European environmental economic accounts

KEY POINTS

The regulation sets up an EU legal framework for compiling harmonised European environmental economic accounts. Environmental accounts show the links, both positive and negative, between the environment and the economy. They provide an integrated framework of statistics and analysis to guide EU policy in resource efficiency, sustainable development and green growth.

In 2011, the regulation established statistical modules on air emissions accounts, environmental taxes and material flows accounts (the contribution to the economy of raw materials, minerals and biomass, etc.).

In 2014, an amending regulation (Regulation (EU) No 538/2014) further built on the original 2011 regulation by introducing three extra modules:

• environmental protection expenditure accounts (the economic resources set aside for environmental protection);
• environmental goods and services sector accounts (a country’s production activities that create environmental goods and services);
• energy accounts (reports on physical energy flows such as electricity, expressed in terajoules, into/within an economy and the outputs to other economies / the environment).

In 2024, Regulation (EU) No 2024/3024 further expanded the regulation by introducing three additional modules:

• forest accounts, which cover data on forest resources and on economic activity in the forestry and logging sector;
• environmental subsidies and similar transfers accounts, which record financial transfers aimed at supporting environmental protection and the sustainable use of natural resources;
• ecosystem accounts, which provide information on the extent, condition and services of ecosystems, including their contribution to the economy and human well-being.

These modules are consistent with international statistical standards, notably the SEEA Central Framework and SEEA Ecosystem Accounting. They enhance the capacity of EU statistics to monitor biodiversity, assess climate adaptation and track the use of public support for the green transition.

Delegated acts

Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/172 established the list of energy products to be used in physical energy flow accounts (Annex VI to Regulation (EU) No 691/2011).

In 2025, Delegated Regulation (EU) 2025/1131 introduced further improvements by:

• requiring data on investment in long-term assets (gross fixed capital formation) and the use of goods and services (final consumption) linked to climate change mitigation, broken down by institutional sector (corporations, governments, households and non-profit institutions serving households(NPISH)); and
• updating the classification used across several modules of the Classification of Environmental Purposes (CEP), endorsed by the United Nations, which enables more detailed and consistent tracking of environmental goals such as clean air, waste management, biodiversity and renewable energy.

In order to facilitate the uniform application of Annex V to Regulation (EU) No 691/2011, Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2174 established an indicative compendium of environmental goods and services and economic activities to be covered by Annex V to Regulation (EU) No 691/2011.