed over one year.

EU domestic forest land is calculated considering volumes of roundwood removals under bark, taken from Eurostat data set for_remov at Member State level. Then a country-specific coefficient is applied to convert them into an over bark equivalent volume. These volumes are divided by the NAI per hectare in each Member State to derive the forest land equivalent required for domestic timber production. Finally, the total EU27 forest land is calculated by adding up Member State data. Forest land embedded in trade, is derived from the traded amounts of primary and processed timber-based products. These are converted into equivalent volumes of primary raw wood, by means of technical coefficients, and then re-allocated to the country where the wood was extracted, by using data on trade of roundwood and on extraction of wood in each country. The equivalent volumes of primary raw wood are then converted from under bark to over bark using technical coefficients.

The project report provides more details on concepts, definitions, estimation methodology, and data sources.

The EU economy.

Not applicable, because the data are modelling estimates.

This dataset presents data for the aggregated EU economy.

Data set covers the period from 2014 to two years before the current year (t-2).

Not applicable.

The unit presented for the three land use types is hectare (ha).

Cropland is measured as the area occupied in the reference year.

Grassland is expressed in terms of the area hypothetically required if grazing land in a country were used at maximum intensity given its current natural grazing land productivity.

Forest land considers the area and time occupied for the production of timber and timber-based products consumed in the reference year. This area is calculated taking into account the time needed to grow the volume of timber consumed each year under the assumption growth of maximum intensity levels with non-depleting stocks. As the timber consumed is calculated in m³ and the Net Annual Increment (NAI) per hectare in [m³]/[ha*y], the result of the ratio between the two is measured in [ha*y] (see 3.4 above). However, for presentation purposes, the unit displayed for the land type forest land is also hectare.

The data refer to the calendar year.

Not applicable with respect to the modelling results.

Not applicable.

Regulation (EC) No. 223/2009 on European statistics (recital 24 and Article 20(4)) of 11 March 2009 (OJ L 87, p. 164), stipulates the need to establish common principles and guidelines ensuring the confidentiality of data used for the production of European statistics and the access to those confidential data with due account for technical developments and the requirements of users in a democratic society.

No confidentiality.

Eurostat intends to publish in April-May.

Not applicable.

In line with the Community legal framework and the European Statistics Code of Practice Eurostat disseminates European statistics on Eurostat's website (see item 10 - 'Accessibility and clarity') respecting professional independence and in an objective, professional and transparent manner in which all users are treated equitably. The detailed arrangements are governed by the Eurostat protocol on impartial access to Eurostat data for users.

Data are disseminated simultaneously to all interested parties through a database update and on Eurostat's website.

Data are disseminated annually.

There are no online news releases.

No publications.

Please consult the free dataset online:

• Land use footprints (env_fp_land)

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

The methodology is documented in the project report available in JRC’s online repository.

A comparison was performed between the estimated figures and results from existing literature: see chapter ‘4.5 Comparison of land footprint results at EU level’ of the project report.

The model that is used to derive the aggregate EU results has been developed by researchers with experience in the field of environmental footprints and modelling.

A comparison was performed between the estimated figures and results from existing literature: see chapter ‘4.5 Comparison of land footprint results at EU level’ of the project report.

When comparing the results yielded by the model with the existing literature, cropland is the type of land use for which the results of different studies conducted at EU level converge the most.

For forest land, the results of this current work are aligned with the results of another study (O’Brien, M., & Bringezu, S. (2018)) adopting a physical-based accounting approach.

In the case of the EU grassland footprint, lower convergence between studies was found. In any case, the results from this study presented bigger convergence with those from two studies, one adopting a physical accounting approach (Bringezu et al. (2012)) and another adopting a physical accounting approach based on process-based Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) (Sala et al. (2019)). This demonstrates that the grassland footprint estimation is affected by higher uncertainty due to several assumptions needed to estimate it, because of a lower data availability compared to the information needed to derive cropland and forest land footprints.

O’Brien, M., & Bringezu, S. (2018). European Timber Consumption: Developing a Method to Account for Timber Flows and the EU’s Global Forest Footprint. Ecological Economics, 147, 322–332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2018.01.027 

Bringezu, S., O’Brien, M., & Schütz, H. (2012). Beyond biofuels: Assessing global land use for domestic consumption of biomass. A conceptual and empirical contribution to sustainable management of global resources. Land Use Policy, 29(1), 224–232. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2011.06.010 

Sala, S., Beylot, A., Corrado, S., Crenna, E., Sanyé-Mengual, E., & Secchi, M. (2019). Indicators and Assessment of the environmental impact of EU consumption. Consumption and Consumer Footprints for assessing and monitoring EU policies with Life Cycle Assessment. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, ISBN 978-92-79-99672-6. https://doi.org/10.2760/403263 

The Environmental Accounts Working Group, encompassing representatives of all Member States, Eurostat and other stakeholders, discusses quality improvements.

Land footprint results are important to understand how much pressure the EU consumption of services and goods puts on third countries in terms of the necessary land use to satisfy those needs.

The users include policy makers in environmental ministries, environmental organisations, journalists, students, and interested citizens.

There are no systematic studies of user satisfaction. Eurostat has regular hearings with European policymakers and contacts with the research community and other stakeholders to monitor the relevance of the statistics produced and identify new priorities.

The three types of land use were selected as they are the main uses of land for human activities. Artificial land was excluded as currently no data is available to robustly link artificial uses of land with production activities.

In what concerns the three selected land use types, data can be considered complete and cover a wide range of products (611) and extra-EU geographical entities (177). 

The data is modelled and the underlying assumptions and modelling techniques are transparent (see the project report for a more detailed description of the model).

Not applicable

Not applicable

Eurostat intends to disseminate the results 16 months after the most recent reference year ended.

Not applicable, because there is no release calendar.

Geographical coverage is limited to EU and Extra-EU (i.e. all non-EU countries).

The comparability over time is good because the same method and data sources are applied to all reference years and the figures are re-estimated for the complete time-series each year.

Domestic land use (crop land) of the EU is coherent with Eurostat crop statistics, see also 3.4 above.

Internal coherence is given within the model architecture.

Eurostat has an administrative arrangement with the Joint Research Centre to undertake the model estimations. Currently the related costs are estimated to be around 120 kEUR per year. In addition, some estimated 40 working-days of Eurostat staff are spent per year.

The general Eurostat revision policy applies.

The estimation model is revised on an irregular basis.

Data are usually not revised after publication.

Errors are assessed for seriousness to determine whether they should trigger a correction of already disseminated data.

The project report provides a detailed overview of data sources employed by the estimation model.

Not applicable since data are estimated.

Not applicable since data are estimated.

Data are validated for internal consistency (comparison of totals with the sum of details), both at the product and country level.

A comparison was performed between the estimated figures and results from existing literature: see chapter ‘4.5 Comparison of land footprint results at EU level’ of the project report.

The project report provides a detailed overview of data compilation undertaken to estimate data.

Not applicable.

None.