(1)

Decision (EU) 2022/591 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 April 2022 laying down a General Union Environment Action Programme to 2030 (12) confirmed that sound information on the key trends, pressures and drivers for environmental change is essential for the development of effective policy, its implementation, and the empowerment of citizens. Instruments should be developed with a view to enhancing public awareness of the environmental effects of economic activity. Environmental economic accounts is one such instruments.

(1)

Decision (EU) 2022/591 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 April 2022 laying down a General Union Environment Action Programme to 2030 (12) confirmed that monitoring, including sound information on the key trends, pressures and drivers for environmental change is essential for the development of effective policy, its implementation to reach the environmental objectives of the Union , and the empowerment of citizens. Instruments should be developed with a view to enhancing general awareness of the effects of economic activity on the environment and the contribution of the environment to the economy and to wellbeing . Environmental economic accounts is one such instruments.

(3)

The new modules are to contribute directly to Union’s policy priorities of green growth and resource efficiency .

(3)

The new modules are to contribute directly to the Union’s environmental policy priorities as laid down in, inter alia, the 8th EAP .

(4)

The United Nations Statistical Commission adopted the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (‘SEEA’) central framework as an international statistical standard at its 43rd session in February 2012 and the SEEA Ecosystem Accounting (chapters 1 to 7 describing the accounting framework and the physical accounts) at its 52nd session in March 2021. The new modules set out by this Regulation are fully in line with the SEEA.

(4)

The United Nations Statistical Commission adopted the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (‘SEEA’) central framework as an international statistical standard at its 43rd session in February 2012 and the SEEA Ecosystem Accounting (chapters 1 to 7 describing the accounting framework and the physical accounts) at its 52nd session in March 2021. The new modules set out by this Regulation are fully in line with the SEEA. Additionally, the SEEA has implemented the System of Environmental-Economic Accounts for Water (SEEA-Water), which supports the SEEA Central Framework.

(5)

In order to carry out its tasks under the Treaties, especially those related to the environment, sustainability and climate change, the Union should have relevant, comprehensive and reliable information. Evidence-based decision-making requires statistics that meet high-quality criteria, as set out in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council (14) , in accordance with their objectives.

(5)

In order to carry out its tasks under the Treaties and international law , especially those related to the environment, sustainability and climate change, the Union should have relevant, comprehensive and reliable information. Evidence-based decision-making requires statistics that meet high-quality criteria, as set out in Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council (14) , in accordance with their objectives.  Furthermore it is necessary that Eurostat presents the data collected in a more accessible and user-friendly way, while actively promoting it.

(6)

In order to better monitor progress towards a green, competitive and resilient circular economy and to monitor progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals in a Union context , additional data is required .

(6)

In order to achieve the objective of climate neutrality at the latest by 2050, it is essential to align all Union legislation and processes with the Union’s long-term environmental and climate objectives as established under the European Green Deal , Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 (the ‘European Climate Law’), in particular Article 6(4) thereof, and the Fit for 55 package. Several pieces of Union legislation already require close monitoring of trends, and thereby, of additional and more precise data. According to the Commission’s data, meeting the Union’s ambitious Green Deal agenda will require significant investment and the private and public investment gap to cater for the green transition is estimated at nearly EUR 520 billion per year, for the next decade. Furthermore, according to the Commission’s data, reducing fossil fuel dependence from third countries and accelerating the Union’s energy transition from fossil fuels will require an estimated EUR 210 billion of additional investments by the end of 2027. It is also clear that while a substantial share of the investment will be provided by the private sector, public investment will have to significantly increase as well. Taking that into account, it is critical to get relevant and granular data from Member States about their climate, energy and environment investment gaps to make sure that the Union is on the right track to deliver on the European Green Deal objectives with sufficient public and private capital allocated to the Green transition. For all those reasons, the system of European environmental economic accounts is to be developed rapidly into a comprehensive tool providing significant additional data for monitoring the implementation of Union environmental law and environmental policymaking . The Commission should present a legislative proposal to adopt new modules that capture all the relevant data and reporting values related to the goals of the Union.

(6a)

While developing and piloting new modules, special attention and priority should be given to developing environmental economic accounts on energy subsidies including fossil fuel subsidies. The General Union Environment Action Programme to 2030 calls for establishing a binding Union framework to monitor and report on Member States’ progress towards phasing out fossil fuel subsidies, based on an agreed methodology, and without delay, setting a deadline for the phasing out of fossil fuel subsidies consistent with the ambition of limiting global warming to 1,5 °C, target of the Paris Agreement, at Union, national, regional and local level. Environmental economic accounts should support that goal by providing in a new module on energy subsidies, including fossil fuels subsidies, the necessary data for monitoring and evaluation of the progress.

(6b)

Water is a crucial resource and integrating a new module on water into the European environmental economic accounts is a prerequisite for managing it sustainably as well as understanding its relationship with economic activity.

(6c)

Adaptation is a key component of the long-term global response to climate change. It is necessary to address the growing climate-related risks to health, including more frequent and intense heatwaves, wildfires and floods, food and water safety and security threats, and the emergence and spread of infectious diseases. The adverse effects of climate change can potentially exceed the adaptive capacities of Member States. Therefore, Member States and the Union should enhance their adaptive capacity, strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability to climate change, as provided for in Article 7 of the Paris Agreement, as well as maximise the co-benefits with other policies and legislation. Article 5 of Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 requires that Member States adopt comprehensive national adaptation strategies and plans based on robust climate change and vulnerability analyses, progress assessments and indicators, while guided by the best available and most recent scientific evidence. As it is necessary to monitor progress towards climate adaptation, the Commission should present a legislative proposal to adopt a new module on climate adaptation, capturing all the relevant data and reporting values related to climate change adaptation.

(6d)

Biodiversity loss is among the key vulnerabilities faced by economies, together with and amplified by climate change. Biodiversity is crucial for food security, human well-being and overall resilience of societies and economies. Member States and the Union should therefore enhance their response to the biodiversity crisis in line with their international commitments under the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. As it is necessary to monitor progress towards reversing the decline of biodiversity, the Commission should present a legislative proposal to adopt a new module on biodiversity.

(6e)

Ecosystem accounts, as a means to present data on the extent and condition of ecosystem assets and the services they provide to society and the economy, aim to put a value to nature, allowing the costs to nature to be taken better into consideration. The aim of establishing monetary values should be to raise visibility on the cost of non-action and to support the Union to achieve its environmental objectives. In order to deliver its intended effects fully, the module should in the future be further developed, including by possibly adding reporting on monetary values.

(8)

In 2019, the European Court of Auditors published a special report No 2019/16 entitled “European Environmental Economic Accounts: usefulness for policymakers can be improved”. (15) That report points to a need for more complete data on forests and ecosystems and for full implementation of forest accounts.

(8)

In 2019, the European Court of Auditors published a special report No 2019/16 entitled “European Environmental Economic Accounts: usefulness for policymakers can be improved”. (15) That report points to a need for more complete data on forests and ecosystems and for full implementation of forest accounts. The three concluding recommendations of the Court of Auditors were to improve the strategic framework for EEEA data, the relevance of EEEA modules for policy making and the timeliness of EEEA data. The report furthermore outlined that Eurostat faces challenges in collecting timely, high-quality data. Member States should therefore provide high quality data for the European environmental economic accounts within the time limits set in this Regulation.

(9)

Article 5(2) of Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 lists the sources that Member States may use to estimate the environmental economic accounts. In order to ensure flexibility and to reduce the administrative burden on respondents, National Statistical Institutes and other national authorities, Member States should be allowed to use innovative approaches. Member States should always inform the Commission and provide details as regards the quality of those approaches for the Commission to assess the quality of the data.

(9)

Article 5(2) of Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 lists the sources that Member States may use to estimate the environmental economic accounts. In order to ensure flexibility and to reduce the administrative burden on respondents, National Statistical Institutes and other national authorities, Member States should be allowed to use innovative approaches such as, for example, earth observation (Copernicus services) . Member States should always inform the Commission and provide details as regards the quality of those approaches for the Commission to assess the quality of the data. Copernicus services should be further developed with a view to collecting data increasingly automatically and be adequately financed for this purpose.

(11)

The list of possible future European environmental economic accounts listed in Article 10 of Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 needs to be updated to align them to the current policy priorities of the Union .

(11)

Given the urgent need to expand the system of European environmental economic accounts (EEEA) for policy-making and monitoring, the Commission should present a legislative proposal to adopt the new modules listed in this Regulation and to improve and further develop the existing modules set out in annexes to Regulation (EU) No 691/2011.

(14)

In order to take into account the current state of development of methodologies to value ecosystem services , the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission in order to supplement the Regulation by establishing for which of the ecosystem services already included in the reporting tables in section 5 of Annex IX monetary values should be reported, the first reference year as well as a list of acceptable methods for establishing those monetary values . It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during the preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations are conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Inter-institutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making (17) . In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

(14)

In order to further develop EEEA , the power to adopt acts in accordance with Article 290 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union should be delegated to the Commission in order to supplement the Regulation by adopting new modules and amending the existing modules . It is of particular importance that the Commission carry out appropriate consultations during the preparatory work, including at expert level, and that those consultations are conducted in accordance with the principles laid down in the Inter-institutional Agreement of 13 April 2016 on Better Law-Making (17) . In particular, to ensure equal participation in the preparation of delegated acts, the European Parliament and the Council receive all documents at the same time as Member States’ experts, and their experts systematically have access to meetings of Commission expert groups dealing with the preparation of delegated acts.

-1.

(8)

‘environmental subsidies and similar transfers’ means current and capital transfers, as defined in ESA 2010, intended to support activities protecting the environment and safeguarding national resources and related products;

(8)

‘environmental subsidies and similar transfers’ means current and capital transfers, as defined in ESA 2010, intended to support activities protecting the environment and safeguarding natural resources and related products;

(a a)

the following paragraph is inserted:

(a)

Energy subsidies including fossil fuel subsidies;

(b)

Subsidies or support measures potentially harmful for the environment other than those pursuant to point (a);

(c)

Water Accounts (quantitative and qualitative);

(d)

Waste Account;

(e)

Circular material use rate;

(f)

Climate mitigation;

(g)

Climate adaptation;

(h)

Protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems;

(i)

Pollution prevention and control;

(j)

Resource Management Expenditure Accounts, including critical raw material;

(k)

Environmental footprint.";

(ba)

the following new paragraph 4aa is inserted:

(2a)

in Article 4, paragraph 1 is replaced by the following:

(d)

any other relevant sources, methods or innovative approaches insofar as they allow for the production of statistics that are comparable and compliant with the applicable specific quality requirements.

(d)

any other relevant sources, methods or innovative approaches insofar as they allow for the production of environmental economic accounts that are comparable and compliant with the applicable specific quality requirements.

(3a)

the following Article is inserted:

(6)

in Article 10, the first hyphen point is replaced by the following:

(6)

in Article 10, the first hyphen point is deleted.

‘ -

for introducing new environmental economic account modules, such as Water Accounts (quantitative and qualitative), Resource Management Expenditure Accounts, Subsidies or support measures potentially harmful for the environment and Waste Accounts’;

(2)

Statistics shall be transmitted within 21 months of the end of the reference year.

(2)

Statistics shall be transmitted within 12 months of the end of the reference year.

(2)

Statistics shall be transmitted within 24 months of the end of the reference year.

(2)

Statistics shall be transmitted within 12 months of the end of the reference year.

—

common forest bird index; the forest bird indicator describes trends in the abundance of common forest birds across their European ranges over time; it is a composite index created from observational data of bird species characteristic for forest habitats in Europe; the index is based on a specific list of species in each Member State.

(c)

Cultural services

(c)

Nature-based tourism related services

(2)

Statistics shall be transmitted within 24 months of the end of the reference year.

(2)

Statistics shall be transmitted within 12 months of the end of the reference year.