National Accounting Matrix Including Environmental Accounts Research Articles

Adoption of NAMEA Air Emission Accounts in Hungary

The current phenomena of accelerating climate change and global warming has urged scientists and policy makers to devise a comprehensive and reliable system to identify the main causes and sources of the adverse processes. NAMEA (National Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts”) developed by EUROSTAT has gained in popularity as it highlights the impacts of societal action on the environment by linking economic indicators to environmental material flows. The paper reports on the work done in the Hungarian Central Statistical Office to adopt and further develop the NAMEA system and demonstrates the crucial changes occurred in the emission of the major pollutants between 2000 and 2009 taking into consideration economic indicators.

Decomposition of Emission Multipliers in a National Accounting Matrix Including Environmental Accounts

This study defines a linear model of emission multipliers through the use of a national accounting matrix including environmental accounts (NAMEA) for the Catalan economy that integrates the regional economic information with the greenhouse gas emissions. As in the model of income multipliers, emission multipliers can be divided into own effects, open effects, and circular effects. This decomposition shows the channels of income generation and their effects on regional greenhouse gas emissions. Our results reveal significant differences among the three gases analyzed as well as important asymmetries at a sectorial level.

The evolution of environmental and labor productivity dynamics

This paper provides new empirical evidence on delinking in income–environment dynamic relationships for CO2 and air pollutants at the sector level. A panel dataset based on the Italian NAMEA (National Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts) over 1990–2007 is analyzed, focusing on both emissions efficiency (EKC model) and total emissions (IPAT model). Results show that, looking at sector evidence, both decoupling and also eventually re-coupling trends could emerge along the path of economic development. The overall performance on greenhouse gases, here CO2, is not compliant with Kyoto targets. SOx and NOx show decreasing patterns, though the shape is affected by some outlier sectors with regard to joint emission-productivity dynamics. Services tend to present stronger delinking patterns across emissions than manufacturing. Trade expansion validates the pollution haven in some cases, but also shows negative signs when only EU15 trade is considered. This may due to technology spillovers and a positive ‘race to the top’ rather than the bottom among EU15 trade partners. General R&D expenditure shows weak correlation with emissions efficiency. SUR estimators (Seemingly Unrelated Regressions) suggest that, as regards manufacturing, the slope varies across sectors. Further research should be directed towards deeper investigation of trade relationship at the sector level and increased research into and efforts to produce specific sectoral data on ‘environmental innovations’.

USING TIME-SERIES TO MEASURE UNCERTAINTY IN ENVIRONMENTAL INPUT–OUTPUT ANALYSIS

Environmental Input-Output Analysis (EIOA) is a tool for environmental analysis of broad classes of sectoral activities, taking into account indirect effects in other sectors in the supply chain. The core of EIOA is an input–output table (IOT) and national accounting matrix including environmental accounts (NAMEA) for a fixed base-year. We evaluate the uncertainty in EIOA using a time series of current-price IOT and NAMEA for 13 years from 1990 to 2002. We find annual variations in the current-price IOT and NAMEA, which may represent either realistic changes in production or measurement error. We assume the changes are errors and apply a regression analysis to remove the trends from the underlying data and estimate the uncertainty in the raw IOT. We then calculate the emissions for various final users and sectors to estimate the uncertainties from typical EIOA investigations. Using Monte Carlo analysis, we then investigate how well the variations in the current-price IOT and NAMEA over time may represent uncertainties. The results of this work have several implications for both statistical offices and the analyst. Statistical offices can provide details on data sources, methodologies, and estimates of annual variations. Analysts can incorporate this uncertainty information to understand the implications of uncertainty on their calculations and ultimately the policy recommendations derived from their studies.

A Structural Decomposition Analysis of Pollution in the Netherlands

This paper reviews the results of a structural decomposition analysis in which the annual changes in a number of air pollutants and solid waste are decomposed according to their causes. The analysis in this paper is applied with the help of the so-called National Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts (NAMEA) for the Netherlands, covering annual data for the period 1987-1998. In a sensitivity analysis it is shown that the average of any pair of so-called 'mirror image' decomposition forms will substantially reduce the variation in the estimates. These mirror image couples are approximately just as reliable as the full average of all decomposition forms. Besides reliable results, the full average also foresees the mutual comparability between the distinguished change factors and is therefore applied in the empirical analyses presented in this paper. The results of these analyses contain the macro-economic developments, results on the industry level as well as a comprehensive overview of the origin and destination of pollution in the Dutch economy that includes the environmental consequences of consumption and international trade.

The NAMEA as validation instrument for environmental macroeconomics

This paper shows how environmental issues can be incorporated into macroeconomic accounting and analysis by the construction and use of a National Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts (NAMEA). The paper firstly elaborates on a number of conceptual issues on the harmonisation of environmental statistics and the national accounts. Specific attention is given to the consistent allocation of pollution to production and consumption activities and the importance of aggregated environmental indicators. Further, various applications are presented which vary from simple comparisons of macroeconomic performance indicators for economy and environment to more comprehensive modelling exercises. The paper does not only review recent experiences in the Netherlands but also those from other countries.

Integration of sustainability indicators: the contribution of integrated economic and environmental accounting

There is a need to integrate indicators relating to complex human–nature systems. This paper discussesthe scope and limitations of achieving such integration through the interim version of the system of integrated environmental and economic accounting (SEEA) published by the United Nations in 1993. It also briefly considers alternative or complementary approaches such as the National Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts (NAMEA) developed in the Netherlands. Issues that arise when applying SEEA to the marine fisheries sector are discussed, and examples are given of indicators for the marine fisheries sector derived from the SEEA and NAMEA.

The Netherlands’ NAMEA; presentation, usage and future extensions

The national accounting matrix including environmental accounts (NAMEA) contains figures on environmental burdens in relation to economic developments as reflected in the national accounts. In the NAMEA, existing national accounts matrices have been extended with accounts in physical units. Since 1994, the NAMEA is a regular part of the annual Dutch national accounts. In this article, an aggregate NAMEA will be described. Next, the contribution of economic activities to economic indicators is compared with their contribution to environmental themes, both based on the information in the NAMEA. In addition, the cumulative contribution of economic activities to economic and environmental indicators are also given, thus taking into account the relations between the production activities. Finally, a number of recent applications and extensions of the NAMEA in the Netherlands are described.

On the international harmonisation of environmental accounting: comparing the National Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts of Sweden, Germany, the UK, Japan and the Netherlands

This article presents a preliminary comparison of the systems of integrated economic and environmental accounts in Sweden, Germany, the UK, Japan and the Netherlands. These countries have presented their results in a National Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts (NAMEA). Although the first Dutch NAMEA may have served as an example, for each country different features can be found depending on differences in objectives, available statistical sources and subsequently institutional backgrounds. Moreover, most countries have developed the NAMEA simultaneously with other accounting approaches. The first section compares differences in objective, scope and methods. The second section presents an preliminary comparison of the results which shows that comparable accounts will not automatically lead to comparable results.

Material and energy flow accounting in Germany—Data base for applying the national accounting matrix including environmental accounts concept

In this paper, we discuss the background of German Environmental Economic Accounting (GEEA). One of the elements of GEEA is material and energy flow analysis. The corresponding accounts are presented in the Material and Energy Flow Information System (MEFIS). This data base can be used for many purposes including application in the National Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts (NAMEA). The data availability for analyzing particular environmental burdens is described. Specific indicators for greenhouse effect and acidification are presented in the form of charts and tables.

環境共生のライフスタイルに関する日本とオランダの比較研究

Environmental lifestyles in the Netherlands, which takes the initiative in establishing sustainable society, were observed and interpreted with comparison of Japan. First, trends of international research on sustainable consumption and relevant environmental policies were mentioned. Second, environmental policies and the evaluation system for sustainable consumption in the Netherlands were discussed in application of NEPP (National Environmental Policy Plan) and NAMEA (National Accounting Matrix Including Environmental Accounts). Third, the survey on environmental household books and environmental lifestyles were carried out in environmental aware community, Ecolonia. The result of the survey showed steadily improved environmental performances and also profiles of established lifestyles.

TAKING THE ENVIRONMENT INTO ACCOUNT: THE NAMEA APPROACH

The National Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts (NAMEA) shows environmental burdens that are consistent with the economic figures in the national accounts. In the NAMEA, the existing national accounts matrix has been extended with accounts in physical units. On the basis of the expected contribution of each polluting substance to a particular environmental problem, emissions are converted to theme equivalents. This results in six summary environmental indicators that are directly comparable to the conventional economic aggregates. In addition, this meso‐level information system can be used as the core data framework for integrated analyses and forecasts of economic and environmental changes.

The System for Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA):

The discussion of sustainable development has received increased attention from the international community. For this situation, United Nations Handbook on the SNA Satellite System for Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA) was issued by United Nations Statistical Division (UNSTAT) in 1993.The purpose of this paper is to propose an extended form of the SEEA which can deal with any kind of global environmental problems. The global environmental problems include the five types of environmental disruptions:(a) transboundary pollutions, such as acid rain, (b) environmental disruptions in the less developed countries (LDC) caused by direct foreign investment and economic assistance, (c) depletion of natural resources caused by international trade, (d) disruptions of the ecosystem caused by the poverty in LDC, such as desertification, (e) disruptions of the global commons such as the greenhouse effect and ozone layer depletion.In order to respond better to these environmental problems, all sorts of accounts such as income distribution accounts, financial accounts and external accounts are required. However, the SEEA proposed by UNSTAT has not got access to these accounts because it is constructed only on the basis of the supply and use table of produced goods and services and on the non-financial assets accounts. Therefore it cannot describe the global environmental problems.I propose an extended form of the SEEA, “A Complete SEEA” as an accounting system which can suitably treat any kind of global environmental problems. The Complete SEEA is a comprehensive accounting system which contains all accounts of the 93 SNA including stock accounts. It can describe all sorts of economic and environmental relationships between each country and global commons because it includes not only the accounts of many countries but also the accounts of global commons as a dummy sector. The Complete SEEA is also compared with NAMEA (A National Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts) by S. J. Keuning et al. The Complete SEEA is just an integrated information system which can support integrated economic and environmental policy for the sustainable development.