National accounts and environment
Frequency: Annual
Timeliness: In May year "t" final figures for economic and environmental accounts for t-3 are published, while preliminary figures for t-2 are published. The whole time series for air emissions is recalculated annually when new information makes this relevant.
Values are published for the country as a whole.
220 - Division for Environmental Statistics
No separate data collection.
Not relevant.
Eurostat (European Union's statistical office).
The goal of the environment and economic accounts is to give a consistent and comprehensive picture of the environmental consequences due to the economic activity of units that are resident in Norway. A unit is resident in a country when the centre of economic interest belongs within the country's economic territory.
The NOREEA (Norwegian Economic and Environment Accounts) project was the basis for the development of these statistics, and was financed by the EU Commission and the Norwegian Ministry of the Environment. The statistics was published for the first time in 2002. Currently statistics have been established that link economic statistics and air emissions statistics. More environmental domains will be included in the future (i.e. energy and waste).
The data are used for analyses that combine emissions and economic information. Industry sector profiles, changes over time, decoupling of emissions from economic activity and emissions intensities can all be obtained from these time series. The data set can also be used as the basis for other types of analyses, including input-output analyses and decomposition studies. Among the users of the statistics are Eurostat, UNFCCC and the Ministry of the Environment.
In the economic and environmental accounts, the statistics from the air emissions accounts are combined with statistics from the national accounts. The categories are harmonised so that data can be easily combined. For this purpose, we make use of an economic definition of Norway, contrary to the geographic definition that is used in the official statistics on air emissions.
The population of the national accounts is defined according to international guidelines described in the System of National Accounts (SNA 1993) published by the UN, OECD, IMF, World Bank and the European Commission and the European System of Accounts (ESA 1995).
See the annual national accounts and the quarterly national accounts for more information about the national accounts.
See the air emissions accounts for more information.
The data sources that are used in the environmental and economic accounts are already published figures at Statistics Norway for air emissions and the annual and quarterly national accounts. More environmental domains (i.e. energy and waste) will included in the future.
The air emissions accounts are described in detail in Aasestad, Kristin (2007).
Statistics from many areas are utilized in the national accounts. These include structural business statistics, public accounts, wage statistics, price statistics, foreign trade statistics, household surveys and employment surveys. Some parts of the national accounts are constructed more or less directly from other statistics, while other parts are based heavily on calculations and estimations.
Not relevant.
Not relevant.
As part of the work with the economic and environmental accounts, controls are undertaken to ensure that the data are consistent with already published figures for air emissions and the annual and quarterly national accounts. There is no additional control of primary data. The primary statistics are submitted to fixed revision routines at the divisions publishing the air emission accounts and the national accounts.
The emissions and energy use data reported directly to Statistics Norway and the results from the emission inventory are submitted to an extensive amount of quality control. The data for air emissions go through a thorough quality control. These controls are used in relation to directly reported emissions from specific sites and to energy use (reported by establishments directly to via the Norwegian Pollution Control Authority) and finally to the results from the model calculations. The primary statistics data from Statistics Norway, are however not submitted to any additional control, since this is taken care of by the ordinary revision routines for these statistics.
The revision and quality control that is performed in the development of the emissions accounts can be divided into to steps:
Control and revision of the National accounts are undertaken by the ordinary routines for revision of primary statistics. The basic statistics from specific areas are, however, re-worked according to the specific needs of the national accounts. In areas where the statistics are insufficient, the statistics are based on calculations and estimates.
Not relevant.
Not relevant.
Air emissions
The economic and environmental accounts statistics give an overview of a number of different emissions components:
Greenhouse gases
Carbon dioxide (CO2), nitrogen dioxide (N2O), methane (CH4), PFCs (perfluorocarbons), HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons), and SF6. Total emissions of greenhouse gases are calculated by adding up emissions for each component given in CO2-equivalents. Emissions in CO2-equivalents are estimated by multiplying each emission component with it's specific Global Warming Potential (GWP) conversion factor. The GWP factors for the three major gases CO2, CH4 and N2O, are 1, 21 and 310, respectively. For more information on specific GWP factors, please go to the about the statistics description in the left-hand margin in the air emissions statistics.
Acidifying gases
Nitrogen oxides (NOX), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and ammonia (NH3). Total emissions of gases contributing to acidification, are given by the sum of each emission type given in potential acid equivalents (PAE). PAE for each gas is calculated by multiplying the emissions with a gas specific conversion factor. The conversion factors are for NOx 1/46, SO2 1/32 and NH3 1/17 (Potential Acid Equivalents).
Ozone precursors
Nitrogen oxides (NOX), NMVOC (non-methane volatile organic carbons), carbon dioxide (CO), and methane (CH4). Total emissions of ozone precursors are found by calculating the Tropospheric Ozone Forming Potentials (TOPF) in NMVOC equivalents for each component before adding the emissions together. The TOPF factors are: NOx = 1.22, NMVOC = 1, CO = 0.11 and CH4 = 0.014.
Heavy metals
Cadmium (Cd), lead (Pb), arsenic (As), copper (Cu), chromium (Cr), and mercury (Hg).
Other components
Polycyclic organic hydrocarbons (PAH-4), Particles (dust) (PM10 and PM2,5), and dioxin.
For more information about air emissions, see Focus on Climate and air pollution.
National accounts
The national accounts statistics are designed to provide a consistent and comprehensive survey of the national economy. The national accounts contain national aggregates, and give detailed descriptions of transactions between different sectors of the economy, including the rest of the world. The structure of the National Accounts is based on the international standards SNA 1993 and ESA 1995. These standards define the contents for the production of national accounts statistics. The National Accounts give many details about production by industry and product, as well as the uses of the products. Statistics Norway regularly produces input-output tables that can be combined with the emission data.
See Concepts and definitions in the National Accounts and Focus on the National Accounts for further information regarding the national accounts.
Pollution intensity
The pollution intensity is measured as emissions units (pollution) per NOK value added or output, and is calculated in this set of statistics by dividing the emissions from the specific industry by the value added or output from that same industry. Pollution intensity is a general concept covering all kinds of pollution. One can also, in the case of air emissions, use the term emissions intensity or even air emissions intensity.
An industry having a high emissions intensity, pollutes allot compared to the value added or output of that industry. An improvement in the emissions intensity, therefore, means lower values and/or a declining graph.
Politically, the aim of the environmental policy in Norway, is that even if the economy continues to grow, the pollution should be reduced, either in absolute or relative values. In other words, one seeks for a development where the economic development and environmental development is disconnected. The term commonly used for this is "decoupling".
Based on NACE rev. 1.1 classification, and published according to the groups used in the quarterly national accounts.
As mentioned above the environment and economic accounts are based on a number of existing statistics. The environment and economic accounts therefore, follows the same sources of errors and uncertainty that are linked to these statistics.
The emission data are in general based on several other statistics. There has not been a study of the possible sources of errors in the production of these statistics. However, since they often contain large amounts of data, there is reason to believe that errors might occur. There might also be unknown sources of emissions that are not included in the statistics.
The control and revision of emission data (section 3.6) will reveal larger collection and processing errors for single years. Unknown emission sources and systematic errors will however not be detected.
For emissions to air in general: Aasestad, Kristin (2007) and for a more specific information on greenhouse gases: Rypdal and Zhang (2000).
The National Accounts rely on many different statistical sources. These sources either contain data based on surveys sent to enterprises or households, or they come from different administrative registers. The uncertainties in the statistical sources will be reflected in the National Accounts as well. Sources of error and uncertainty are usually described in the documentation of the different statistics.
Since the National Accounts is an integrated system containing several routines for harmonizing the data and checking the consistency, there is reason to believe that the National Accounts in some areas might contribute to reducing some of the uncertainty inherent in the statistical sources. On the other hand, there is a need in the National Accounts to calculate data in areas where there is a lack of statistical sources, and in some cases data are estimated from calculations of residuals. In these areas the uncertainty might be quite high. An example of this kind data are the calculations of stocks, result divided on industry sectors, and the gross product calculations, especially for some service industries.
Many of the statistics that are used in the National Accounts have a relatively long production period. Because of this, the preliminary accounts data are more uncertain than the final figures.
See general comments on sources of error and uncertainty under section 5.0.
See general comments on sources of error and uncertainty under section 5.0.
See general comments on sources of error and uncertainty under section 5.0.
See general comments on sources of error and uncertainty under section 5.0.
Comparable national accounts data exist for every year back until 1970. These data are consistent with the standards SNA 1993 and ESA 1995. Comparable emissions data exist back until 1990.
Obtaining a harmonized data set that includes both the national accounts and the air emissions accounts is the major focus of these linked accounts. The air emissions accounts and reporting is most commonly according to a geographic or territorial definition of Norway whereas the national accounts uses an economic activity definition of Norway. The air emissions data need to be adjusted to correspond to the economic definition. In Norway, the difference between these two definitions is primarily due to ocean transport and international air transport. The emissions from international shipping and international air transport are not usually included in the territorial defined air emissions accounts but they are included here so that there is better correspondence with the National Accounts' economic definition of Norway (i.e. the economic activity of units that are resident in Norway). There are other small differences but they are not as important as ocean transport and international air transport.
The statistics are available in the StatBank. See link at the left-hand margin or at the top of the webpage.
Hass, J.L., K.Ø. Sørensen, K. Erlandsen and T. Smith (2005): Norwegian Economic and Environmental Accounts (NOREEA). Project report - 2002. Documents 2005/9, Statistics Norway.
Hass, Julie (2004): Results from the Norwegian Environmental and Economic Accounts and Issues Arising from Comparisons with Other Nordic NAMEA - Air Emissions Systems, in OECD: Measuring Sustainable Development. Integrated Economic, Environmentaol and Social Frameworks.
Hass, J.L., K.Ø. Sørensen and K. Erlandsen (2002): Norwegian Economic and Environmental Accounts (NOREEA). Project report - 2001. Documents 2002/15, Statistics Norway.
Hass, J. (ed.) (2000): Nordic Environment-Economic Indicators: Nordic Natural and Environment Accounts - Part III. TemaNord 2000:515. Copenhagen: Nordic Council of Ministers.
Hass, Julie L. and Knut Ø. Sørensen (1998): Environmental profiles and benchmarking of Norwegian industries. Results from the Norwegian economic and environmental accounts (NOREEA) project. Statistics Norway: Economic Survey 1/98.
Hass, Julie and Knut Ø. Sørensen (1997): NOREEA - Norsk regnskap for økonomi og miljø. SSB: Økonomiske Analyser 9/97. (in Norwegian only)
OECD SG/SD (2002): Indicators to measure decoupling of environmental pressure from economic growth.
Statistics Norway (1997): Lower emissions from the transport sector.
Statistics Norway (2002): Higher growth in economy than in air emissions. (See Previous articles in the left margin).
Statistics Norway (2003): Air emissions increase but less than value added. (See Previous articles in the left margin).
Statistics Norway (2004): Higher economic growth than increase in air emissions. (See Previous articles in the left margin).
Statistics Norway (2005): Emissions increased more than value added.
(See Previous articles in the left margin).
Statistics Norway (2006): Economy grew again more than air emissions. (See Previous articles in the left margin).
Statistics Norway (2007): Less pollution per NOK. (See “Previous articles” in the left margin)
Sørensen, K.S., J.L. Hass, H. Sjølie, P. Tønjum and K. Erlandsen (2001). Norwegian Economic and Environment Accounts (NOREEA) Phase 2. Documents 2001/02, Statistics Norway.
Not relevant.
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