Environmental Protection Expenditure Accounts (EPEA)

NOTES ON METHODOLOGY

Legal and methodological framework

Data on environmental protection expenditure accounts (EPEA) are collected using the reporting method, through the Report on Investments in Environmental Protection and Expenditures on Goods and Services in Environment (IDU-OK form), and using the already existing data obtained from national accounts (production and generation of income accounts; gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) according to NKD 2007; supply and use tables; data based on the Classification of the Functions of Government), business registers and other sources.

Coverage

Environmental protection expenditure accounts present data in a way that is compatible with the data reported under the European System of Accounts (ESA 2010). Reporting units are all business entities and parts thereof listed in the Statistical Business Register, as well as government bodies and non-profit organisations. Based on available data, the selection of statistical units includes all statistical units that had more than 90% of total investments in or expenditures on environmental protection according to the NKD 2007 activity sections.

Data sources used in updating of the Address Book are those of the Statistical Business Register, the Financial Agency, as well as other, secondary sources.

Definitions

Environmental protection expenditure means the economic resources devoted by resident units to environmental protection. Environmental protection includes all activities and actions which have as their main purpose the prevention, reduction and elimination of pollution and of any other degradation of the environment. Those activities and actions include all measures taken in order to restore the environment after it has been degraded.

Intermediate consumption of environmental protection services is the expenditure on all purposeful activities directly aimed at the prevention, reduction and elimination of pollution or any other degradation of the environment.

Investments refer to the total realised investments in assets, methods, practices, technologies, processes and equipment for environmental protection. Realised investments are also construction works and asset acquisitions done during the reporting year, regardless of whether they were completed and paid for or not.

Specialist producers of environmental protection services are producers engaged in the production of environmental protection goods and services (e.g. waste collection, wastewater treatment). They are included in divisions 37, 38 and 39 of section E.

Other corporations as consumers of environmental protection services are corporations that either produce or use environmental protection goods and services. They are included in sections B, C, D, and E – division 36.

Environmental domains are defined by the Classification of Environmental Protection Activities (CEPA 2000).

Environmental protection activities (CEPA) include appropriate activities and measures aimed at preventing pollution, reducing and/or eliminating environmental damage, and restoring the environment to pre-damage conditions.

They are divided as follows: protection of ambient air and climate (CEPA 1), wastewater management (CEPA 2), waste management (CEPA 3), protection and remediation of soil, groundwater and surface water (CEPA 4), noise and vibration abatement (CEPA 5), protection of biodiversity and landscapes (CEPA 6), protection against radiation (CEPA 7), environmental research and development (CEPA 8) and other environmental protection activities (CEPA 9).

Abbreviations

NKD 2007   National Classification of Activities, 2007 version

This document has been produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The contents of this document are the sole responsibility of the Croatian Bureau of Statistics and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the European Union.