Environmental goods and services sector
From Statistics Explained
- Data from June 2011, most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Database.
This article presents the main results from annual statistics on environmental goods and services in ten European Union (EU) Member States as well as the EFTA country Norway. They provide a first picture of the environmental goods and services sector (EGSS), also called "environment industry" or "eco-industries", in Europe. The environmental goods and services sector consists of a heterogeneous set of producers of goods and services aiming at the protection of the environment and the management of natural resources.
Environmental goods and services are those products that are produced for the main purpose of:
- preventing or minimising pollution, degradation or natural resources depletion; repairing damage to air, water, waste, noise, biodiversity and landscapes;
- reducing, eliminating, treating and managing pollution, degradation and natural resource depletion;
- carrying out other activities such as measurement and monitoring, control, research and development, education, training, information and communication related to environmental protection or resource management.
Environmental goods and services reduce pressure on the environment, can create new jobs and can be economically advantageous for businesses.
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Main statistical findings
While data are not yet strictly comparable, in most of the European countries for which data are available more than 50 % of the production of the environmental goods and services sector was dedicated to environmental protection activities (Belgium, Germany, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania). Only in France, Austria, Sweden and Norway, the production of environmental goods and services for resource management was predominant. In Latvia the production of environmental goods and services was evenly distributed to both environmental protection and resource management (see Figure 1).
The environmental goods and services sector includes the provision of environmental goods and services for every kind of use (intermediate and final consumption, gross capital formation or exports). The environmental goods and services are classified as: environmental specific services, connected products, adapted goods, end-of-pipe technologies and integrated technologies.
In 2008, adapted goods and environmental specific services accounted for 39 % and 34 %, respectively, of Austria's environmental goods and services sector turnover (see Figure 2).
All environmental goods and services can be classified according to the environmental domain. Environmental protection activities are carried out, among others, in the air, water, waste or noise domains. Resource management activities deal with, among others, water, energy and minerals.
In Germany, 43 % of the environmental goods and services sector turnover in 2007 was directed towards the production of goods and services for the management of fossil energy resources. Protection of ambient air and climate as well as wastewater management come on the second and third place with EUR 6.5 billion and EUR 4.8 billion, respectively (see Figure 3).
In Portugal, the production of environmental goods and services for waste management represented the largest share and accounted for EUR 1.8 billion (government excluded) in 2007, while the goods and services produced for water management accounted for almost EUR 1 billion (see Figure 4).
In 2008 in Latvia the waste management domain accounted for more than 82 % of the environmental services produced (see Figure 9).
The income created by the environmental goods and services sector is evaluated in terms of value added, which is the difference between production (turnover) and intermediate consumption. In Belgium, in 2004, most of the value added of the environmental goods and services sector (government excluded) came from waste management activities (30 %), followed by research and development activities for environmental protection (19 %) and wastewater management activities (17 %) (see Figure 5).
Connected goods are those goods that directly serve and have no use except for environmental protection or resource management. Adapted goods are goods less pollutant than equivalent normal goods which provide a similar utility. In 2006, in Romania, connected goods contributed with more than 50 % (EUR 1.4 billion) to the value added of the environmental goods and services sector (general government excluded). The value added generated by the production of adapted goods was as well considerable, with an amount slightly less than EUR 1 billion (see Figure 6).
In 2007, the Netherlands' turnover of adapted goods was around EUR 2.5 billion, of which more than 55 % was the production of adapted goods obtained from recovery of mineral goods (see Figure 10).
The employment that is taken into account for the environmental goods and services sector, is the employment in corporations and general government that is involved in the creation of environmental goods and services. In France, in 2007 there were around 296 000 persons (full-time equivalent) working in the production of the environmental goods and services sector, of which 71 % belonging to corporations (see Figure 7).
Exports of goods and services consist of sales, barter, gifts or grants of goods and services from residents to non-residents. In 2006, Sweden exported around EUR 2.7 billion of environmental goods and services dedicated to the management of fossil energy resources. This represents 67 % of total exports of environmental goods and services (see Figure 8).
Data sources and availability
This article presents the main results from annual statistics on environmental goods and services in Member States (euro area and non-euro-area) of the European Union (EU) and also includes figures for the EFTA country Norway. These statistics are based on the results of a pilot questionnaire sent out in 2009 and then of a first full questionnaire sent out in 2009. The questionnaire included the environmental goods and services, by production type, environmental domain and the economic variables such as value added, employment, exports. Data are collected on a voluntary basis.
Ten EU Member States and one EFTA country, Norway, reported figures; their figures were delivered for the last available year. These data were expressed in national currency and Eurostat converted to euros using exchange rate calculations when the national currency was not the euro. All data presented by Eurostat are in euros.
Data sources used by countries include: surveys, administrative sources, statistical estimations.
The EGSS statistics aim at compiling data for the economic variables: turnover, value added, employment and exports, as well as by different types of products: environmental specific and connected services, connected goods, adapted goods, end-of-pipe technologies, integrated technologies. The EGSS data currently being collected covers two types of producers: general government and corporations.
Economic variables and types of products
- Turnover is defined as ”the totals invoiced by the observation unit during the reference period, and this corresponds to the market sales of goods or services supplied to third parties”. For general government non-market production, the turnover is equal to the cost of production, i.e. the sum of personnel costs, intermediate consumption, taxes on production and consumption of fixed capital.
- Value added of environmental protection activities represents the contribution made by these activities towards the income measure of gross domestic product (GDP). It is the difference between the value of output (turnover) and of intermediate consumption.
- Employment is measured by the full-time equivalent employment which is the number of full-time equivalent jobs, defined as total hours worked divided by average annual hours worked in full-time jobs.
- Exports of goods and services consist of sales, barter, or gifts or grants, of goods and services from residents to non-residents.
- Environmental specific services consist of the output of environmental protection (EP) and resource management (RM) "characteristic" activities. Characteristic activities are those typical for the field under study. In the case of the EGSS, characteristic activities are those activities where the purpose is an environmental protection or resource management.
- Connected products may be services or goods. In the case of the EGSS, a connected product directly serves and has no use except for environmental protection or resource management.
- Adapted goods are goods less pollutant or more resource efficient than equivalent normal products which furnish similar utility. Their primary use is not an environmental protection or resource management one. Adapted goods can be divided into cleaner goods and resource efficient goods.
- End-of-pipe technologies are mainly technical installations and equipments produced for environmental measurement, control, treatment and restoration/correction of pollution, environmental degradation and resource depletion.
- Integrated technologies are technical processes, methods or knowledge used in production processes less pollutant and resource intensive than the equivalent average technology used by national producers. Their use is less environmentally harmful than relevant alternatives.
Producers
- General government includes all institutional units which are other non-market producers whose output is intended for individual and collective consumption, and mainly financed by compulsory payments made by units belonging to other sectors, and /or all institutional units principally engaged in the redistribution of national income and wealth.
- Corporations refer to the market activities considered in the NACE Rev. 2 sections A to U.
Context
Environmental Regulations and policies as well as the increased awareness of the need for combating environmental pollution and preserving natural resources have led to a rapid increase in the supply and demand of environmental goods and services, i.e. products to prevent, measure, control, limit, minimise or correct environmental damage and resources depletion.
In the context of globalisation, technological change and new political priorities, policy makers have expressed strong interest in the environmental sector. This is widely seen as a sector with great growth potential, generating wealth and creating jobs as well as playing a major role in the transition of economies towards sustainable development.
At national and international level EGSS data are interesting for the research community especially in the field of economics. Turnover and employment data are widely used indicators for analysing economic sectors as well as monitoring their performance and growth. Value added is mainly used to compare the income added by the EGSS to the national income. Export data are important for the evaluation of the competitiveness of an economic sector within the global economy.
The environmental goods and services sector (EGSS) handbook is a reference tool for developing a data collection system on the environmental goods and services sector at national level. It aims at facilitating the development and production of harmonised and comparable data. It is a step forward with respect to the OECD/Eurostat manual on the "Environmental goods and services industry" produced in 1999.
Further Eurostat information
Database
- Environment (env), see:
- Environmental accounts (env_acc)
- Monetary flow accounts (env_acm)
- Employment in environmental goods and services sector (env_ac_egss1)
- Turnover, value added and exports in environmental goods and services sector (env_ac_egss2)
- Monetary flow accounts (env_acm)
Dedicated section
Methodology / Metadata
- Handbook on Environmental Goods and Services Sector - 2009 edition
- SERIEE - Environmental Protection Expenditure Accounts - Compilation Guide 2002
- Environmental expenditure statistics: Industry data collection handbook
- Environmental expenditure statistics - 2007 edition (general government and specialised producers data collection handbook)
- Employment in environmental goods and services sector (ESMS metadata file - env_ac_egss1)
- Turnover, value added and exports in environmental goods and services sector (ESMS metadata file - env_ac_egss2)
Other information
- Regulation 691/2011 of 6 July 2011 on European environmental economic accounts
- Regulation 2223/1996 of 25 June 1996 on the European system of national and regional accounts in the Community (ESA95)
External links
- OECD - Innovation - Eco-Innovation in Industry: Enabling Green Growth
- UNSD - United Nations Statistics Division - Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting 2003 (SEEA 2003)
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