Background Notes

Introduction 

This release contains an analysis of the supply of environment goods and services by category of environment activity and the economic sector of the producer or supplier. The Environment Goods and Services Sector (EGSS), sometimes called ‘eco-industries’, encompasses activities in the so-called green economy. These activities generally include the production of renewable energy and energy saving activities such as retrofitting homes, along with the supply of water, treatment of wastewater, handling of waste and the construction of environment-related facilities. EGSS statistics are part of environment accounts which constitute a satellite account to national accounts. This release provides estimates for three types of EGSS statistics, these are: the value at basic prices of gross output and gross value added, as well as the number of full-time equivalents employed in environment goods and services activities.

Data Sources 

A web of data sources is used to produce EGSS statistics. These include the Supply-Use tables and Structural Business Survey statistics published by the CSO coupled with focussed environmental survey information relating to certain large firms. These firms were identified by scrutinising the activity descriptions of large businesses on the CSO’s Business Register. The information from these data sources has been complemented with specific information gleaned from the Annual Reports of bodies such as the Environmental Protection Agency, Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland, Irish Water, the Commission for Regulation of Utilities, Wind Energy Europe and charities.

Definitions 

Environment activities are activities that either directly serve an environmental purpose or produce specifically designed products whose use serve an environmental purpose. Thus, the primary purpose of the activity must be environmental.

Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 distinguishes two broad categories of environmental activities according to their purpose:

Environment protection (EP) activities include 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.

Four types of EP activity are delineated:

• Wastewater management
• Waste management
• Soil and surface water protection
• Other environment protection-related activities

Resource management (RM) activities include the preservation, maintenance and enhancement of the stock of natural resources and therefore the safeguarding of those resources against depletion.

Five types of RM activity are delineated:

• Water
• Renewable energy production
• Energy saving
• Scrap, recycling and minerals
• Other resource management-related activities
• Statistics in this release cover gross output, gross value added and employment.

Gross Output is the value at basic prices of all environmental products and services disposed of on the market.

Gross Value Added is the output of environmental goods and services at basic prices minus intermediate consumption at purchasers' prices of those goods and services.

Employment, is the estimated number of full-time equivalents employed in the supply of EGSS.

Producer and Supplier breakdown

Producers of environment goods and suppliers of environment services are classified by industry according to NACE Revision (Rev.) 2 classification - the European Union’s Statistical Classification of Economic Activity in the European Communities. The producer or supplier is considered to be the statistical unit supplying the environmental good or service.

For further information on the NACE Rev. 2 classification of industrial activity, visit the CSO website:NaceCoder

All NACE Rev.2 sectors are covered in Tables 2A to 2C using abbreviated titles as follows:

Methodology for estimating Gross Output

EGSS gross output is estimated within each NACE Rev. 2 sector and category of environmental activity.

Agriculture

EGSS agriculture is mainly composed of organic agriculture production. This is estimated based on organic acreage data available from CSO’s Farm Structure Survey coupled with basic prices data. CSO data relating to subsidies is also included. The bulk of this estimate is allocated to environmental protection activities covering soil, surface water and biodiversity.

Manufacturing

EGSS manufacturing gross output is predominantly derived from the Census of Industrial Production and the Prodcom Survey of goods carried out by CSO. Products identified as being wholly environmental are selected from Prodcom survey results were allocated according to their type of environmental activity. Separately, EGSS manufacturing firms are identified from the CSO’s business register based on their activity description and classified by environment activity. Very large enterprises within this subgroup have been surveyed in a green goods and services survey. The survey results were used to estimate EGSS gross output for all manufacturing businesses identified as environmental and further classified by NACE Rev. 2 sector and category of environmental activity.

Electricity and gas   

Energy balance data relating to kilotonnes of oil equivalents for renewables are combined with the Supply-table production value for electricity and gas from the Supply-Use tables to arrive at an estimate of EGSS gross output for electricity. This amount is allocated to renewable energy production.

Water and Wastewater

EGSS gross output for water supply and wastewater treatment come from the Supply-tables. Prior to 2014 supply-table estimates were predominantly derived from the Census of Industrial Production and the Annual Financial statement of local authorities. In 2014 the transfer of local authority functions relating to water and wastewater to Irish Water began, a consequence of this is our estimates show a discontinuity in 2014. Treatment of wastewater is classified as an environmental protection activity while the supply of potable water is classified as a resource management activity.

Waste

EGSS gross output for waste management comes directly from the Supply-tables. This is further broken down by firms within the sector based on Census of Industrial Production data. The bulk of this overall supply is allocated to waste management with most of the remainder allocated to scrap and mineral recovery within resource management environment activity.

Construction

Several sources are used to arrive at an estimate of EGSS gross output in the construction sector. The primary source comprises estimates of gross output from the Building and Construction Inquiry in 2016. A question was added to the survey asking respondents to indicate whether they participated in green construction activities. Weights derived from a sophisticated analysis of construction firms on the CSO’s Business Register coupled with a small number of large construction firms who participated in our green goods and services survey are then used to allocate gross output according to environment activity.

Separately, gross output for wind power has been estimated based on investment data taken from Wind Energy Europe and allocated to renewable energy production. For water and wastewater, capital investment data taken from the Commission for Regulation of Utilities decisions relating to Irish Water has been incorporated to arrive at an estimate of gross output. These estimates have been allocated to environmental protection and resource management activities respectively. Data from the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland in respect of grants made in respect of energy saving are also incorporated into the estimates and allocated to energy saving activity within resource management.

Services

EGSS services gross output is predominantly derived from the Annual Services Inquiry carried out by CSO augmented by information gleaned from annual reports. EGSS type services business are identified from the CSO’s business register based on their activity description and classified by environment activity. This subset of services business is selected from the Annual Services Inquiry and very large enterprises within this subset have been surveyed in a green goods and services survey. The survey results were combined with the Annual Services Inquiry data to estimate EGSS gross output for all services businesses identified as environmental and further classified by NACE Rev. 2 sector and category of environmental activity.

Gross output for non-profit and government participants in the services sector are estimated from annual reports of various bodies involved in the provision of EGSS services, included in this group are relevant agencies, government departments and universities. Typically, administration and pay amounts are abstracted from these sources and allocated to the appropriate environmental activity. A detailed once-off analysis of the charities sector has also been undertaken to arrive at an estimate of gross output of charity and second-hand shops with the estimate classified as a resource management activity.

Methodology for estimating Gross Value Added

EGSS gross value added is estimated within each NACE Rev. 2 sector and category of environmental activity along similar lines to gross output. Specifically, where gross value added data is available from a CSO survey source such as the Census of Industrial Production, Prodcom, Building and Construction Inquiry or Annual Services Inquiry, this value is taken and used to estimate gross value added in a similar way to gross output. Where specific gross value added data were not available, the ratio of gross value added to supply-table output for the relevant NACE Rev. 2 sector was applied to the EGSS of gross output to arrive at an estimate of EGSS gross value added within each NACE Rev. 2 sector cross-classified by category of environmental activity. This method of estimation is recommended by Eurostat in their publication “Environmental goods and services sector accounts — Practical guide — 2016 edition”, available at

https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-manuals-and-guidelines/-/KS-GQ-16-011

Methodology for estimating full-time equivalents

EGSS full-time equivalents employment is estimated within each NACE Rev. 2 sector and category of environmental activity along similar lines to gross output. Specifically, where employment data is available from a CSO survey source, this value is taken and used to estimate EGSS employment.

Where specific employment data were not available, the ratio of employment in the Labour Force Survey to supply-table output for the relevant NACE Rev. 2 sector is used to arrive at an estimate of EGSS employment within each NACE Rev. 2 sector cross-classified by category of environmental activity. This method of estimation is also recommended by Eurostat in their Practical Guide publication referenced above.

Table Notes 

Tables 1A to 1C present the total gross output, gross value added and full-time equivalents employed, respectively in EGSS from 2010 to 2018, broken down by category of environment activity. Tables 2A to 2C present EGSS total gross output, gross value added and full-time equivalents employed, broken down by the economic activity sector of the producer or supplier over the same time period.

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