Statistical presentation

Data description

The statistics are an annual statement of the public sector's expenditure and income in connection with environmental protection activities, green taxes and environmental subsidies. As such it contributes to the wider framework of green national accounts, by accounting for the environmental aspect of the public finances.

Environmental protection: The public sector's economic engagement in environmental protection is presented in terms of expenditure and revenue in relation to activities such as pollution control, waste water management, and conservation of biodiversity. The calculation of these items is based on accounts from the state, the municipalities, the regions and public companies. The table links a number of environmental protection activities to a detailed description of the public finances, and at the same time gives the opportunity for a division of the public sector into its sub sectors (see 2.3 sector coverage). Looking at the state, municipalities and regions in isolation, a considerable part of the environmental protection consists of management, administration and research-based government services. The protection of the Danish aquatic environment, for example, requires administration and enforcement of a number of laws and regulations as well as ongoing scientific monitoring.

Green taxes: The public revenue from green taxes provides a coherent description of the extent of the green taxes charged directly to industries and households. The tax base of green taxes consists of physical entities (or substitutes for them) that have a documented, specifically negative impact on the environment. The main purpose of green taxes in Denmark is to reduce pollution and resource consumption. The green taxes are divided into 4 general categories and distributed among the branches of the national accounts. The tax base for green taxes consists of physical entities (or substitutes for them) that have a documented, specifically negative impact on the environment.

Environmental subsidies: The statistics for environmental subsidies describe the annual amount of environmental subsidies. An environmental subsidy is an economic instrument, the purpose of which is to support activities that protect the environment or reduce the use of natural resources. The above mentioned tables divide the subsidies into a number of different categories and purposes and link them to specific industries. In Denmark, the subsidies for renewable energy is a significant part of the total subsidies. Furthermore, a significant part of the subsidies are EU co-financed subsidies, which often concern the protection of the aquatic environment and biodiversity.

Classification system

In order to achieve a consistent and internationally comparable link between public environmental expenditure and revenue and public environmental protection and resource management activities, a variety of classifications and groupings are used. Here is a brief presentation of the most important ones.

Classification of Environmental Protection Activities (CEPA) allocates expenses and revenue to 9 different environmental protection activities:

• 1: Protection of ambient air and climate
• 2: Wastewater management
• 3: Waste management
• 4: Protection and remediation of soil, groundwater and surface water
• 5: Noise and vibration abatement
• 6: Protection of biodiversity and landscapes
• 7: Protection against radiation
• 8: Research and development
• 9: Other environmental protection activities (including administration)

'Other environmental protection activities' include activities that can be difficult to place in one of the other groups, for example because of the complexity of the activity. As a rule, administration of environmental protection must be placed in this category.

The CEPA classification is used in the tables for public environmental protection and environmental subsidies.

Classification of Resource Management Activities (CReMA) allocates expenses and revenue to 7 different resource management activities

• 10: Water resource management
• 11: Forest resource management
• 12: Management of wildlife and plants
• 13: Management of energy resources
• 14: Management of mineral resources
• 15: Research and development in natural resources
• 16: Other resource management (including administration)

'Other resource management activities' include activities that can be difficult to place in one of the other groups, for example because of the complexity of the activity. As a rule, administration of resource management must be placed in this category.

The CReMA classification is used in the table for environmental subsidies to categorise the subsidies according to environmental purposes.

Groupings

In addition to the classifications described above, the statistics also make use of various groupings.

The green taxes are grouped, in accordance with Eurostat's manual 'Environmental taxes - A statistical guide' (2013), into four environmental categories: pollution, transport, energy and resources. The resource rent is presented in addition to this grouping.

Environmental subsidies are divided into five categories: pollution, energy, transport, management of nature and foreign aid. The last two categories in this grouping are peculiar to the Danish statistics in the area. Apart from this exception, the environmental subsidies statistics are based on the instructions in Eurostat's pan-European manual 'Environmental subsidies and similar transfers' (2015).

Total public expenditure and revenue in relation to environmental protection is also categorised by sector and economic type (see 2.4 "Concepts and definitions"). The same expenditure and revenue concepts used for the public sector in the national accounts are initially used for this categorisation. The statement of expenditure and revenue is based on Eurostat's manuals in the field: 'Environmental expenditure statistics - General Government and Specialized Producers data collection handbook' (2007) and 'SERIEE - Environmental Protection Expenditure Accounts; compilation guide '(2002).

Transition table

In connection to the preparation of the statistics for the public sector's environmental protection activities, a so-called 'transition table' has been developed, which explains the similarities and differences between the CEPA statement of the public sector's environmental protection activities and the corresponding statement in the so-called COFOG classification (Classification of the Functions of Government). The public environmental protection activities appear as a separate module called COFOG 05 in the overall COFOG system. COFOG 05 is based on the CEPA classification, but the applications of the two modules are not always identical, which can give rise to discrepancies. The transition table is a tool to illustrate how the accounts for the public sector's environmental protection activities are build using COFOG 05 as a basis. Read more about the transition table here.

Sector coverage

Environmental protection: The public sector.

Green taxes: General government.

Environmental subsidies: General government.

It is important to emphasize the distinction between the public sector and general government . General government consists of the three sub-sectors state, municipalities and regions, while the overall public sector comes about by adding the public corporations to general government. This difference is important in the table for environmental protection, since waste and wastewater management are largely managed by public corporations. As these activities take up quite a bit in the overall accounts, the outcome is fairly different, depending on whether general government is examined in isolation or the focus is on the public sector as a whole. Furthermore, it should be mentioned that the sector coverage for green taxes and environmental subsidies actually consists only of state and municipalities, with the regions neither receiving taxes nor paying environmental subsidies.

A detailed description of the public sector can be found in this figure.

Statistical concepts and definitions

Environmental protection : Umbrella term that covers a wide range of activities and measures with the purpose of protecting the environment. Environmental protection can be seen as the unifying concept for all the tables in these statistics, and green taxes and environmental subsidies can be considered a subset of the public sector's environmental protection.

Green tax: A tax whose tax base is a physical unit (or a proxy of a physical unit) of something that has a proven, specific negative impact on the environment, and which is identified in ESA2010 as a tax.

Environmental subsidies: An environmental subsidy is a subsidy which aims to support environmentally friendly or resource-saving products or production. Environmental subsidies in ESA2010 are defined as ongoing one-sided transfers to public or private companies as well as households and NPISH. Subsidies are divided into product subsidies and other production subsidies. Product subsidies are paid per. unit of the goods and services produced. This applies, for example, to most of the EU's agricultural subsidies. Other production subsidies are granted when production begins. An environmental subsidy is thus a subsidy that aims to support environmentally friendly or resource-saving products or production.

Environmental purpose: The concept of environmental purpose is used as an umbrella term gathering a number of categories that are used to distribute expenses and revenue according to their environmental purpose. In the table for public environmental protection, the environmental purposes consist of the 9 environmental protection activities defined in the CEPA system. In the table for environmental subsidies, the environmental purposes consist of the 9 CEPA activities along with the 7 resource management activities in the CReMA system (see 2.2 Groupings and Classifications).

Environmental category : Environmental category is an umbrella term for a number of different specifications that draw upon Eurostat's environmental statistics manuals (see 2.2 "Groupings and Classifications"). The tables for green taxes use "environmental category" to specify the type of tax involved. Taxes are divided into 4 main categories, which are further divided into different subcategories. In the tables for environmental subsidies, "environmental category" is used as the heading for five main categories of environmental support with associated subcategories (see 2.2 "Groupings and Classifications").

Statistical unit

Environmental protection: The statistical units for environmental protection are the sub-sectors of the public sector: State, municipalities, regions and public companies.

Green taxes: The statistical units for the green taxes are general government's 'two sub-sectors: State and municipalities.

Environmental subsidies: The statistical units for the environmental subsidies are general governments 'two sub-sectors: State and municipalities.

Statistical population

Environmental protection: The population for environmental protection is the public sector expenditure and revenue related to environmental protection. This population is thus a subset of the public sector's total expenditure and revenue, which is included in the national accounts. In this way, the population is a subset of the total national accounts.

Green taxes: The population for the green tax is the subset of the sum total of taxes in Denmark, which lives up to Eurostat's definition of a green tax (see 'Concepts and Definitions').

Environmental subsidies: The population for the environmental subsidies is the subset of the state and local government's total subsidies, current transfers, investment grants and capital transfers, which can be said to have the purpose of supporting environmentally friendly or resource-saving products or production.

It is nearby to consider green taxes and environmental subsidies as revenue and expenses in connection with environmental protection. Hence, it is obvious to expect that the green taxes and environmental support are subpopulations of the population for environmental protection. This is, however, not the case, because the three areas of statistics are calculated according to different principles. Environmental protection follows the CEPA classification and does not include resource management. The environmental subsidies follow both the CEPA and CReMA classifications, which means that the environmental subsidies cover both environmental protection and resource management. Finally, the green taxes follow a third grouping and are not considered by Eurostat as easily compatible with the other two classifications. There are therefore three isolated, partially overlapping populations.

Reference area

The statistics cover Denmark. Greenland and The Faroe Islands are not included.

Time coverage

The statistics cover the years 1995-2023.

Base period

Not relevant for this statistics.

Unit of measure

Environmental protection: The statistics for the public sector's environmental protection activities are stated in DKK 1,000.

Green taxes: The statistics on green taxes are stated in DKK millions.

Environmental subsidies: The statistics on environmental subsidies are stated in DKK millions.

Reference period

The statistics follow the calendar year.

Frequency of dissemination

Annual statistics

Legal acts and other agreements

§ 6 in Law on Statistics Denmark

Statistics on environmentally related taxes by economic activity is regulated under the European Parliament and council regulation no. 691/2011 on European environmental economic accounts.

Statistics on environmental protection expenditure and -revenues is regulated under the European Parliament and council regulation no. 538/2014 on European environmental economic accounts.

Cost and burden

The response-burden is nil, since the statistics are compiled on the basis of register information.

Comment

Further information can be found here Grøn økonomi.