Report to the Council and the European Parliament on the execution of the four-year development programme relating to the environmental component of Community statistics adopted under Council Decision 94/808/EC of 15 December 1994
Date: 1997-09-03
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: EU action, EU statistics, European Environment Agency, data collection, environmental policy

COMMISSION  OF THE  EUROPEAN  COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 03.09.1997 
COM(97)430  final 

Report to the Council and the European Parliament on the execution of the 
four-year development programme relating to the environmental component 
of Community statistics adopted under Council Decision 94/808/EC of 15 
December 1994 

(presented by the Commission) 

Report to the Council and the European Parliament on the execution of the 
four-year development programme relating to the environmental component 
of Community statistics adopted under Council Decision 94/808/EC of 15 
December 1994 

1. SUMMARY 

2. BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES 

3. POLICY CONTEXT* ENVIRONMENT 

4. POLICY CONTEXT: STATISTICS 

5. RESOURCES 

6. ACTIONS AND RESULTS 

.. 

7. PRESSURES RESULTING FROM HUMAN ACTIVITIES 

7.1  COMMON PROJECTS 
7.2  EMISSIONS 
7.3  WASTE STATISTICS 
7.4  WATER STATISTICS 
7.5  PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF AGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS 
7.6  ENERGY PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION 
7.7  TRANSPORT 
7.8  OTHER DOMAINS 

8. ECONOMIC AND SOCIETAL RESPONSES 

8.1  PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION OF AGRICULTURAL AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS 
8.2  WASTE MANAGEMENT 
8.3  TRANSPORT 
8.4  PUBLIC SERVICES 
8.5  POPULATION GROWTH, HOUSEHOLDS AND SOCIAL WELFARE 

9. FRAMEWORKS 

9.1  PRESSURE INDICES PROJECT 
9.2  INTEGRATION OF ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL DATA 
9.3  ENVIRONMENTAL SATELLITE ACCOUNTS 

10. COMMON ACTIONS 

lCtl  QUESTIONNAIRES 
10.2  PUBLICATIONS 
10.3  DATABASES 

11. EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY 

12. EVALUATION OF THE PROGRAMME 

TABLE 1: POLICY FIELDS FOR THE PRESSURE INDICES PROJECT 
TABLE 2:  ACTIONS CLASSIFIED BY TYPE OF DATA 
TABLE 3:  ACTIONS CLASSIFIED BY TYPE OF ACTION 
TABLE 4: LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 1994-MID 1997 
TABLE 5: BUDGET RESOURCES 1994-1997 

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3 

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5 

5 

5 

5 
6 
6 
7 

7 
8 
8 
8 

9 

9 

9 
9 
10 
10 

10 

11 
12 
12 

13 

13 
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14 

14 

15 

18 
19 
20 
21 
22 

1.  SUMMARY 

Council  Decision  94/808/EC  of  15  December  1994  established  a  four-year 
programme to develop the environmental component of Community statistics. 

Under this programme, the Commission is establishing the regular official  statistics 
needed to  measure both the  pressures  on the  environment  resulting from human 
activities,  and  also  the  economic  and societal  responses  aimed  at  reducing  these 
pressures.  These  statistics  are  to  be  collected  and  transmitted  to  Eurostat  by 
national  statistical  services  using  harmonized  definitions  and  methodologies. 
Special  emphasis is given to the requirement for integrating  environment  statistics 
into other Community statistics and to the use of international statistical standards, 
as well as to coordination with the European Environment Agency. 

The  present  report  is  submitted  in  accordance  with  Article  6  of  the Decision.  It 
describes the actions undertaken,  and the results achieved,  in each of the areas of 
work  defined  in  the  Decision.  It  also  provides  an  overall  evaluation  of  the 
programme. 

The  review  of  actions  and  results  shows  that  the  Commission  and  the  Member 
States  have  succeeded  in  developing  the  frameworks,  including  harmonized 
definitions  and methodologies,  needed to proceed with the regular transmission  of 
official  statistics in several of the most important work areas listed in the Decision, 
notably  waste  statistics  and  environmental  expenditures.  However,  progress  on 
establishing  regular  data  flows  has  been  slower  than  expected,  due  both  to  the 
amount of preparatory work involved and to lack of resources in Member States. 

The  report  also  draws  attention  to  the  successful  coordination  which  has  been 
achieved with the European Environment Agency. As foreseen in the Decision, the 
Agency  is  making  extensive  use  of  statistics  obtained  via  the  official  statistical 
systems  of  Member  States  in  order  to  carry  out  its  own  tasks,  notably  that  of 
regular reporting on the state of the environment. 

The  report  concludes  that,  in  order  to  complete  the  various  methodological 
projects currently under way,  notably in the areas of environmental  indicators and 
green  national  accounting,  and  also  to  establish  regular  data  flows,  it  would  be 
appropriate to propose a prolongation of the four-year programme. 

-2 

2. 

B A C K G R O U ND  A ND 

O B J E C T I V ES 

The increasing number and coverage of existing and proposed Community actions 
on  environment  in  the  late  1980s  produced  a  strong  demand  for  data  and 
information  relating  to  environment  policy.  Several  developments  aimed  at 
satisfying this demand: 

• 

in 1985, the Council adopted a Decision setting up the CORINE Programme. 

• 

• 

in 1987, a specialised unit for environment  statistics was established within the 
Commission, in Eurostat. 

in  1989, the Commission put forward  a proposal  for  a European Environment 
Agency  (EEA)  and  a  European  Information  and  Observation  Network 
(EIONET). 

• 

in  1989,  the  Commission  proposed  a  four  year  development  programme 
directed at the statistical data related to environment. 

The Council Decision adopting a 4-year programme on environment  statistics was 
finally  adopted  by the  Council  in December  1994.  Its  objective  is to  develop  the 
environmental  component  of  official  statistics  and  to  be  available  in  all Member 
States. 

Under Article 6, the Decision requires a report to the European Parliament and the 
Council; the present report sets out to fulfil this obligation by providing 

-  a description  of the actions undertaken by the  Commission,  together with 

the results achieved so far; 

-  an evaluation of the development programme, 

In this context, "official  statistics" refers to those data which are normally collected 
by or under the responsibility of national statistical services, which in most Member 
States  have  the  primary  legal  responsibility  for  collecting  statistical  data from 
individuals,  enterprises  and  other  economic  entities  as  well  as  from  public 
Administrations. Within the Commission, statistics are formally the responsibility of 
Eurostat. 

In  proposing  this  development  programme,  the  Commission  saw  the  need  to 
encourage  the  transfer  of  expertise  on  environment  statistics  between  national 
statistical  services,  taking advantage  of the  already well-developed  capabilities  of 
certain  Member  States.  This  would  lead  to  a  situation  in  which  all  national 
statistical  services would have the capacity to collect,  process and validate  a wide 
range of environmentally-relevant statistics. For maximum efficiency,  the collection 
of  environment  statistics would  be integrated  as far as possible  into  existing  data 
collection  mechanisms  such as the existing  surveys and registers  for  industry and 
agriculture. 

In  addition,  the  Commission  proposed  to  promote  the  use  of  agreed  common 
methodologies  in  order  to  harmonize  such  environment  statistics.  Wherever 
possible, these methodologies would also be agreed at an international level so that 

the resulting statistics would be comparable at a global level, while taking account 
of Community interests. 

Both data collection and methodological harmonization v/ould, within the limits of 
the  available  resources,  cover the full  range  of  statistical  variables  and  economic 
activities set out in Annex A of the Decision. 

It was envisaged that such official  statistics and information  collected by the EEA 
via EIONET  would  be  complementary,  thereby  satisfying  the  Community's  very 
broad information needs in relation to environment policy and to the environmental 
aspects  of  other policies.  The Decision  therefore  contains  specific  provisions  for 
co-ordination between Eurostat and the EEA (Art.  1, 4, 6 and Annex B). 

3.  POLICY CONTEXT:  ENVIRONMENT 

The  present  environment  policy  objectives  of  the  EU  are  set  out  in  the  Fifth 
Environmental Action Programme (5EAP)1. 

In particular,  the  5EAP  refers to the importance  of "exploiting  and  strengthening 
the experiences and capacities [...]  traditional official  statistics in the economic and 
social fields". There is a direct link between the role  of  statistics  and the  5EAP's 
emphasis  on  target  sectors  and  on  instruments.  In  fact,  statistical  information  is 
itself identified  as an "instrument" in the section of the  5EAP  on "broadening the 
range of instruments". 

4.  POLICY CONTEXT:  STATISTICS 

Current Community policy on statistics in general is set out in the Council Decision 
93/464/EEC2 adopting a framework programme for priority actions in the field of 
statistical  information  1993-1997  (the  "Statistical  Programme"),  and  in  Council 
Regulation (EC) No  322/973  on the role of Eurostat as regards the production  of 
Community Statistics. These texts include, inter alia, provision for the Commission 
to  be  assisted  by  the  Statistical  Programme  Committee  (SPC)  established  under 
Decision 89/3 82/EEC, Euratom4 

Decision 93/464/EEC on the Statistical Programme foresees the need for  "specific 
implementing" actions in various domains. The  SPC provides  a channel by which 
the  services  of Member  States  which  are responsible  for  implementing  statistical 
actions can express their opinions regarding the desirability  and feasibility  of such 

1  Resolution of the Council and the Representatives of the Governments of the Member  States, 
meeting within the Council of  1  February  1993 on a Community programme of policy and 
action in relation to the environment and sustainable development. OJ No C138, 17.5.1993, 
pl-

2 OJ No L219-, 28.8.1993, pl. 

3 Council Regulation (EC) No 322/97 of 17 February 1997. OJ No L52, 22.2.1997 

4 OJ No L181, 28.6.1989, p47. 

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actions.  For  the  development  of  environment  statistics,  the  present  Decision 
contains  provisions  for the  Commission  itself to  adopt  certain types  of  measures 
after  consulting  the  SPC.  However,  before  the  Decision  was  adopted,  the 
Commission  gave  assurances  to  the  Council  that  this  provision  would  be  used 
sparingly,  and without any intention of by-passing the decision-making  powers  of 
the Council  and the European Parliament.  In fact,  up until  now,  the  Commission 
has not made any use of this provision. 

5.  RESOURCES 

for 

environment 

indicated  planned 

The financial statement  attached  to  the  Decision  on  the  four-year  development 
programme 
expenditure 
statistics 
(commitments) of 9 Mio ECU over the period  1994-1997, using the normal budget 
resources for statistics in Chapter B5-6  (see Table 5). The total resources actually 
available  were  slightly  higher  (about  10.4  Mio  ECU).  Resources  available from 
Chapter  B5-6  were  lower  than  intended,  but  additional  resources  were  made 
available from Chapter B4-3  (environment)  and  other  budget  lines,  as  shown  in 
Table 5. The extra resources from Chapter B4-3 were made available principally to 
support  the  rapid  execution  of  the  actions  listed  in  the  Communication  on 
environmental indicators and green national accounting (see Point 9). 

6.  ACTIONS AND RESULTS 

Actions under the present Decision can.be classified  in two ways,  by a distinction 
(Article 2(3)) between information on: 

•  the pressures on the environment resulting from human activities; 

•  economic  and societal  responses to  environmental  policies  and to  changes 

in the state of the environment; 

as well as 

•  by work area (Annex A(2)); 

•  by type of data (Annex A(2)); 

•  by type of action or method (Art. 2(4) and Annex A(3)). 

For  clarity,  this  report  presents  actions  classified  by "pressures" and "responses" 
and  by  work  area.  Cross  references  to  "type  of  data"  and  "type  of  action"  are 
provided in summary tables (Table 2, Table 3). 

7.  PRESSURES RESULTING FROM HUMAN ACTIVITIES 

7.1  Common  projects 

Common  projects  on  pressures  resulting  from  human  activities  include  work  on 
emissions,  on waste statistics  and on water statistics. They also include work to 

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develop  pressure  indicators  and  indices  capable  of  measuring  the  pressures 
resulting from all economic activities (see 9.1). 

7.2  Emissions 

Emissions:  Eurostat  collects  data  on  emissions  of  some  air  pollutants  via  the 
regular joint  Eurostat-OECD  questionnaire  on the  state  of the  environment  (see 
10.1). 

Eurostat  also provides  statistics and related  technical information  as input to  the 
CORINAIR  air  emissions  inventory  which  is  managed  by  the  European 
Environment  Agency.  CORINAIR  provides  a  harmonized  framework  for 
compiling  air  emissions  data  in  all Member  States,  with  close  links  to  national 
emissions inventories. 

In addition, Eurostat and the European Environment Agency are working on a set 
of "common tools" for a future Integrated Emissions Inventory, which will cover 
emissions to air, water and land for a wide range of pollutants. Within this project, 
Eurostat  has  developed  a  draft  standard  statistical Nomenclature  for  Sources  of 
Emissions  (NOSE),  which  facilitates  the  linking  of  emissions  data  to  economic 
activities defined according to NACE. 

For  emissions from industrial  sources,  it  is  foreseen  that  a Pollutant  Emissions 
Register  (PER)  will  be  developed  under  the  provisions  of  Article  15  of  the 
Directive  on Integrated  Pollution Prevention  and  Control which was  adopted by 
the Council  in  1996. The use  of common nomenclatures would  enable  the PER 
information to be used in the future Integrated Emissions Inventory. 

7.3  Waste statistics 

Since  1988,  statistics  on  waste  generation  and  waste  management  have  been 
collected  regularly  by  Eurostat  as  part  of  the  regular  joint  Eurostat-OECD 
questionnaire  on the state of the environment (see  10.1). In order to bring about 
needed  improvements  in  the  coverage  and  comparability  of  these  statistics, 
Eurostat has been working with Member States to develop an improved common 
approach  to  waste  statistics.  Several years  of  studies  and  pilot  surveys  led  to  a 
draft  proposal  for  a  Council  Regulation  on  waste  statistics  which  is  to  be 
transmitted by the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament later in 
1997. 

The  draft  proposal  provides  for  the  regular  transmission  of  statistics  on  the 
generation,  collection  and  treatment  of  waste,  including  waste  recovery  and 
recycling. It  covers wastes from all types of economic activity except agriculture, 
forestry  and fishing, together with wastes generated by households. For statistical 
reporting  purposes,  wastes  are  classified  according  to  an  aggregated  and 
restructured  version  of the European  Waste  Catalogue.  The  draft  proposal  also 
includes detailed coding schemes for waste handling and treatment operations. 

This proposal, if adopted, would result in a regular flow of harmonized statistics on 
waste; in order to minimize the burden on enterprises and other data providers, the 
proposal  has  been  simplified  to  include  only  the  essential  data  needed  for  the 
development and monitoring of waste policy. 

The  Commission  also  included  statistical  provisions  in its  revised  proposal  for  a 
Directive on landfills, which has already been sent to the Council and Parliament in 
1997. 

The adoption of legal bases for statistics on waste would  signal the willingness  of 
Member States to support a more regular flow of information on waste than is the 
case at present. 

7.4  Water statistics 

Since  1988, statistics on water have been collected regularly by Eurostat as part of 
the regular joint Eurostat-OECD questionnaire on the state of the environment (see 
10.1).  During  the  period  1994-1997,  effort  has  focused  on  improving  the 
completeness  and comparability  of  data on water  resources,  sectoral  water  use 
and  waste  water  treatment,  as  well  as  in  developing  appropriate  indicators. 
Eurostat  proposed  improved  definitions  for  these  statistics,  and  requested  to 
Member  States  to  review  all  data  already  supplied  to  Eurostat.  In  addition, 
Eurostat is supporting the development of water statistics in Member States where 
such statistics have not up to now been regularly compiled. 

Methodological studies in this area are continuing. One such study has resulted in a 
methodology  for obtaining harmonized estimates of renewable water resources by 
catchment  or  administrative  area,  with  the  possibility  of  monitoring  available 
resources on a seasonal basis. 

The  work  already  completed  should  lead  to  a  significant  improvement  in  the 
quality of the the regular water statistics produced by Eurostat. 

7.5  Production  and consumption  of agricultural and industrial  products 

In addition to the common projects mentioned  above,  pesticide  use  and nutrient 
balances  have been identified  as key areas for improving  statistics which measure 
environmental pressures from agriculture. 

Pesticide  use: Eurostat has started to compile more detailed statistics on pesticide 
use  than were  previously  available.  In  order to  improve  the  availability  of  data, 
Eurostat  has  supported  the  exchange  of  information  between  Member  States  on 
the methodology  of pesticide use surveys directed to farmers.  As  a tool  for these 
surveys, a database linking commercial pesticide names to chemical names has been 
produced. A first publication on pesticide statistics was issued in 1996. 

Nutrient  balances:  Eurostat  has  started  to  compile  regular  nutrient  balances  for 
NUTS  3  regions,  using  a  harmonized  methodology  based  on  the  experience  of 
Member  States.  These  balances  are  based  on  the  detailed  agricultural  statistics 
(livestock  numbers and fertiliser  use)  already collected  by Eurostat.  The balances 
provide  information  on nitrogen  surpluses on agricultural  land and thus  on trends 
in  the  potential  emissions  of  nitrogen  and  other  substances  to  surface  and 
groundwater, and also to the air. 

Pesticide and nutrient balance data, together with other data provided by Member 
States,  will  be  used  to  produce  a  set  of  regular  agro-environment  indicators. 
These  indicators are fully  compatible with other Community agricultural  statistics, 

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and together will provide a balanced picture of the economic and social  importance 
of the  agricultural  sector  as well  as of the  environmental  pressures  resulting  from 
agricultural production. 

7.6  Energy production and  consumption 

Making  use  of  its  already  well-developed  energy  statistics,  Eurostat  publishes 
annual  statistics on  carbon  dioxide  emissions from fossil  fuel  combustion.  These 
statistics are estimates based on final energy consumption data supplied by Member 
States, and a set of common emission factors; from 1997, Eurostat uses the  default 
emission factors  of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).  These 
statistics  can  be  used  to  validate  both  the  national  inventories  of  carbon  dioxide 
emissions supplied  by Member  States under Council Decision 389/93  and  also  the 
more detailed CORINAIR emissions inventories (see 7.1). 

Other emissions data linked to  energy production  and  consumption  are covered by 
the work on emissions described above. 

Although not part of the development programme covered by the present Decision, 
it  may  be  noted  here  that  since  1994,  Eurostat  has  extended  its  regular  energy 
statistics  to  cover  renewable  energy  sources,  including  biomass,  solar  energy  and 
wind  power  (hydroelectric  energy  has always been included), with  data  extending 
backwards to  1989. 

7.7  Transport 

A  range  of  indicators  measuring  environmentally-relevant  trends  in transport  and 
pressures  linked  to  transport  has  been  included  for  several  years  in  Eurostat 
publications  such as the regular  compendium Environment  Statistics  and  Europe's 
Environment:  The  Dobris  Assessment.  In  addition,  data  on  transport-related 
pressures  were  compiled  for  the  publication Road  transport  and  the  environment 
in the European Union. 

7.8  Other  domains 

The other domains listed in Annex A of the Decision are: 

•  extraction and consumption of raw materials 

•.  construction and  settlement 

• 

leisure and tourism 

•  population growth, households and social welfare 

•  public services 

These  domains  are  included  within  the  common  projects  on  emissions,  waste 
statistics  and water statistics, as well as on pressure  indicators  and  indices. 

8.  ECONOMIC AND SOCIETAL RESPONSES 

8.1  Production and consumption  of agricultural and industrial  products 

for 

statistics  on  expenditure  on 
A  conceptual  framework,  SERIEE, 
environmental  protection,  linked  to  national  accounts  has  been  developed  and 
tested  via  studies  and  pilot  surveys  (see  9.3).  Some  data  on  environmental 
expenditure by industry  have been collected  via a voluntary  questionnaire  sent  to 
Member  States  in  1996,  and  also  via the joint  Eurostat-OECD  questionnaire  on 
pollution abatement end  control  expenditure  (see  10.1). While availability  of such 
data in Member States has improved since 1994, the data remain incomplete. 

In early  1997, the Council adopted a Regulation on Structural Business  Statistics5 
which provides a legal base for regular transmission by Member States of statistics 
on "end of pipe" investments for  environmental  protection,  within the  framework 
of  regular  industrial  statistics,  starting  with  data  for  1995.  The  Regulation  also 
provides for pilot surveys on investments in integrated technologies and on current 
expenditure for environmental protection. It is hoped that the adoption of this legal 
base  signals  an improvement  in the  ability  of Member  States to  supply  data  on a 
regular basis; however,  most Member States have requested  derogations  from the 
obligation to supply statistics for the year 1995. 

Environmental  expenditure  is a measure  of the  consumption  of certain  categories 
of  environmental  goods  and  services.  In  parallel,  Eurostat,  in  collaboration  with 
OECD,  has  developed  internationally  agreed  definitions  of  the  eco-industries 
which  produce  goods  and  services  used  for  environmental  protection.  An  initial 
study  in  1996,  using  these  definitions,  produced  estimates  of  turnover  and 
employment  in  eco-industries  in  the  EU;  it  is  intended  to  follow  this  work  by 
regular data collection in collaboration with Member States. 

Eurostat has also collaborated with other Commission services and with OECD in 
order to arrive at agreed  definitions to permit the compilation of statistics on eco-
taxes and other economic instruments related to environmental protection. 

8.2  Waste  management 

Provisions  for  statistics  on  waste  management  are  included  within  the  proposed 
Council Regulation on waste statistics and the proposed Directive on landfills, and 
also within the Council Regulation on Structural Business  Statistics (see 7.1).  The 
necessary  technical  preparations  have  been  included  within  the  work  on  waste 
statistics  in  general  and,  for  economic  data,  within  the  work  on  environmental 
protection expenditure. 

8.3  Transport 

A set of economic  and fiscal indicators  related  to  transport  was  compiled  for the 
first  time in  1996 and published  in Road  transport and  the environment -  energy 
and fiscal  aspects. 

5  Council  Regulation  (EC,  Euratom)  No  58/97  of  20  December  1996  concerning  structural 

business statistics. OJ No L14, 17.1.1997, pl. 

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8.4  Public services 

SERIEE  also  provides  a conceptual  framework  for  statistics  on  expenditure  on 
environmental  protection  by  public  administrations. 
this  context, 
environmental  protection activities include,  inter alia,  waste water treatment  (see 
7.4) and waste management (see 7.3 and 8.2). Data have have been collected via a 
voluntary  questionnaire  sent  to  Member  States  in  1996,  and  also  via  the joint 
Eurostat-OECD  questionnaire; as for environmental  expenditures  by industry,  the 
information  provided  by  Member  States  is  somewhat  incomplete,  although  for 
different reasons. 

In 

A study on expenditure on environmental protection by the EU has been completed 
and the results will be published in 1997. 

Statistics on public budgets for research and  development  on  the  environment 
are included in Eurostat*s regular statistics on research and development budgets. 
The  standard  statistical  classification  used  (NABS)  was  revised  in  1994,  in 
collaboration  with  OECD,  with  some  improvement  of  the  references  to 
environmental research. 

Proposals  have been formulated  for the inclusion  of  environmental  expenditure in 
the  standard  statistical  Classification  of the  Functions  of  Government  (COFOG), 
which is part of the European System of Accounts (ES A). 

8.5  Population  growth, households and social welfare 

Social  and  demographic  indicators  are  collected  and  published  regularly  by 
Eurostat,  and  have  not  been  directly  the  subject  of  actions  under  the  present 
Decision. It may be noted that considerable effort  has been invested by Eurostat in 
the  improvement  of  population  projections,  which  are  of  special  interest  for 
environment policy. 

Proposals have been formulated for the inclusion of specific items of environmental 
expenditure  by  households  in  the  standard  statistical  Classification  of  Individual 
Consumption  by  Purpose  (COICOP),  which  is  part  of  the  European  System  of 
Accounts (ESA). 

9.  FRAMEWORKS 

According to the Decision (Annex A), the programme included, as a priority, work 
on: 

•  defining  an  accounting  framework  for  integrating  economic  data  on  the 
environment  in  overall  accounting  systems  such  as  environmental  satellite 
accounts and their links with the System of National Accounts and with natural 
resource accounting; 

•  contributing to the development of natural resource accounting. 

Given the importance  attached to this work  area, Eurostat  and other Commission 
services  engaged  during  1993-94  in a fundamental  review  of  options  for work in 
this  area.  The  outcome  of  this  review  was  the  strategy  described  in  the 

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Communication to the Council and the Parliament  on environmental  indicators  and 
green  national  accounting6,  which  was  adopted  by  the  Commission  in  December 
1994. 

This strategy is based on three ideas: 

• 

the  objective  is  to  construct  statistical  instruments  for  policy  guiding  and  for 
public  information.  These  instruments  should  link  pressures,  policy  fields  and 
economic activities; 

•  physical as well as monetary information  should be included; 

• 

the accepted  concepts of national accounting should be used as far as possible. 

In order to achieve the stated objective, the Commission is working on five parallel 
actions: 

Action  1 

Production  of  a  Handbook 
framework for "green national accounting" 

laying  out  an  agreed  common 

Action 2 

Action 3 

Action 4 

Action 5 

Establishment  of  a  European  System  of  Environmental  Pressure 
Indices (see 9.1) 

Establishment  of  a  European  System  of  Integrated  Economic  and 
Environmental Indices (see 9.2) 

Establishment  of  environmental  satellite  accounts  to  the  national 
accounts (see 9.3). 

Improving  the  methodology  and  enlarging  the  scope  of  monetary 
valuation of environmental damage. This Action is being carried  out 
primarily  within  the  Community  RDT  programme  and  does  not 
form  part  of  Eurostat's  work  programme  under  the  present 
Decision. 

These  Actions  are  being  carried  out  in  parallel,  starting  in  1995,  with  results 
becoming  available  in  stages  between  1997  and  1999.  Such  parallel  approaches 
were considered  indispensable on technical grounds, since this work involves many 
methodological  innovations and it would have been dangerous to rely on any single 
approach. 

9.1  Pressure Indices  Project 

The  objective  of  the  Pressure  Indices  Project  is  to  produce  a  set  of  indices 
measuring  aggregated  environmental  pressures  for  each  of  the  ten  policy  fields 
listed  in  Table  1, which  are  broadly  identical  with  those  listed  in the  5EAP.  (See 
Point 3). 

6  COM(94)670  final. 

-  11 

Each  of  the  ten  indices  will  be  a  weighted  combination  of  at  least  five  pressure 
indicators  relevant  to  that field. The  selection  of indicators  and  the  assessment  of 
weighting  factors  are  achieved  through  a  series  of  surveys  of  experts  in  the 
particular policy field. 

The expert  surveys  are being carried  out  in stages  over the period  1995-1997 and 
the results of the  second  round  of indicator  selection were  available in early  1997. 
Work  on weighting  factors  will  proceed  over  the  period  1997-1998  and  the first 
results of the project will be published in 1998. 

In  order  to  link the  pressure  indices  to  economic  activities,  it  is  intended  that  the 
selected pressure indicators should be capable of measuring the contribution  of the 
"sectors"  used  in  the  5EAP,  that  is,  energy,  industry,  transport,  agriculture, 
tourism and waste management. For each of these sectors,  studies have been  made 
to identify  relevant indicators and to evaluate data sources. 

In  order  to  provide  the  capacity  to  estimate  and  store  the  necessary  data  on 
environmental pressures, the Envstat  database (see Databases) is being extended  to 
form  an Environmental Pressure Information  System (EPIS). 

9.2  Integration  of economic and  environmental  data 

For  the  integration  of  economic  and  environmental  data,  Eurostat  is  working 
towards  a  system  in  which  environmental  variables  will  be  included  in  a  national 
accounting  matrix.  Such  an  approach  has  already  been  used  by  several  Member 
States,  including  the Netherlands NAMEA  (National  Accounting  Matrix  including 
Environmental  Accounts)  and  similar  systems  in Denmark,  Germany,  Austria  and 
Sweden. All Member  States are now working  on NAMEA-like systems which will, 
initially,  be  based  on  a  a  subdivision  of  the  economy  into  60-70  branches 
(production  activities  plus  final  consumption  by  households)  and  environmental 
variables  including  emissions  and  environmental  protection  expenditures.  Such  a 
framework  is  in  principle  capable  of  being  expanded  to  include  a  wider  range  of 
indicators  and  aggregated  pressure  indices,  linked  to  policy  fields  as  described 
above (see 9.1). 

Coordinated  work by Member States started in  1995 and new results in the form  of 
pilot NAMEA-like  systems from some countries will become available in late 1997, 
although it will take longer for  full  integration of the national tables into a common 
Community  framework. 

9.3  Environmental  satellite  accounts 

Satellite accounts  are foreseen  in the ESA7  as the  normal  tool  for  accommodating 
specific  data  needs within  the  overall  conceptual  framework  of  national  accounts. 
Satellite  accounts  provide  tools  for  the  development  and  monitoring  of  specific 
policies, for  example  health  care,  education,  social welfare  and  environment.  They 
can serve such data needs by including extra detail, by changing basic concepts and 
by  enlarging 
the  scope  of  the  accounting  framework  with  non-monetary 
information. 

7 European  System of Accounts, 1995. 

-  12 

Eurostat  is  working  with  national  statistical  services  to  produce  two  classes  of 
environmental satellite accounts: 

• 

the Environmental  Protection  Expenditure  Account  (EPEA)  as  defined  within 
SERIEE.  This  makes  use  of  data  on  environmental  protection  expenditures 
together  with data on eco-industries  and  eco-taxes, and  other  data  on financing 
flows  in Member  States  (see  8.1  and  8.4).  EPEA  provides  policy-makers  with 
information  on  the  impact  of  environmental  protection  expenditures  on  the 
economy (including employment) at national and EU level. 

•  natural  resource  accounts  for  forests,  water,  and  sub-soil  assets,  as  defined 
within  the  System  of  Integrated  Environmental  and  Economic  Accounting 
(SEEA)8.  These  accounts  integrate  data  on  physical  stocks  and  flows  together 
with  data  on  related  economic  transactions.  The  natural  resource  accounts 
provide policy-makers with information  on the interaction between  resource use 
and the economy, which is directly relevant for an evaluation of policies in terms 
of sustainability  criteria. 

Work on satellite accounts has been on-going since  1993 with pilot accounts for an 
increasing  range  of domains  and  of Member  States being produced,  limited  by the 
availability of staff and resources in the Member States. 

In  addition,  it  should  be  noted  that  the  ESA  now  provides  for  the  inclusion  of 
information  on  the  depletion  of  certain  owned  natural  resources  in  the  main 
accounts. 

10.  COMMON ACTIONS 

10.1  Questionnaires 

Since  1988, regular general  data  collection  from  Member  States  has been  focused 
on a joint  Eurostat-OECD  questionnaire  on the state of the  environment,  with 
sections  on  air,  inland  waters,  marine  environment,  forests,  land  use,  wildlife, 
noise,  and  wastes.  This  questionnaire  is  sent  to  Member  States  every  two  years. 
The  questionnaire  provides  a  de  facto  standard  set  of  tables  and  definitions  for 
about  2500  environment  variables  for  which  data  are  requested  at  country  level. 
The questionnaire  is accepted  as a basis for voluntary  data collection by all OECD 
member  countries  and,  subject  to  reservations  about  comparability  for  some 
variables, provides a basis for  comparison of environmental trends between the EU 
and other OECD countries. 

Since  the joint  questionnaire  was  fully  revised  in the  period  1990-1992,  no  major 
changes were required  during the period  covered by the present Decision,  although 
minor improvements were made for both the  1994 and  1996 questionnaires. 

In  1996,  an  additional  joint  Eurostat-OECD  questionnaire  on  pollutant  and 
abatement  control  expenditure  was  added. Earlier versions  of this  questionnaire 
had  been used  by OECD  alone,  although Eurostat  contributed  to  its  development, 

8  SEEA  reference  here 

-  13  -

and  as  far  as  possible  it  uses  concepts  and  definitions  which  are  aligned  with 
SERIEE. 

In  1996, a new regional  environment  questionnaire  was initiated  by Eurostat,  in 
which  Member  States  were  requested  to  supply  data  for  about  50  variables  at 
NUTS2  level. These variables  are a subset  of those included  in the joint  Eurostat-
OECD  questionnaires  and  were  selected  to  provide  indicators  for  assessment  of 
environmental  investments via the EU  Structural Funds. This questionnaire  is also 
being used to  collect data from countries in eastern and central Europe which  have 
applied  for EU membership. The first results from this exercise will be available in 
late 1997. 

10.2  Publications 

Article  2(4)  includes  dissemination  under the types of action  to  be  included  in the 
development programme for environment statistics. 

the  period  of 

During 
the  programme,  Eurostat  has  disseminated  both 
methodological  information  and  statistics  in a range of publications  (see Table 4). 
In  addition,  selected  environment  statistics  have  been  included  in  a  number  of 
general  publications  (Eurostat  Yearbook,  Basic  Statistics  of  the  Community, 
Europe  in  Figures,  etc).  Eurostat  has  also  made  substantial  contributions  to 
publications  by  the  European  Environment  Agency  (Europe's  Environment:  the 
Dobris Assessment  (1995) and Environment in the European  Union 1995). 

Dissemination  also  involves  information  supplied  in  response  to  information 
requests  received  by Eurostat.  In  addition,  the  results  of  some  studies  have  been 
disseminated to specialists in the form of working papers. 

10.3  Databases 

Eurostat  has  developed  a  production  database,  Envstat,  as  a  repository  for 
working  data  collected  from  Member  States  and  other  data providers. Envstat  has 
facilities  for  handling  methodological  and  other  information  alongside  statistics,  as 
a tool to improve the quality  of information.  It  is also capable of calculating  some 
derived  statistics, allowing additional  series to be estimated in certain cases. 

Data  for  dissemination  are  copied  into  the  MILIEU  domain  of  the  Eurostat 
reference  database, New Cronos, to which certain outside users have direct access. 
MILIEU data are also made available on electronic media. 

11.  EUROPEAN  ENVIRONMENT  AGENCY 

Article 4 and  Annex ^  I  the present Decision  contain  provisions  for  coordination 
of  the  development  programme  on  environment  statistics  with  the  work 
programme of the European Environment Agency (EEA). 

An effective  coordination has achieved through four actions: 

•  a Memorandum  of Understanding between Eurostat  and the EEA was signed in 
May  1995, setting  out  basic rules  and  procedures  both  for  general  cooperation 
implementation  of  the  relevant 
between  the  two  organizations  and  for 

-  14-

provisions  of  the  Decision  on  the  development  programme  for  environment 
statistics and of the EEA Regulation9. 

•  Eurostat  has taken  special  care to frame its  annual work  programmes  and  to 
assign resources to its projects in such a way as to complement and support the 
projects included in the annual and multiannual work programmes of the EEA. 
Eurostat has also worked with the EEA to identify  areas where  statistical data 
are available or could be made available for use in EEA projects, most notably 
in the production of reports on the state of the environment. Eurostat provided 
extensive  statistical  support  for the Dobris pan-European  state of environment 
report project  during  1992-1995,  leading up to  the  publication  in  1995  of the 
EEA report Europe's environment:  the Dobris  assessment and the companion 
Statistical Compendium by Eurostat, UNECE, OECD and WHO (see Table 4). 

•  as required by the Decision, the annual statistical work programme submitted to 
the  Statistical  Programme  Committee  has  also  been  submitted  to  the  EEA 
Management  Board.  This  procedure  started  with  the  1996  work  programme, 
which  was  the first annual  programme  established  after  the  adoption  of  the 
present  Decision.  The  1996  work  programme  was  reviewed  by  the  EEA 
Management Board  on 22.9.95  and approved with only minor comments.  The 
1997  work  programme  was  reviewed  by  the  EEA  Management  Board  on 
12.12.96.  In this case the Management Board  requested Eurostat to modify  its 
plans  for  publication  of  carbon  dioxide  emissions  estimates  (see  7.6)  and 
Eurostat has agreed to this modification. 

•  Eurostat  is  an  active  participant  in  the  process  by  which  the  EEA's  work 
programmes  are  discussed  with the Commission  and the Member  States.  Key 
elements  in  this  process  are  the  regular  meetings  of  the  EEA National  Focal 
Points/EIONET10 working group, and the formal  opinion on the EEA's annual 
work programme which the Commission adopts each year. 

The  overall  effect  of  this  coordination  is  that  to  date  there  has  been  very  little 
duplication  either  of  data  collection  or  of  methodological  development  between 
Eurostat  and  the  EEA.  In  some fields, on the  contrary,  both  orgamzations  have 
taken  advantage  of  each  other's  available  data  and  expertise,.so  that  progress  is 
accelerated;  however,  further  work  is  needed  to  maintain  this  complementarity, 
and, in particular, to ensure that the EEA and the European Topic Centres do not 
initiate  new  data  collection  exercises  in  areas  which  are  already  covered  by 
Community statistics. 

9  Council Regulation  (EEC) No  1210/90 of 7 May  1990 on the establishment  of the European 
Environment  Agency and the European environment  information  and observation  network. 
OJ No L120, 11.5.1990, pl. 

10 EIONET: Environment INformation and Observation NETwork. 

- 1 5-

12.  E V A L U A T I ON  OF T HE  P R O G R A M ME 

A wide range of the environment statistics specified in this Decision are available in 
many Member States, and are regularly transmitted to Eurostat and made available 
to  policy-makers  and  other  users.  In  addition,  the  necessary  standards  and 
frameworks  now  exist  for  harmonization  both  of  these  data  and,  in principle,  of 
other  data which  are  not  yet  regularly  transmitted  to  Eurostat.  In  certain  of  the 
most important  cases  where  regular transmission  of harmonized  data has not  yet 
been achieved, actions are under way to achieve this (notably the proposed Council 
Regulation on waste statistics). To this'extent, the development  programme under 
the present Decision has achieved the results intended. 

Difficulties  remain and should be analyzed. First, the human and financial resources 
available  for  new  statistics  in  Member  States  are  always  limited.  The  resources 
allocated  to  environment  statistics  have increased  in some  Member  States  during 
the  past  five  years.  However,  the  departments  responsible  for  environment 
statistics  in most Member  States  are still  small in relation to  the  workload  which 
would be imposed by regular collection  of the full  range  of  information  which is 
needed,  whether  for  national  policy-makers,  for  Community  statistics  or  for  the 
projects of the European Environment Agency. 

Second,  the  new  conceptual frameworks which  are  now  being  developed  and 
tested (see point 8) will tend to result in a need for more detailed data, for example 
with a more detailed breakdown by economic branch (see  9.2).  In some  cases the 
required  data  already  exist  in  Member  States,  but  in  other  cases  new  data 
collection is needed. 

A  related  issue  is  that  where  detailed  new  statistics  have  been  submitted  to 
Eurostat  in the  context  of pilot  projects under the  present Decision,  a  significant 
further  effort  is  required  to  examine  and  integrate  these  statistics  and  to  draw 
conclusions in the form of proposals for regular data collection. The limiting factor 
in this process is often the scarcity of staff with the necessary technical expertise. 

Finally,  there  do  remain  significant  areas  in  which  further  development  work  is 
needed to establish harmonized methods and reach agreement with Member States 
on regular transmission of statistics. Such areas include, inter alia: 

•  economic and physical data needed for policy-relevant environmental indicators, 
•  including  indicators  of  sustainable  development,  for  transport,  agriculture,  and 

tourism, 

•  physical data on non-agricultural land use and on urban areas, 

•  physical data on the production and use of hazardous or scarce substances, 

•  economic  and  physical  data  needed  to  complete  the  planned  natural  resource 

accounts. 

There  is  considerable  scope  for  exploiting  data from administrative  sources,  but 
additional  work  is  needed  to  adapt  and  harmonize  these  data  for  statistical 
purposes. In addition, there is scope for adding more environmental  data collection 

-16-

to  surveys in the fields of industry; agricultures, energy and transport. Progress in 
this  direction  has been  slower than expected,  because  of pressure  not to  increase 
the  complexity  of  surveys  and the  consequent  burden  on  respondents,  especially 
enterprises. 

There is  also  scope  for  improved  linkages  between  environmental  legislation and 
statistical  data  collection.  The  reporting  requirements  attached  to  existing 
environmental  legislation  cannot,  in  the  majority  of  cases,  be  used  to  generate 
regular flows  of harmonized  statistical  data. However,  in more recent  legal  texts 
(such  as  the  IPPC  Directive,  the  proposed  Landfill  Directive  and  the  proposed 
Framework Directive  on Water Policy),  more attention is being given to the need 
for such regular data flows and to related statistical harmonization issues. 

Overall,  the  Commission  considers  that  the  results  obtained  under the  four-year 
programme  have  been  good,  considering  the  complexity  of  the  methodological 
developments  required by the various work  areas  and the  continuing  shortage  of 
resources  in  the  competent  services  in  Member  States.  However,  it  is  clearly 
desirable  both  to  continue  the  methodological  work,  as  outlined  above,  while 
placing new emphasis on the steps needed to achieve a regular flow  of data in the 
areas where extensive methodological  work has been completed.  The Commission 
therefore  considers  it  appropriate  to  propose  an  extension  to  the  four-year 
programme under the present Decision; such a proposal will be prepared before the 
end of 1997. 

-17 

TABLE 1:  POLICY FIELDS FOR THE PRESSURE INDICES PROJECT 

Climate change 

Ozone layer depletion 

Loss of biodiversity 

Resource depletion 

Dispersion of toxics 

Waste 

Air pollution 

Marine environment and coastal zones 

Water pollution and water resources 

Urban problems, noise and odours 

TABLE 2:  ACTIONS CLASSIFIED BY TYPE OF DATA 

Type of data 

Work areas 

Production 
processes, 
emissions 

Output and 
handling of 
waste 

Use of natural 
resources 

Public and 
private 
expenditures 

Extraction and consumption 
of raw materials 

+ 

Production and 
consumption of agricultural 
an 1 industrial products 

Energy production and 
consumption 

Construction and settlement 

Leisure and tourism 

Transport 

Population growth, 
household and social 
welfare 

Public services 

19 

TABLE 3:  ACTIONS CLASSIFIED BY TYPE OF ACTION 

Work areas 

Methodological 
and conceptual 
studies 

Type of Action 

Practical studies  Pilot surveys 

Data collection  Dissemination 

Extraction and consumption  + 
of raw materials 

Production and 
consumption of agricultural 
and industrial products 

Energy production and 
consumption 

Construction and settlement  + 

Leisure and tourism 

Transport 

Population growth, 
household and social 
welfare 

Public services 

Development of 
frameworks for integrating 
economic and 
environmental data 

+ 

2 0-

TABLE 4:  LIST OF PUBLICATIONS 1994  -  MID  1997 

Compendium 

Kompendium 

Compendium 

1997 

Environment statistics 1996 

Umweltstatistik 1996 

Statistiques de l'environnement 
1996 

Special compendium! 

Sonderkompendiums 

Compendium! spéciaux 

1995 

1997 

Europe's environment  statistical 
compendium for the Dobris 
assessment 

Indicators of sustainable 
development:  a pilot set  following 
the methodology of the UN-CSD 

Indikatoren fQr Nachhaltige 
Entwicklung: eine Pilotstudle 
gemSO der Méthodologie der 
KNE-VN 

Indicateurs  de  développement 
durable: une étude pilote selon la 
méthodologie de la  CDD-NU 

Domain-specific  publications 

Spezielle Verôffentlichungen 

Publications  liées aux  domaines 
spécifiques  . 

1994 

SERIEE 1994 version 

Environmental protection 
expenditure: data collection 
methods in the public sector and 
industry 

1996 

The distribution of nitrogen inputs 
to agriculture 

Verteilung des Stickstoffeintrags  in 
den Boden durch die 
Landwirtschaft 

La répartition des apports d'azote 
dans l'agriculture 

1997 

1995 

1996 

Carbon dioxide emissions from 
fossil fuels  1985-1993 

Kohlendioxidemissionen von 
fossilen Brenstoffen  1985-1993  * 

Emissions de dioxide de carbone 
des combustibles fossiles  1985-
1993 

EUR  12 Trade in valuable waste 
materials 

Abfallstoffe  mit Handelswert im 
Auusenhandel der EUR 12 

Echanges de déchets à valeur 
commerciale de l'EUR 12 

Statistics  in Focus 

Statistik  kurzgefasst 

Statistiques en bref 

Road transport and the 
environment in the EU 

Straflenverkehr und Umwelt in der 
EU 

Les transports routiers et 
l'environnement dans 1TJE 

Overview of pesticide data in the 
EU 

Ûberblick ûber die Pestiziddaten in 
der EU 

Aperçu sur les données de 
pesticides dans LUE 

Road transport and the 
environment - energy and fiscal 
aspects 

Straflenverkehr und Umwelt -
Energie- und Steueraspekte 

Transport routier et environnement 
.  aspects énergétiques et fiscaux 

Eurostat  general  statistics 

Eurostat allgemeine Statistik 

Eurostat statistiques  générales 

Basic statistics of the Community 

Statistische Grundzahlen der 
Gemeinschaft 

Statistiques de base de la 
Communauté 

Europe in figures 

Europa in Zahlen 

Europe en chiffres 

Social portrait of Europe 

Sozialportrait Europas 

Eurostat yearbook 

Eurostat Jahrbuch 

Portrait social d'Europe 

Annuaire Eurostat 

>=translation not yet available/Obersetzung noch nicht vorhanden/traduction pas encore disponible 

21 

TABLE 5: BUDGET RESOURCES 1994-1997 

Commitments (1000 ECU) 

Planned 

Council Decision 
Financial statement 

Outcome 

B5-6 Statistics (Note  1) 

B4-3 Environment (Note 2) 

Other budget lines 

1994 

1500 

1595 

418 

1995 

2200 

1150 

633 

312 

TOTAL Outcome 

2013 

2095 

1996 

2800 

1300 

2000 

150 

3450 

1997 

TOTAL 

2500 

9000 

1000 

1500 

300 

5045 

4551 

762 

2800 

10358 

Notes: 
1. Licludes relevant expenditure under Statistical Programme themes 88,89 (environment) and 29 (national accounts). The budget 
allocated to environmental accounts under Theme 29 is about 200 KECU per year from 1995 onwards. 
2. From 1996 onwards includes extra resources allocated following the Communication on environmental indicators and green 
national accounting. 

22 

ISSN 0254-1475 

COM(97) 430 final 

DOCUMENTS 

EN 

17  14 

Catalogue  number  :  CB-CO-97-434-EN-C 

ISBN  92-78-23854-6 

Office  for  Official  Publications of the European  Communities 

L-2985  Luxembourg 

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