1.
Environmental accounts: mapping the
interactions between economy and
environment
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI
ANGELICA TUDINI
ALDO FEMIA
ISTAT
Directorate for National Accounts
0

2.
 Environmental accounts and their interrelations with national
accounts and more generally with other statistics
 State of the art in environmental accounts in Italy in relation to
international regulations and standards
 The potential of environmental accounts for analysis and research,
for stakeholders and for decision making, through the presentation
of some aggregates and indicators and their uses
 The roadmap for future developments
Directorate for National Accounts
1
Outline
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI, ALDO FEMIA, ANGELICA TUDINI

3.
2
Environmental accounts
Describe the interactions between the
economic system and the environment
through a conceptual framework,
standardized tables and indicators
Measure the contribution of the environment
to the economy and the impact of the
economic system on the environment
providing relevant indicators on sustainable
development
Data in physical and monetary units
Economic accounts
Describe how the economic system
works trough standardized tables and
indicators
Provide a quantitative view of domestic
production, consumption, and
investment, of exports and imports, and
of national and domestic income and
saving
GDP is the broadest measure of the
economy
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI, ALDO FEMIA, ANGELICA TUDIN
Directorate for National Accounts
2
General overview

4.
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI, ALDO FEMIA, ANGELICA TUDIN
Directorate for National Accounts
3
Interrelations between the economy and the environment

5.
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI, ALDO FEMIA, ANGELICA TUDINI
4
Environmental accounts in EU
Since ‘90
Since
2000’s
Since
2010’s
Towards
2020
The European environmental accounts developments are implemented gradually
They do not yet cover all the aspects of international standards (SEEA 2012 CF)
Developing
methodology
Pilot data collection
Modular approach
Strategy agreed with
countries
EU legal basis
(mandatory
transmission)
Plans to develop
ecosystem accounts
and water accounts
Directorate for National Accounts

6.
Physical accounts:
 Material flows
 Air emissions
 Energy flows
Monetary accounts:
 Environmental taxes
 Environmental goods and services sector ('environmental growth and jobs')
 Environmental protection expenditure
Other accounts, not under regulation:
 Environmental subsidies
 Forests
 Waste accounts
 Others (water, subsoil assets, experimental eco-system accounts…)
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI, ALDO FEMIA, ANGELICA TUDINI
5
Main satellite environmental accounts
Directorate for National Accounts

7.
Environmental accounts integrate existing environmental data and ensure
coherence with national accounts. The accounts structure provides a wide range of
comparable information and higher quality data. They have several functions:
1) Support to the analysis and in depth studies by allowing meaningful associations
and establishing ratios between national accounts aggregates and their
environmental counterparts
2) Data in the form of aggregates and indicators can be applied to issues and areas
which are the focus of decision makers
3) The detailed information, which covers some of the key drivers of change in the
environment, can be used to provide a richer understanding of the policy issues
4) To be used in models and scenarios designed to assess the national and
international economic and environmental effects of different policies within a
country, between countries and at a global level
6
Information of environmental accounts: potentiality
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI, ALDO FEMIA, ANGELICA TUDINI
Directorate for National Accounts

8.
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI, ALDO FEMIA, ANGELICA TUDINI
Directorate for National Accounts
7
1. Economy-Wide Material Flow Accounts (EW-MFA)
0
5
10
15
20
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
450
500
Domestic Material Consumption per capita (tons) (Right Axis)
Domestic Material Consumption - Index 1950=100 (Left Axis)
Show the size and composition of an
economy’s metabolism in terms of
tons of material throughput
Output:
• aggregate indicators, such as the
domestic material consumption
measures of the potential
interference of the economy with
the physical environment
• structural information
• detail on the flows by type of
materials and source
(Domestic/RoW)
Milliontons

9.
0.00
0.20
0.40
0.60
0.80
1.00
1.20
1.40
1.60
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
Directorate for National Accounts
8
2. Air emissions accounts (AEA)
Example - Detail for Nace D - Electricity, gas, steam and air conditioning supply
Index
1995 = 1
Value of Output
Acidifying emissions
GHG emissions
Long time series
24 pollutants
Monetary and physical figures referring to exactly the same entities
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI, ALDO FEMIA, ANGELICA TUDINI

10.
 Disseminated at the beginning of 2018
 Report flows of energy (including natural inputs used to manufacture energy
products and energy residuals) from the environment into the economy, within
the economy and from the economy to the environment (expressed in terajoule)
 Energy flows are reported with a breakdown by type of natural inputs, products
and residuals (20 products) as well as by supplier and user (64 industries plus
households).
 Supply-Use tables: resources by origin and uses by destination
 PEFA can be used for energy productivity, analyses, modelling, etc. It provides
relevant information for integrated analysis (total consumption of energy,
consumption relevant for air emissions, consumption per unit of value added,
other)
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI, ALDO FEMIA, ANGELICA TUDINI
9
3. Physical energy flow accounts (PEFA) (1/2)
Directorate for National Accounts

11.
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI, ALDO FEMIA, ANGELICA TUDINI
Directorate for National Accounts
10
3. Physical energy flow accounts (PEFA) (2/2)
Coherence and comparability
across sectors, countries,
phenomena
Energy intensity of
output:
Trasportation and
storage
120,8 TEP/M_Euro

12.
11
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI, ALDO FEMIA, ANGELICA TUDINI
Directorate for National Accounts
11
4. Environmental taxes
0.00
1.00
2.00
3.00
4.00
5.00
6.00
7.00
8.00
9.00
2002 2016
Italy Eu
The shares of environmental taxes can
be seen as indicators for the tax shift
that is part of a green tax reform
Energy, transport and pollution taxes (% of total taxes and social contributions)

13.
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI, ALDO FEMIA, ANGELICA TUDINI
Directorate for Nationa Accounts
12
5. Environmental protection expenditure accounts (EPEA)
0.00%
1.00%
2.00%
3.00%
4.00%
5.00%
6.00%
7.00%
8.00%
Specialist and secondary
producers of
environmental
protection services
Ancillary producers of
environmental
protection services
Total corporations General Government
Italy
Eu
Corporations and General government: investments for environmental protection,
(% of total investments) – 2015

14.
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI, ALDO FEMIA, ANGELICA TUDINI
Directorate for National Accounts
13
5. Environmental protection expenditure accounts (EPEA)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Eu
Italy
Environmental research and development; other environmental protection activities
Protection of ambient air and climate; protection and remediation of soil groundwater and surface water; noise and vibration
abatement; protection against radiation
Protection of biodiversity and landscapes
Waste management
Wastewater management

15.
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI, ALDO FEMIA, ANGELICA TUDINI
14
6. Environmental goods and services sector (EGSS) (1/2)
Output by environmental domain – 2014 – EU28
Directorate for National Accounts
The driving sector for the growth
was the production of energy
from renewable sources (wind,
solar and biofuels) and energy
saving, which led these
businesses to account for 44%
of the total production of the
eco-industries

16.
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI, ALDO FEMIA, ANGELICA TUDINI
15
6. Environmental goods and services sector (EGSS) (2/2)
Output - EGSS (% GDP) – EU28
Directorate for National Accounts

17.
• Indicators for measuring Benessere equo e sostenibile (BES); the aim is to evaluate
progress of society from an economic, social and environmental perspective
• Indicators for monitoring goals of the Agenda 2030 on sustainable
development, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations
• Rapporto sulla competitività: energy intensity by activity
• Relazione sulla situazione energetica del paese, of the Direzione generale per la
sicurezza dell’approvvigionamento e per le infrastrutture energetiche del MISE (final
consumption of energy products by households, energy taxes, value added of energy
sector)
• Documento di economia e finanza: indicator of CO2 emissions
• Natural capital Committee: Strategic instrument for development policies
• Circular economy: main instrument of economic-financial planning in the country
16
Environmental accounts for policies
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI, ALDO FEMIA, ANGELICA TUDINI
main instrument of economic-financial planning in Italy.
Directorate for National Accounts

18.
 Environmental accounts are a powerful tool for analysis and for
supporting policies
 Full compliance with EU regulation will be achieved by the end of this
year
 Increase timeliness (reducing time gaps between data reference and
dissemination)
 Proceed towards a complete integration of the national and
environmental accounts
 Make longer time series available, in particular for main aggregates
and results
 Produce data at regional level for physical environmental accounts
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI, ALDO FEMIA, ANGELICA TUDINI
17
Conclusions and way forward
Directorate for National Accounts

19.
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI, ALDO FEMIA, ANGELICA TUDINI
18
Environmental accounts in the poster session
I conti fisici dell’economia circolare e la governance:
situazione e progetti (A. Femia, C. Paolantoni)
I conti ambientali per le decisioni pubbliche
(F. Battellini, E. Recchini, A. Tudini)
I conti dei flussi fisici dell’energia (PEFA): primi risultati
e possibilità di utilizzo (G. Vetrella, S. Zannoni)
Directorate for National Accounts

20.
 Regulation (EU) 691/2011 on European environmental economic
accounts
 Regulation (EU) n. 538/2014 amending Regulation (EU) No 691/2011
on European environmental economic accounts
 System of Environmental Economic Accounting 2012 – Central
Framework (SEEA 2012 CF)
 Regulation (EU) n.549/2013 on the European system of national and
regional accounts in the European Union
 European Commission (2010), Europe 2020 . A strategy for smart,
sustainable and inclusive growth
 UN Resolution A7RES/70/1 (2015), Transforming our world: the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI, ALDO FEMIA, ANGELICA TUDINI
Directorate for National Accounts
19
References

21.
Istat data warehouse:
http://dati.istat.it/
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI, ALDO FEMIA, ANGELICA TUDINI
20
Where to find environmental accounts data
Directorate for National Accounts

22.
THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION
anbaldas@istat.it
femia@istat.it
tudini@istat.it
ANTONELLA BALDASSARINI, ALDO FEMIA, ANGELICA TUDINI
21
Directorate for National Accounts