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.
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.
In addition, the questionaire inlucdes data on investments for climate change mitigation (CCM). Those investments aim at reducing the emission of greenhouse gases either by source or enhancing the removal from the atmosphere.
EGSS and CCM data are compiled following the statistical concepts and definitions set out in the UN System of Environmental-Economic Accounting 2012 – Central Framework.
3.2. Classification system
Data are reported cross-classified by
environmental purpose and,
economic activity.
The environmental activities are classified by purpose according to the classification of environmental purposes (CEP). Economic activity is classified according to the Statistical Classification of Economic Activities in the European Community, Rev. 2 (2008).
3.3. Coverage - sector
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').
CCM investments comprise a sub-sector of the EGSS as well as activities and products beyond the scope of the CEP.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
Environmental Goods and Service Sector:
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.
Investments for climate change mitigation:
The reporting covers the capital expenditure to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by source or enhance their removal from the atmosphere by sinks.
Capital expenditure includes:
For activities and products covered by the CEP:
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF – ESA 2010 code: P51g) for climate change mitigation related characteristic activities (i.e. GFCF for the production of specific services related to climate change mitigation)
GFCF in specific and cleaner and resource efficient goods related to climate change mitigation, unless they are already included in GFCF by CCM (characteristic) activities
and final consumption (ESA 2010 code: P3) in specific and cleaner and resource efficient goods related to climate change mitigation.
For activities and products relevant for CCM but outside the scope of CEP:
GFCF for the production of nuclear energy and for R&D related to nuclear energy
GFCF for the transmission and distribution of energy, in particular electricity
GFCF for the production of low carbon transport activities
GFCF in transport infrastructure for low carbon transport activities.
Where:
GFCF for climate change mitigation characteristic activities is broken down by corporations, government and households together with non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH)
GFCF for specific and cleaner and resource efficient goods, mitigating climate change, is broken down by corporations, government and households together with NPISH
final consumption of specific and cleaner and resource efficient goods, mitigating climate change, is broken down by government and households together with NPISH.
3.5. Statistical unit
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 data collection and compilation of private corporations is the establishment. For general government, households and NPISH, the recommendation is to use institutional units and groupings of units as defined in the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010).
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.
3.7. Reference area
Sweden
3.8. Coverage - Time
2003-2023
3.9. Base period
Not requested for this metadata collection.
Output, gross value added, exports and CCM investments 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.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
EGSS accounts and CCM investments 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).
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
There are no national arrangements related to data sharing between Statistics Sweden and other data producing agencies.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
Statistics Sweden applies the rule of at least 3 entities in one group and no-one should account for more than 75% of the total in their group.
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
The rule applied for treating the microdata and macrodata is based on the p-percentage rule (10%).
8.1. Release calendar
The release of statistics in EGSS is planned a year before each publication and it is published in the publication calender in the official website of Statistics Sweden, which is publicly accessible.
8.2. Release calendar access
The release calender is publicly accessible in the official website of Statistics Sweden, Publishing calendar (scb.se)
A newsletter is published the day of the release and it is also sent to the press. Users can be informed about the next publishing both in the newsletter and the official webpage.
Statistics Sweden applies the Eurostat code of practice and has implemented UNECE’s Generic Statistical Business Process Model (GSBPM) in the production processes.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Overall, the data is of good quality. Data is collected from reliable sources applying high standards with regard to the methodology and ensuring a high degree of comparability.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
EGSS has been used in or as inspiration to the following policy-linked areas; Environmental technology sector, bio-based economy, the marine sector, drivers for green growth. As data is regionalised to Swedish counties there are many local users. Swedish government growth and export authorities have used the data to find emerging markets/growth possibilities. There are no quantitative policy target based on the statistics.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Feedback from the users is positive and there is a growing interest in EGSS data. The NACE allocation is interesting for the data users. We have many users on a local level. Since we have the micro business population we can easily regionalize the data and do special processing and indicators for municipalities/regions. Another example is to extract small and medium sized enterprises from the population which is requested by some users. So far no users have requested data on specific environmental specific services, cleaner and resource efficient products and other (connected) products. There is no interest in data on ancillary output and output for own-final use. We think the possibility to make special processing of data to fit special purposes such as e.g. environmental technology, bio economy and regional data will continue to be important. Possibilities also exist to link EGSS data with land account data since there is data on business level. Moreover, the possibility to make international comparisons is also valueable.
12.3. Completeness
We believe our data is complete and in compliance with Regulation 691/2011.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
Not requested for this metadata collection.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
By continuous updates of both population and classification in data as well as revision of time series and by quality checks. For every year we prioritize a number of improvements in methodology. In many industries, a combined approach has been developed for the environmental sector regarding reporting years 2023 and 2024. Previously there was only an activity approach, but now a product approach is also used. This means that companies that produce a number of environmental products are included even if they do not belong to a specific industry. Moreover, in the data collection 2023 we revised the polulation in NACE C16, D and others.
There is possibly lower quality data in certain industries that are borderline cases on whether they produce environmental goods and services as a main function as well as those that may fall into multiple CEP categories. We are continuously working on improving the microdata that we use.
Certain CEP categories remain that are more difficult to determine than others. Moreover, some CEP codes are empty today. These are ongoing quality improvement for all reporting countries. We make adjustments as we discover quality issues and these are identified during yearly checks before reporting of such statistics.
From reporting year 2023 an accomplished EU Grants project has resulted in new methodology for estimation of EGSS in NACE A01, A02 and F as well as new estimates on export in the named sectors.
13.2. Sampling error
EGSS accounts and CCM investments are compiled using a range of primary statistical sources. The sampling and non-sampling errors are described in the metadata of the underlying statistical data.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not requested for this metadata collection.
13.3. Non-sampling error
EGSS accounts and CCM investments are compiled using a range of primary statistical sources. The sampling and non-sampling errors are described in the metadata of the underlying statistical data.
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
T+20 months.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
T+20 months.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
T+20 months.
14.2. Punctuality
The reporting deadline for EGSS and CCM investments to Eurostat is 31 October.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
Same day
15.1. Comparability - geographical
No issues in geografical comparabilty have been detected since the microdatabase used in EGSS covers all regions in Sweden for the entire timeseries.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
15.1.3. Comparability - geographical - products not present in Indicative compendium - included
Our business population consists of many companies which have been handpicked over the years (sometimes before the indicative compedium existed) and they can produce a very specific environmental good or service where some might nog be included as an activity in the indicative compendium. In many cases we cannot differentiate between recycling of metal and wholesale of scrap and therefore som wholesalers who manage the recyling are included as well. We also try to be restrictive of adapted goods and include only if there is a clear and evident adaption, i.e. not just more efficient consumer machines like washing machines or such.
15.2. Comparability - over time
As for the latest revisions and data/method changes concerning reference years 2021 and 2022, mentioned under section 17, the comparability of the time series are affected. This should be considered when comparing latter data with years preceding reference year 2021.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
2 years.
15.2.2. Comparability - over time detailed
The comparability is affected by the latest overall revisions and methodological changes when comparing any year before 2021 with the year 2021 and later. Furthermore, a new statistic survey has been used for employment data, which creates a time series break in employment figures from the year 2020.
In addition, at a more detailed level, comparisons regarding NACE A02 when it comes to years before 2016 as well as for NACE 01, 02 and 41-43 before 2008, should be made with caution.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
We check against totals in business statistics.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
We do not compare subannual and annual statistics.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
National Accounts rules and definitions are strictly followed.
EGSS: No different data sources except for output and GVA that have the same estimation methodology. National Acoounts data have been used as source to estimate EGSS export values in NACE A01, A02, F. For coherence, comparing outliers and macro checks.
Around 0,5
16.1. Cost and Burden - other accounts
Yes
17.1. Data revision - policy
As a general policy, when possible and unless otherwise stated, we revise whole time series when we have improved methodology and data collection quality.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Revisions for reference year 2023 include:
Revised data for NACE A and F due to improvments in data availability. Adjustments in the reported figures of some acitivty units, primarily in NACE A02. NACE A and F are calculated using a macro estimation as opposed to the macro approach that is used for other NACE.
Note on previous revisions and updates:
In many industries, a combined approach has been developed for the environmental sector in the production years 2023 and 2024. Previously there was an activity approach only, but now a product approach is also used. This means that companies that produce a number of environmental products are included even if they do not belong to a specific industry. This in turn means that the population has increased. This is to some extent also an explanation for the increases in some of the industries in the EGSS production year 2023 and 2024 compared to the previous production years.Moreover, new data have been used for reference year 2022 to adjust for national data for production value as well as value added, which has led to improvements in the calculations. This is due to the rearrangement of business data in the economic surveys. We have now moved from taking statistics on business units to statistics on activity units.In summary, these revisions lead to significant changes in reported data.Micro data regarding NACE D, renewable energy as well as the actual environmental shares (due to previous underestimation for the years 2012-2015) has been revised. We have also done revisions in NACE A02 because of updates in EFA regarding fuel wood and the number of employees, as well as and implementation of a new methodological approach for NACE A01, resulting in revised data for the whole sector and timeseries. Moreover, revisions have been made in NACE F, where the environmental share of the sector was revised.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Marginal change in the reported total output, GVA, employment and exports. change in revised figures for Nace A and F are around 5%.
17.2.2. Status of data
Final
18.1. Source data
Environmental Goods and Service Sector:
The Swedish EGSS is mainly based on the business population from the Statistical Business register. The main sources for identifying the population are by NACE codes. In some NACE codes all activities are included (NACE 37-39), while in others businesses are handpicked depending on their main acitivty (NACE C, O, P, M, G, H, I, K, L, N, Q, R, S, T, U ). After identifiying the EGSS population, a CEP category is allocated to every object in the population. This is mainly done automatically by connecting each NACE to a specific CEP (e.g. för NACE 37-39). In addition, some adjustments are made.
For NACE A01, A02 and 03 we include environmentally certified businesses. For A01 we estimate values based on NA data in combination with organic production in agriculture in the designated NACE branches in EGSS list of environmental products and activities and they are allocated to CEP 0501. For A02, forest, we estimate values based on NA data in combination with certified forests and allocate NACE 02.1 and 02.4 to CEP 0503 and NACE 02.2 is allocated to CEP 0201 (based on fuel wood from EFA).
For NACE D we include all energy producers (businesses) that produce renewable energy based on energy data. We only include the renewable energy share of each business. This is allocated to CEP 0201.
For NACE F we use NA data in combination with information on construction of NZEBs from Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning. This is allocated to CEP 0202.
CCM Investments:
Households The data comes from ESST where subsidies from general government to households have been selected. The subsidies for CEP 01 concerns purchases of electric vehicles and the total subsidies that´s been paid to households for these types of investments cover between 15 - 20 percent of the car´s total price (we have thereby counted with a medium of 17%). The households are thereby required to pay the remaining 85 - 80 percent (approximately 82,5%) of the investment. These 82,5 percent are the values that´s been reported for households in CCM - CAPEX - FC at row 17. We have chosen to report the values as "final consumption and GFCF in products" and not as "GFCF for characteristic activities" since the investments are directly linked to purchases of products (electric vehicles). We are aware that sector S14_S15 includes both households and NPISH but we do not have data concerning NPISH´s investments in electric vehicles and so row 17 only covers households. The data reported for households for CEP 0201 concerns purchases of solar panels. The data comes from ESST and the total subsidies that´s been paid to households for these investments cover between 15 and 20 percent depending on the year. It covered 20 percent during 2020 and 2023, and 15 percent during 2021 and 2022. The remaining 80-85 percent of the investment is taken from the households´ own spending. These 80-85 percent are the ones reported in the questionnaire. It is reported as GFCF for (characteristic) activities since "final consumption and GFCF in products" are marked as black (not applicable) in the questionnaire. We asked Eurostat is we interpreted it correctly by reporting the solar panel investments as GFCF for (characteristic) activities and Eurostat said yes. CEP 0402 are assumed to be zero for households since households typically don't invest in materials recovery and savings in Sweden.
Data reported in CEP 020202 (Energy efficient buildings) is based on estimated share of residential NZEB buildings in combination with NA data on output value. This is reported as 'Final consumption and GFCF in products' for households.
General government CEP 01 (products): The data comes from ESST where subsidies from general government to households have been selected. The subsidies for CEP 01 concerns purchases of electric vehicles which only goes to the sector HH and not to any other sector. It is reported as GFCF in products, and not as GFCF for (characteristic) activities, after discussion with Eurostat. The data reported for general government for CEP 0201 concerns purchases of solar panels. The data comes from ESST and the total subsidies that´s been paid to households and corporations from the general government is the data that is reported in the questionnaire. It is reported as GFCF for (characteristic) activities, and not as GFCF for products, after discussion with Eurostat. Data for CEP 01, 0501, 0502, 07 and 08 (GFCF for characteristic activities) are taken from EPEA. The values reported are taken from the variable “P51G_NP” in the EPEA questionnaire as it measured GFCF and acquisition less disposals of non-financial non-produced assets. The data for CEP 01 is not double counted even though we use data from both EPEA and ESST as the data from EPEA is reported for GFCF activities and data from ESST is reported for GFCF in products for this CEP-category.
Due to a delay in the data collection process, data from EPEA for 2023 is missing.
Corporations
GFCF for (characteristic) activities:
Data for CEP 01, 0201, 0202, 0402, 0501 and 08 is gathered from company data on GFCF of companies in the EGSS population. The full EGSS population however includes both producers of CEP characteristic activities as well as producers of specific and cleaner/resource efficient goods. Since CCM investments, according to the guidance material, does not include GFCF for the production of specific and cleaner/resource efficient goods, efforts have been made to exclude producers of specific and cleaner/resource efficient goods from the population used for estimating GFCF for (characteristic) activities. The correct population was primarily chosen based on the NACE codes provided in Table 3 in Guidelines for data collection on climate change mitigation investments. The delineation between producers of characteristic activities and 'products' primarily results in an exclusion of many corporations operating in manufacturing (NACE C).
The use of EGSS data uninevetably leads to some loss in coverge since the database is manually updated for activities that are not automatically included in the scope of EGSS based on their reported activity. For example, we were not able to identify businesses in the EGSS data working with carbon capture activities in NACE E39. Furthermore, we were unable to identify CCM characteristic activities for CEP 0502, 0503 and 07.
Data for CEP 0503 (050301) is based on SNA data on GFCF in 'Plant resources yielding repeat products' (P.51g) for the forestry and logging industry (NACE 02) , also reported in EFA (table B1).
GFCF in products:
Data for CEP 01 and CEP 0202 for NACE B-E is taken from EPEA and these are reported as GFCF in products. The data is taken from the variable “Integrated investments in environmental protection” (INV_IT) which measures preventive investments in environmental protection. The same footnotes as the ones in EPEA are reported for CCM in EGSS concerning these data. Data for 0202 is taken from the voluntary part of the survey in EPEA which covers investments in energy savings and heat recovery.
18.1.1. Source data - detailed - environmental accounts
EGSS EPEA data is used for calculating ancillary output. We don’t have values for ancillary output for the most recently reported year, as EPEA has a later reporting deadline than EGSS.
Environmental motivated subsidies data is among other data sources also used to create the population of authorities that are included in the environmental sector.
CCM investments ESST data is used to calculate CCM investments for households in CEP 01 and CEP0201. For general government ESST data was used for CEP 01 (products) and CEP 0201 while EPEA data was used for CEP 01, 0501, 0502, 07 and 08 (GFCF for activities)
Data for CEP 01 for NACE B-E is taken from EPEA and these are reported as GFCF in products. The data is taken from the variable “Integrated investments in environmental protection” (INV_IT) which measures preventive investments in environmental protection. The same footnotes as the ones in EPEA are reported for CCM in EGSS concerning these data.
Data for CEP 0202 for NACE B-E is taken from a voluntary part the environmental protection survey that is excluded from the EPEA. This part of the survey covers investments in energy savings and heat recovery and can thereby be used for CEP 0202. Caveat: only 38 percent of the corporations answer these questions in the survey since it is voluntary to report so the quality of these data is significantly lower than the other data that is taken from EPEA. Statistics Sweden are currently in a process to try and make this part of the survey mandatory to increase the quality.
18.1.2. Source data - detailed - other statistics
EGSS Sweden uses a wide range of input data sources for compiling statistics for the EGSS; such as business financial statistics, economic data from national accounts, SBS, business registry, surveys in NPISH, public sector, agriculture statistics, forest agency statistics, energy statistics as well as housing and building statistics.
CCM investments
Data reported as 'Final consumption and GFCF in products' for households in CEP 020202 (Energy efficient buildings) is based on the estimated share of residential NZEB buildings in data from the Housing and Building Board in combination with national accounts data on output of the construction sector (NACE 41.2).
Data for CEP 0503 (050301) is based on national accounts data on GFCF in 'Plant resources yielding repeat products' (P.51g) for the forestry and logging industry (NACE 02), also reported in EFA (table B1).
18.1.3. Source data - survey
CCM investments Data from EPEA is used in the data collection for CCM investments. EPEA uses a survey to estimate environmental expenditures for corporations. The survey is sent to a representative number of companies in every NACE B-E with a size of 50+ employees. All the existing companies in Sweden with 250+ employees are obliged to participate in the survey. Companies with 49 or less employees are estimated by a model based on survey data from 5 years ago and aligned with the survey data for companies with 50+ employees for every year. Companies that send back a survey without answers are imputed.
18.1.4. Source data - detailed - other macro economic data (trade, VAT etc.)
EGSS
Aggregate trade data from the VAT register is used to calculate exports by EGSS
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Annually
18.3. Data collection
Official statistics from the Agriculture statistics agency for data on sustainable forestry. Shared database from Housing and Building Board to calculate NZEB housing.
18.4. Data validation
We do several quality checks both on macro and micro level. Also extreme values in development between years are investigated. We also check for revisions compared with last years reporting.
18.5. Data compilation
For the output values and market data, the data source is output from SBS which is aligned with National Accounts data. Except for NACE A01, A02 and NACE F where data is collected directly from NA.
For GVA values and market data, the data source is value added from SBS which is aligned with National Accounts data. Except for NACE A01, A02 and NACE F where data is collected directly from NA.
For exports, foreign trade registry on business level is used. We have a business identification number we can match data with. All products exported from an EGSS business is included. Except for NACE A01 and A02 where we use NA data (environmental share output in NACE A02 is multiplied with export from NA SU tables) and for NACE F where exports is put to zero after our research work in EU Grants project 2021-2023.
For employment, SBS and Labour statistics based on administrative sources are used. This is matched with the environmental population by local unit or with a macro model (NACE A01, A02, F).
For the EGSS share, in some cases we use information from energy statistics by company. In some cases we have macro model applied based on available information in e.g. forest industry or in construction industry. We also use information from the Statistical Business Register that have detailed information on NACE codes for each working unit and the share of each economic actitivity, for example a working unit can have 50 percent economic activity in NACE 38 and the rest in something else outside the EGSS scope, and then the environmental share is 0,5. This environmental share is applied to all EGSS variables (output, GVA, employment and export).
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
Not requested for this metadata collection.
18.5.2. Data compilation - by variable and type of output
EGSS data on output, GVA, employment and exports are gathered for each business at workplace level and then aggregated by economic activity (NACE) and CEP category. For NACE 01, 02 and 41-43, macro data is used in combination with data on organic production, certified forests and NZEB to estimate the economic values of EGSS in these industries.
CCM Investments No data on investments in acitivties/products outside the scope of CEP is currently reported.
18.5.3. Data compilation - by NACE
For both EGSS and CCM investments, breakdown by NACE is based on the classification of the producer.
18.5.4. Data compilation – CReMA 13B memo item
Our data availability on energy-efficiency related measures for construction of NZEB is quite limited. The methodology includes data for CEP 0202 in NACE F 41.2 and data about the share on energy classification of buildings (energy class A, B and C) from Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning. Then, a default conversion factor of 0.2 is used, assuming as a generic estimate that 20% of the construction costs in new energy-efficienct buildings ae related to energy efficiency. This measurement is described in the Guidance Note - Reporting of energetic refubrishment and construction of new energy-efficient buildings in EGSS accounts, EEEA/2020/02.
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable.
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
Not requested for this metadata collection.
No further comments.
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.
In addition, the questionaire inlucdes data on investments for climate change mitigation (CCM). Those investments aim at reducing the emission of greenhouse gases either by source or enhancing the removal from the atmosphere.
EGSS and CCM data are compiled following the statistical concepts and definitions set out in the UN System of Environmental-Economic Accounting 2012 – Central Framework.
31 October 2025
Environmental Goods and Service Sector:
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.
Investments for climate change mitigation:
The reporting covers the capital expenditure to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) by source or enhance their removal from the atmosphere by sinks.
Capital expenditure includes:
For activities and products covered by the CEP:
Gross fixed capital formation (GFCF – ESA 2010 code: P51g) for climate change mitigation related characteristic activities (i.e. GFCF for the production of specific services related to climate change mitigation)
GFCF in specific and cleaner and resource efficient goods related to climate change mitigation, unless they are already included in GFCF by CCM (characteristic) activities
and final consumption (ESA 2010 code: P3) in specific and cleaner and resource efficient goods related to climate change mitigation.
For activities and products relevant for CCM but outside the scope of CEP:
GFCF for the production of nuclear energy and for R&D related to nuclear energy
GFCF for the transmission and distribution of energy, in particular electricity
GFCF for the production of low carbon transport activities
GFCF in transport infrastructure for low carbon transport activities.
Where:
GFCF for climate change mitigation characteristic activities is broken down by corporations, government and households together with non-profit institutions serving households (NPISH)
GFCF for specific and cleaner and resource efficient goods, mitigating climate change, is broken down by corporations, government and households together with NPISH
final consumption of specific and cleaner and resource efficient goods, mitigating climate change, is broken down by government and households together with NPISH.
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 data collection and compilation of private corporations is the establishment. For general government, households and NPISH, 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.
Sweden
The reference period for EGSS data is the calendar year.
By continuous updates of both population and classification in data as well as revision of time series and by quality checks. For every year we prioritize a number of improvements in methodology. In many industries, a combined approach has been developed for the environmental sector regarding reporting years 2023 and 2024. Previously there was only an activity approach, but now a product approach is also used. This means that companies that produce a number of environmental products are included even if they do not belong to a specific industry. Moreover, in the data collection 2023 we revised the polulation in NACE C16, D and others.
There is possibly lower quality data in certain industries that are borderline cases on whether they produce environmental goods and services as a main function as well as those that may fall into multiple CEP categories. We are continuously working on improving the microdata that we use.
Certain CEP categories remain that are more difficult to determine than others. Moreover, some CEP codes are empty today. These are ongoing quality improvement for all reporting countries. We make adjustments as we discover quality issues and these are identified during yearly checks before reporting of such statistics.
From reporting year 2023 an accomplished EU Grants project has resulted in new methodology for estimation of EGSS in NACE A01, A02 and F as well as new estimates on export in the named sectors.
Output, gross value added, exports and CCM investments are measured in million units of national currency. Employment is measured in full time equivalents (i.e., full time equivalent jobs).
For the output values and market data, the data source is output from SBS which is aligned with National Accounts data. Except for NACE A01, A02 and NACE F where data is collected directly from NA.
For GVA values and market data, the data source is value added from SBS which is aligned with National Accounts data. Except for NACE A01, A02 and NACE F where data is collected directly from NA.
For exports, foreign trade registry on business level is used. We have a business identification number we can match data with. All products exported from an EGSS business is included. Except for NACE A01 and A02 where we use NA data (environmental share output in NACE A02 is multiplied with export from NA SU tables) and for NACE F where exports is put to zero after our research work in EU Grants project 2021-2023.
For employment, SBS and Labour statistics based on administrative sources are used. This is matched with the environmental population by local unit or with a macro model (NACE A01, A02, F).
For the EGSS share, in some cases we use information from energy statistics by company. In some cases we have macro model applied based on available information in e.g. forest industry or in construction industry. We also use information from the Statistical Business Register that have detailed information on NACE codes for each working unit and the share of each economic actitivity, for example a working unit can have 50 percent economic activity in NACE 38 and the rest in something else outside the EGSS scope, and then the environmental share is 0,5. This environmental share is applied to all EGSS variables (output, GVA, employment and export).
Environmental Goods and Service Sector:
The Swedish EGSS is mainly based on the business population from the Statistical Business register. The main sources for identifying the population are by NACE codes. In some NACE codes all activities are included (NACE 37-39), while in others businesses are handpicked depending on their main acitivty (NACE C, O, P, M, G, H, I, K, L, N, Q, R, S, T, U ). After identifiying the EGSS population, a CEP category is allocated to every object in the population. This is mainly done automatically by connecting each NACE to a specific CEP (e.g. för NACE 37-39). In addition, some adjustments are made.
For NACE A01, A02 and 03 we include environmentally certified businesses. For A01 we estimate values based on NA data in combination with organic production in agriculture in the designated NACE branches in EGSS list of environmental products and activities and they are allocated to CEP 0501. For A02, forest, we estimate values based on NA data in combination with certified forests and allocate NACE 02.1 and 02.4 to CEP 0503 and NACE 02.2 is allocated to CEP 0201 (based on fuel wood from EFA).
For NACE D we include all energy producers (businesses) that produce renewable energy based on energy data. We only include the renewable energy share of each business. This is allocated to CEP 0201.
For NACE F we use NA data in combination with information on construction of NZEBs from Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning. This is allocated to CEP 0202.
CCM Investments:
Households The data comes from ESST where subsidies from general government to households have been selected. The subsidies for CEP 01 concerns purchases of electric vehicles and the total subsidies that´s been paid to households for these types of investments cover between 15 - 20 percent of the car´s total price (we have thereby counted with a medium of 17%). The households are thereby required to pay the remaining 85 - 80 percent (approximately 82,5%) of the investment. These 82,5 percent are the values that´s been reported for households in CCM - CAPEX - FC at row 17. We have chosen to report the values as "final consumption and GFCF in products" and not as "GFCF for characteristic activities" since the investments are directly linked to purchases of products (electric vehicles). We are aware that sector S14_S15 includes both households and NPISH but we do not have data concerning NPISH´s investments in electric vehicles and so row 17 only covers households. The data reported for households for CEP 0201 concerns purchases of solar panels. The data comes from ESST and the total subsidies that´s been paid to households for these investments cover between 15 and 20 percent depending on the year. It covered 20 percent during 2020 and 2023, and 15 percent during 2021 and 2022. The remaining 80-85 percent of the investment is taken from the households´ own spending. These 80-85 percent are the ones reported in the questionnaire. It is reported as GFCF for (characteristic) activities since "final consumption and GFCF in products" are marked as black (not applicable) in the questionnaire. We asked Eurostat is we interpreted it correctly by reporting the solar panel investments as GFCF for (characteristic) activities and Eurostat said yes. CEP 0402 are assumed to be zero for households since households typically don't invest in materials recovery and savings in Sweden.
Data reported in CEP 020202 (Energy efficient buildings) is based on estimated share of residential NZEB buildings in combination with NA data on output value. This is reported as 'Final consumption and GFCF in products' for households.
General government CEP 01 (products): The data comes from ESST where subsidies from general government to households have been selected. The subsidies for CEP 01 concerns purchases of electric vehicles which only goes to the sector HH and not to any other sector. It is reported as GFCF in products, and not as GFCF for (characteristic) activities, after discussion with Eurostat. The data reported for general government for CEP 0201 concerns purchases of solar panels. The data comes from ESST and the total subsidies that´s been paid to households and corporations from the general government is the data that is reported in the questionnaire. It is reported as GFCF for (characteristic) activities, and not as GFCF for products, after discussion with Eurostat. Data for CEP 01, 0501, 0502, 07 and 08 (GFCF for characteristic activities) are taken from EPEA. The values reported are taken from the variable “P51G_NP” in the EPEA questionnaire as it measured GFCF and acquisition less disposals of non-financial non-produced assets. The data for CEP 01 is not double counted even though we use data from both EPEA and ESST as the data from EPEA is reported for GFCF activities and data from ESST is reported for GFCF in products for this CEP-category.
Due to a delay in the data collection process, data from EPEA for 2023 is missing.
Corporations
GFCF for (characteristic) activities:
Data for CEP 01, 0201, 0202, 0402, 0501 and 08 is gathered from company data on GFCF of companies in the EGSS population. The full EGSS population however includes both producers of CEP characteristic activities as well as producers of specific and cleaner/resource efficient goods. Since CCM investments, according to the guidance material, does not include GFCF for the production of specific and cleaner/resource efficient goods, efforts have been made to exclude producers of specific and cleaner/resource efficient goods from the population used for estimating GFCF for (characteristic) activities. The correct population was primarily chosen based on the NACE codes provided in Table 3 in Guidelines for data collection on climate change mitigation investments. The delineation between producers of characteristic activities and 'products' primarily results in an exclusion of many corporations operating in manufacturing (NACE C).
The use of EGSS data uninevetably leads to some loss in coverge since the database is manually updated for activities that are not automatically included in the scope of EGSS based on their reported activity. For example, we were not able to identify businesses in the EGSS data working with carbon capture activities in NACE E39. Furthermore, we were unable to identify CCM characteristic activities for CEP 0502, 0503 and 07.
Data for CEP 0503 (050301) is based on SNA data on GFCF in 'Plant resources yielding repeat products' (P.51g) for the forestry and logging industry (NACE 02) , also reported in EFA (table B1).
GFCF in products:
Data for CEP 01 and CEP 0202 for NACE B-E is taken from EPEA and these are reported as GFCF in products. The data is taken from the variable “Integrated investments in environmental protection” (INV_IT) which measures preventive investments in environmental protection. The same footnotes as the ones in EPEA are reported for CCM in EGSS concerning these data. Data for 0202 is taken from the voluntary part of the survey in EPEA which covers investments in energy savings and heat recovery.
Yearly
T+20 months.
No issues in geografical comparabilty have been detected since the microdatabase used in EGSS covers all regions in Sweden for the entire timeseries.
As for the latest revisions and data/method changes concerning reference years 2021 and 2022, mentioned under section 17, the comparability of the time series are affected. This should be considered when comparing latter data with years preceding reference year 2021.
