Information on data
Eurostat produces environmental statistics, accounts, and indicators. The data describe the state of the environment and its interaction with human activities, in particular production and consumption activities.
An example of statistics on the state of the environment is the common bird index, which measures the abundance and the diversity of species. An example of the interaction of human activities with the environment is the water statistics volume of freshwater abstracted for use of different sectors.
Environmental statistics
Eurostat produces environmental statistics about water, hazardous chemical substances, and protected areas and birds (biodiversity).
Eurostat also produces statistics about related topics, such as waste, circular economy, climate change, forests, agriculture, and sustainable development. The latter are published in other thematic sections on the Eurostat website.
Environmental statistics are produced in collaboration with national authorities of the EU countries and other partners. The statistcs are based on specific data collections, such as the joint questionnaire on inland waters, or are derived from multi-purpose statistics, such as the hazardous chemicals statistics derived from production and trade statistics.
Ecosystem accounts are an environmental account that measures the services the nature provides to the economy and society. For example, they allow quantifying the economic contribution of pollinators and the effects of their decline on agricultural production. Those services are related to the extent and condition of different ecosystem types. This supports decision making in the context of sustainable resource, natural capital and environmental management and other relevant policy areas.
The Commission (Eurostat) has made a proposal for ecosystem accounts to become mandatory in the EU. For details, please refer to EU regulation 691/2011 as regards introducing new environmental economic accounts modules. This proposal, which is currently discussed by the European Parliament and the Council, would require EU members to produce estimates of ecosystem extent, condition and certain ecosystem services, and transmit these data to Eurostat.
Eurostat coordinates INCA, an EU-level project to develop an integrated system of natural capital and ecosystem services accounting. This project delivers first EU-wide estimates produced by the European Commission. You can find them on the methodology page under ‘Ecosystem accounts’.
Environmental accounts
Environmental accounts analyse the environmental impact of economic activity and policy measures as well as social activity. They are compiled in a way compatible with national accounts.
They allow to identify the parts of the economy which are ‘green’ or ‘greener’ than others. For examples, with regard to:
- the number of environmental jobs
- environmental investments
- the ratio between the value added of industries and their use of environment resources (environmental intensities and productivities)
Environmental accounts also enable the calculation of environmental footprints, meaning the environmental resources (including materials and energy) used for producing the products we consume or invest in.
Eurostat accounts are:
- air emission accounts
- material flow accounts
- environmental taxes by economic activity
- environmental subsidies
- environmental protection expenditure accounts
- environmental goods and services sector accounts
- physical energy flow accounts.
Eurostat uses the international standards of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA 2012).
Environmental indicators
Environmental indicators are based on statistics and accounts. They allow comparisons over time, provide warning signals, and help in taking decisions. Eurostat provides indicators for many topics on the page selected tables in this section.
Because the environment is an important factor in many EU policies, related indicators are also included in different policy sets. These include Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), circular economy, and statistics for the European Green Deal.
Eurostat also re-disseminates relevant data from the European Environmental Agency, the Joint Research Centre, and other producers. Eurostat works together with the United Nations, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and other international organisations to establish common methodologies for global environmental statistics and accounts.