(1)

To carry out its tasks under the Treaties, especially those related to the environment, sustainability and climate change, the Commission requires access to full, up-to-date and reliable information. Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 establishes a common framework for European environmental economic accounts, including lists of characteristics for which data are to be compiled and transmitted, and rules on the frequency and transmission deadlines for the compilation of the accounts.

(2)

The lists of characteristics of environmental accounts are essential to ensure comparability of statistical data across Member States. They now need to be updated to align to updates in the data sources for the accounts and to keep relevance for users.

(3)

To better monitor progress towards a green, competitive and resilient circular economy (2) and progress towards the sustainable development goals relevant to the EU, additional up-to-date data concerning the links of the environment and the economy is required.

(4)

The lists of characteristics of environmental accounts are essential to ensure comparability of statistical data across Member States.

(5)

The list of air pollutants in Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 should be updated to align to the list of greenhouse gases that are reported under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was revised after the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, as well as to the guidelines for emission inventories under the Convention on long-range transboundary air pollution (CLRTAP) and definitions of Directive (EU) 2016/2284 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the reduction of national emissions of certain atmospheric pollutants (National Emissions Ceilings Directive) (3).

(6)

To better serve climate policies, Member States should be required to provide a breakdown of taxes recorded for government revenue arising from the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) and other CO2 taxes. Those taxes should therefore be included in the list of characteristics in Annex II to Regulation (EU) No 691/2011.

(7)

The information in Tables C and E of Annex III to Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 is no longer necessary to produce Union aggregates, as Eurostat has developed a new method based on other readily available data. Those tables should therefore be deleted.

(8)

To better serve thematic environmental policies for the European Green Deal, the environmental accounts protection expenditure accounts must distinguish for all sectors the environmental purposes of Protection of ambient air and climate (Classification of environmental protection activities (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, R & D and other environmental protection activities (CEPA 7–9). Annex IV to Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 should therefore be updated to reflect those changes.

(9)

Information on the marketed share of the environmental goods and services sector is not sufficient to serve environmental policies. Annex V to Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 should therefore be updated to require Member States to provide information on the total size of the sector.

(10)

To make it easier for users to interpret data and to allow Member States to assure quality during data compilation, Member States should provide information on all components of national expenditure on environmental protection. This includes estimates and information on the intermediate consumption of environmental protection services. Eurostat’s experience with validating Member States’ data demonstrates that, based on the accounting relations between other mandatory reporting categories, Eurostat cannot derive the data on the intermediate consumption of environmental protection services, such as costs of waste disposal or wastewater treatment services incurred by corporations, with sufficient quality for all Member States. Annex IV to Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 should therefore be updated so that Member States compile and report data for this item, undertaking all relevant quality assurance measures.

(11)

To accurately measure the total national expenditure on environmental protection, there is a need to identify all expenditure for environmental protection services that have been incurred for the purpose of producing other environmental protection services, and thus have already been covered in the value of relevant final products. Therefore, it is essential that Member States report all intermediate consumption of environmental protection services for the production of environmental protection services, whether by specialist producers or not.

(12)

Reporting deadlines for European environmental economic accounts should be reduced, to improve the usefulness of the accounts for policy making purposes.

(13)

To reduce the reporting burden for the Member States, the required level of detail of the classification NACE should be reduced for the environmental goods and services sector accounts and for the environmental protection expenditure accounts for NACE category ‘Manufacturing’. That is a cost-effective measure which also enhances data availability to users, by reducing the number of confidentiality flags and data disclosure restrictions. Annexes IV and V to Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 should therefore be updated.

(14)

To offset the additional burden imposed by shorter reporting deadlines and updated lists of characteristics, a burden reduction should be introduced in the form of a threshold of 1 % for breakdowns by economic activity in the environmental protection expenditure account.

(15)

The first reference year for the updated data must be established.

(16)

Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 should therefore be amended accordingly,