European environmental economic accounts: new modules
PURPOSE: to introduce new modules on environmental accounts into the existing legal framework for European statistics on European economic accounts for the environment.
PROPOSED ACT: Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council.
ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the European Parliament decides in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure and on an equal footing with the Council.
BACKGROUND: Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European Environmental Economic Accounts establishes a common framework for the collection, compilation, transmission and evaluation of European Environmental Economic Accounts.
Environmental economic accounts are a multipurpose statistical framework bringing together economic and environmental information. They measure the contribution of the environment to the economy and the impact of the economy on the environment in a consistent and compatible way with macroeconomic statistics (national accounts).
Article 10 of Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 lists potential new modules to be introduced at a later stage on the basis of Commission proposals, such as environment-related transfers (subsidies), forestry accounts and ecosystem services accounts.
In order to carry out its tasks under the Treaties, especially those related to the environment, sustainability and climate change, the Union should have relevant, comprehensive and reliable information. In order to better monitor progress towards a green, competitive and resilient circular economy and to monitor progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals in a Union context, additional data is required.
The main objective of the proposal is to extend the scope of the European environmental economic accounts to provide better information for the European Green Deal, a growth strategy that aims to transform the EU into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy.
CONTENT: the proposal adds three new modules to the list of European environmental economic accounts modules: (i) forest accounts, (ii) ecosystem accounts, and (iii) environmental subsidies and similar transfers accounts.
Ecosystem accounts integrate biodiversity and natural capital considerations with mainstream economic questions on resource allocation and sustainability.
Forest accounts specifically measure forest area and its available share for timber extraction and trace their changes over time.
Environmental subsidies and similar transfers accounts identify and quantify domestic fiscal policy measures and non-EU resources that support the Green Deal through economic activities and products, protecting the environment and safeguarding natural resources.
The three proposed modules respond to and are underpinned by international statistical standards: the System of Environmental Economic Accounts (SEEA) Central Framework and SEEA Ecosystem Accounts.
The proposal provides information for the European Green Deal by integrating environmental sustainability considerations for economic policy purposes. The data produced under the Regulation will also contribute to the European Semester's greening initiatives, to the integration of sustainability into all EU policies, and to the monitoring of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
A new provision empowers the Commission to adopt a delegated act to decide on which of the ecosystem services, already included in the reporting tables in Section 5 of Annex IX monetary values, will be reported. The provisions in Annex IX set ecosystem services in physical and monetary units. The ecosystem services in monetary units will be a subset of the ecosystem services in physical units.
The proposal allows Member States to use innovative approaches other than those already foreseen for data collection. It provides for the possibility to request a derogation from data reporting for the three new modules.
Lastly, it updates the areas to be included in the report to the Parliament and the Council on the implementation of the Regulation.