Environmental and economic accounts

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The environmental economic accounts (UGR) are published by the Federal Statistical Office and the statistical offices of the federal states .

This is an arithmetic unit based on various statistics . The environmental and economic accounts (UGR) show the interaction between economy and nature. The environmental accountant investigates what effects economic activities have on the environment and, in return, what role the environment plays for the economy . Since not only "labor and capital", but also nature is used for economic activities, namely through the extraction of resources and as a catchment basin for residual and pollutants, the UGR uses the conventional national accounts (VGR) by the factor " Nature ”added. On the one hand, the environmental pollution caused by the economy, the current state of the environment and the environmental protection measures to maintain or improve the state of the environment are considered.

Use of environmental resources

The environmental and economic accounts are structured as follows:

1. Environmental pollution

  • Material and energy flow accounting

2. State of the environment

  • Use of area and space

3. Environmental precautions

  • Environmental status indicators
  • Environmental protection measures
  • Avoidance costs to achieve a sustainable standard
Environmental and economic accounts

The aim of the Environmental Economic Accounting is to show the extent to which nature has been used for economic activities and which measures have been taken to protect the environment. Usually a distinction is made according to the different production and economic sectors. The UGR is not an independent calculation, but an extension of the national accounts (VGR). The data required for the UGR are used by various institutes, e.g. B. from the Federal Environment Agency .

Material and energy flow accounting

Environmental problems arise because raw materials , energy sources and other materials are taken from the environment, used in production and consumption processes, changed and consumed and then as emissions (waste, sewage, air pollutants etc.) or in another form (overburden, heat etc. ) are released back into the environment.

The material and energy flow account balances physical flows (e.g. in tons or joules ) between the economy and the environment and thus complements the national accounts, in which only monetary values ​​are shown. Connections between economic activity and environmental pollution are clarified.

The monetary and physical input-output tables form the basis for the type of calculations. The monetary input-output table (MIOT) shows the volume and use of goods in terms of value. The physical input-output table (PIOT) shows the values ​​of the MIOT in terms of quantity and also shows the "inputs" flowing from the environment to the economic system (Raw materials, water, oxygen, etc.) and vice versa, the "outputs" that are given off by the economy to the environment (air emissions, waste, sewage, etc.).

The material flows are recorded on a material account, which generally consists of a material withdrawal side and a material discharge side. The values ​​are presented in physical units (usually in tons) and broken down according to economic activities and types of substances. The material account shows the material flows in physical units from the environment to the domestic economy as well as the material flows from the economy to nature. The withdrawals consist of raw materials, gases ( oxygen and nitrogen ) and imported goods (raw materials, semi-finished and finished goods). The delivery page shows air emissions, emissions into wastewater, material emissions (e.g. seeds, fertilizer, road salt), dissipative losses (e.g. tire wear), emissions of gases and the export of goods. One differentiates between recycled and not recycled withdrawals or charges (z. B. overburden and tailings ). Materials that have not been used are "booked" with the same quantity on the removal and delivery side. It is assumed that these substances were taken from the environment, but were immediately released back into the environment. The remaining balance of the material account is interpreted as material remaining within the economy. Landfilled waste is also treated as remaining in the economic system, with emissions from landfill into the air or water being included in the levies.

Material account

The information obtained enables statements about the efficiency of the use of the environment as a production factor . A comparison of the numbers over a longer period of time (several years) shows how the relationship between these factors has changed as a result of technical progress, whether the use of capital has led to the relief of work or nature and whether this development is in a direction towards careful use led with nature.

Federal states are now recording and examining the material flows at the regional level. Other calculations on economic activities (transport services, use of settlement and transport areas) supplement these values.

Area and space

The land accounting is the core of the environmental status description. This topic examines how much land is used by which economic sectors in which type and intensity at a certain point in time or period for settlement and transport purposes. Landscapes and ecosystems must be taken into account in the overall calculation, as they are used as a non-self-produced component of natural assets and thus make a contribution to the production result. The areas cannot actually be “used up”, but as a result they are no longer available for other types of use or there are changes or contamination of the soil, which has negative effects on biodiversity , the water balance or the Soil functions. The use of the area is not shown in monetary terms, but in square kilometers and mostly in tabular form. Values ​​from the “Statistical Soil Information System” (STABIS) and the “EU system for recording land cover” (CORINE land over) serve as sources of information for recording the use of area and space and their changes. At the state level, the “Official Topographic-Cartographic Information System (ATKIS)” can also be used as a data source.

Environmental status indicators

This topic describes the characteristics by which the state of the environment can be measured, which must also be included in the overall calculation.

A distinction is made between the following four indicators:

1. Traffic-related features

  • Performance
  • Freight transport services
  • Passenger transport services
  • Vehicle stocks
  • Traffic routes

2. Environmental characteristics

  • power consumption
  • Air emissions (pollutant emissions, but no greenhouse gases)

3. Economic characteristics

  • Value creation (resulting costs of an economy , due to the limited environmental usability)
  • Investments (funds for development, manufacture and use of environmentally friendly measures, devices, etc.)
  • employment

4. Social characteristics

Environmental protection measures

Environmental protection measures are calculated using investments and current expenses. All of the calculations are based on the national accounts principle and thus agree with the sectors of the national accounts. Among other things, two total sizes can be determined for the individual components. 

Laufende Ausgaben des produzierenden Gewerbes
+ laufende Ausgaben des Staates
+ Anlageinvestitionen
= Gesamtausgaben

Laufende Ausgaben des produzierenden Gewerbes
+ laufende Ausgaben des Staates
+ Abschreibungen
= Gesamtaufwendungen

The individual parameters for calculating these two values ​​are explained below.

Fixed investment
These are investments that are only made for the permanently (ie useful life> 1 year) reproducible means of production in environmental protection. This concerns equipment such as machines, machine systems and vehicles as well as structures (e.g. buildings, sewer systems and landfills).
Depreciation
This means reductions in value that reduce the reproducible fixed assets for environmental protection through wear and tear and economic behavior.
Current expenditure of the manufacturing industry
This includes all expenses that are raised by the industry for environmental protection. This includes personnel expenses (including maintenance and repairs) as well as expenses for raw materials and supplies.
Current state expenses
What is meant here are all state expenditure that is part of environmental protection measures. This includes personnel expenses (gross wages and salaries as well as actual social contributions) and material expenses (business supplies, fuel, rents, etc.)

Avoidance costs to achieve a sustainable standard

This subject area includes the calculation of the avoidance costs. Avoidance costs are estimated costs. This evaluates the measures that are necessary to reduce and avoid environmentally harmful damage. So the question is not what does the environmental damage cost, but what does the measures to avoid it cost. Measures here can be of a technical nature (e.g. filter systems that reduce emissions) but also behavior-oriented (e.g. taking a bus instead of a car).

There are direct and indirect avoidance costs. Direct costs are the preventive measures that are intended to prevent damage to the environment from occurring. (e.g. total expenditure on catalytic converters to reduce pollutant emissions)

The focus of indirect avoidance costs is not on the polluter, but on the injured party. (e.g. installing soundproof windows in residential buildings next to highways)

The preventive measures must be planned and determined for the future. The individual options are not compared with one another and the cheapest option cannot be sought. This problem is demonstrated by the following example: There are, among other things, the following options for noise reduction: night driving bans, noise barriers or low-noise vehicles. If the noise costs are now evaluated using a single strategy, the options cannot be weighed up and all other options are ignored.

The aim when calculating the avoidance costs is to estimate the costs that would be required so that environmental pollution can be completely avoided.

(The topic of "avoidance costs" has recently not been taken into account due to insufficient informative value.)

Environmental and economic accounting and sustainability

In April 2002 the federal government published the national strategy for sustainable development "Perspektiven für Deutschland". The core of this strategy are 21 indicators that are taken into closer consideration so that the achievement of sustainability goals can be measured. The UGR forms an important basis for an integrated sustainability policy. Some of the 21 indicators are included in the UGR. Here are some examples:

  • Indicator 1: Raw material and energy productivity
  • Indicator 2: greenhouse gas emissions
  • Indicator 4: Increase in settlement and transport areas
  • Indicator 11: Transport volume
  • Indicator 13: Air pollutants

Entire sub-areas of the UGR are also used to calculate individual indicators, which gives the indicators even more precise information.

Environmental and ecological accounts of the EU

On August 11, 2011, the EU regulation "on European environmental and economic accounts" (Regulation 691/2011 / EU) came into force. This has transnational legal effect. It stipulates that the EU member states draw up environmental assessments; these should enable the creation of an eco-social product in the long term . This is to supplement the respective gross domestic product ( GDP ) with values ​​on emissions , environmental taxes and material flows . The EU Commission publishes a report on this every three years.

The environmental-economic accounts are based on the development of a system of integrated environmental and economic accounts ( System of Environmental-Economic Accounting ).

literature

  • Federal Statistical Office: Environmental Use and Economy. Report on the Environmental Economic Accounts 2005 . Federal Statistical Office, Wiesbaden 2005, PDF
  • Peter Bartelmus, Jörg Albert, Heinrich Tschochohei: How dear is the environment (to us)? On the environmental and economic accounts in Germany . (= Wuppertal Papers, No. 128; March 2003). Wuppertal Institute, Wuppertal 2003, online
  • Ulrich Paschen: The regionalized ecological total accounting. Means for the presentation of regional environmental economic facts. Background, conception and possible applications within the framework of the interdisciplinary GRANO project . University of Potsdam, Potsdam 1999, full text (with a presentation of various concepts for economic / ecological accounting)
  • Statistical offices of the federal states: Environmental economic accounts of the federal states: Environment and economy - analyzes and results , Düsseldorf 2005, PDF
  • Bavarian Academy for Nature Conservation and Landscape Management (ANL): "Environmental and Economic Accounting - Attempt to Take a Holistic View", ISBN 3-931175-39-1

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Regulation (EU) No. 691/2011 of the European Parliament and the Council of 6 July 2011 on European environmental and economic accounts