Survey
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
* Your assessment is very important for improving the workof artificial intelligence, which forms the content of this project
EnvironmentalEconomic Accounting Introduction in the EnvironmentalEconomic Accounting 2015 Federal Statistical Office of Germany Published by: Statistisches Bundesamt (Federal Statistical Office), Wiesbaden Homepage: www.destatis.de You may contact us at: www.destatis.de/contact Central Information Service Phone: +49 (0) 611 / 75 24 05 Periodicity: Non recurrent Published on 4 August 2015 Order number: 5859005-15900-4 [PDF] © Statistisches Bundesamt, Wiesbaden 2015 Reproduction and distribution, also of parts, are permitted provided that the source is mentioned. 1 Contents 1 Environmental-Economic Accounting of the Federal Statistical Office ............. 4 2 Environmental-Economic Accounting and sustainability policy....................... 8 Federal Statistical Office, Introduction in the Environmental-Economic Accounting, 2015 3 InEnvironmental-Economic accounting of the Federal Statistical Office 1 Environmental-Economic Accounting of the Federal Statistical Office Environmental-Economic Accounting (EEA) describes the interrelationship between the economy and the environment. For its economic activities, production and consumption and economy not only uses labour and produced assets but also natural assets. Natural assets include raw materials such as sources of energy, ores, other minerals and water as well as land that serves as a location for production, consumption and various leisure activities. These parts of natural assets are used directly. Other components of natural assets are ecosystems and other natural systems such as the atmosphere. They support economic activities by absorbing and eliminating residues and pollutants arising from production and consumption, such as atmospheric emissions, waste and effluent. Figure 1 shows the interrelationship between economy 1 and environment. On the one hand natural assets are used as input for the economic process. On the other hand the economy discharges residues and pollutants. Figure 1 Interrelationship economy environment Environment Economy Extraction of raw materials, use of environmental services Consumer products Net capital formation Quantitative and qualitative change of natural assets Private households Production Labour Capital stock (produced assets) Capital services Environmental protection expenditure Natural assets The use of natural assets − similar to the produced capital stock − generally involves depletion, which means that the burden or impact on the environment causes changes in its state and/or natural assets. On the one hand, these changes are of a quantitative nature (e.g. a decreasing amount of non-renewable raw materials); on the other, they have many qualitative aspects (deteriorating air quality due to emissions of pollutants, diminished biodiversity etc.). Attempts are being made to prevent these negative changes with targeted, appropriate environmental protection measures, such as by avoiding environmental burden (e.g. desulphurising flue gas) or remedying damage that has already been done (e.g. cleaning up polluted sites). The interdependencies between the economy and the environment therefore are not restricted to showing the burdens on the environment; in fact the pattern also includes changes to the state of 1 Both are shown in simplified form in the diagram. Federal Statistical Office, Introduction in the Environmental-Economic Accounting, 2015 4 InEnvironmental-Economic accounting of the Federal Statistical Office 1 Environmental-Economic Accounting of the Federal Statistical Office the environment brought about by pollution and the steps taken to avoid it or repair the damage. The EEA aims to describe all three forms of interdependence between economy and environment – environmental burden, the environmental state and environmental measures. The description of these interdependencies takes as its starting point the fact, mentioned above, that a national economy not only uses labour and capital but also nature. Therefore, the basic idea is to take the commonly accepted definition of a national economy and expand it by a "factor nature". The System of National Accounts (SNA) provides a comprehensive and systematic definition of economic activity. Principally, they show monetary transactions (flows) and assets using standardised classifications. EEA were conceived as a satellite system for the national accounts, the objective of which is to extend the presentation of the economic process by a depiction of the interrelationship between the economic system and the environment. The environmental flows and inventories are almost always presented in physical units. For example, air emissions are expressed in tonnes, energy consumption in Terajoules, area used for transport and settlement purposes (land use) in square metres. An important feature is the full compatibility of both systems − the national accounts and the EEA. The underlying concepts, definitions, distinctions, and classifications in both systems match as far as this is logically sensible and possible. This also applies and particularly so for the economic classifications used in the EEA and the SNA. Because of these common concepts, definitions, distinctions and classifications the results of the EEA can be linked internally and to the identically categorised SNA data and they can be analysed jointly. Compatibility with the national accounts permits for example to relate the environmental parameters, which are mostly shown in physical units (such as in tonnes), to the economic indices (in euros). Of particular importance here are the data on the efficiency of environmental use, expressed as an arithmetical ratio of the figure of interest (such as raw materials consumption) to the gross value added (GVA) or to the gross domestic product (GDP). With regard to the details of calculating productivities and intensities see the notes on the tables in Part 1. The concept underlying the EEA is to express the status quo and the change in natural assets in units of money, so as to be able to determine what is known as corrected macro-economic aggregates, such as the ecological domestic product. Particularly insofar as such evaluations do not assess the quantitative decrease of resources, but refer to qualitative changes of other components, they are problematic in many respects with regard to the methods used (valuation/aggregation problems, restricted knowledge about correlation between cause and effect and considerable regional differences). That is why such calculations tend not to be carried out by the Federal Statistical Office but by scientific research institutes. Consequently, when presenting environmental pollution and the state of the environment EEA of the Federal Statistical Office is restricted to physical data. Environmental economic accounts and national accounts describe two dimensions of sustainable development– economy and environment – and their interrelationship. Therefore they provide an important and useful data base for political discussions concerning sustainability. Figure 2 shows the different reporting modules of the EEA of the Federal Statistical Office. They reflect the internationally recognized pressure-state-response model, used to statistically show correlations between the environment and the economy. The environmental pressures reporting module shows the material flows listed behind it: the amount of raw materials extracted per year, the amount of pollutants emitted per year etc. This reporting module does not include produced goods or services, but raw materials extracted from nature and residual materials and hazardous substances emitted back into nature. The respective flows for each type of material are booked as Federal Statistical Office, Introduction in the Environmental-Economic Accounting, 2015 5 InEnvironmental-Economic accounting of the Federal Statistical Office 1 Environmental-Economic Accounting of the Federal Statistical Office consolidated quantities, in what is known as the material account, which charts the flows of material between a national economy and both the natural environment and the world's other national economies. Figure 2 Modules of German Environmental-Economic Accounting Pressure State Physical flow accounts Physical stock accounts Physical flows Quantitative and qualitative changes in the stock of natural assets in physical units Economy wide material flow accounts Energy flow accounts by branches Primary material by branches Emission accounts by branches Water accounts by branches Physical Input-Output tables Sectoral reporting modules Housing and transport area by branches Response Environmental protection measures Environment related flows and stocks Environmental protection measures Environmental taxes Transport and Environment Agriculture and Environment Forest Accounting Private households and the environment At present, the state of the environment reporting module of the German EEA only expresses the component of the natural capital presented by land area. Especially land use by housing and transport are in the focus of this reporting module. Looking at how much land area is used by which economic stakeholder, however, can not be realised for the time being. Landscapes and ecosystems form yet another essential component of the natural capital, which should principally be included by accounting. In Germany these aspect are dealt with by Agency for Nature Protection, not by environmental economic accounts. Displaying the stocks of mineral resources – a third aspect of the natural assets, which may be of great importance for countries rich in raw materials – has a fairly low priority as far as German EEA is concerned and has so far not been considered. A reporting module has so far only been developed for forest. In the module environmental protective measures, components already included in the monetary transactions of the national accounts are shown separately and, as a rule, broken down further. Here, for example, environmentally relevant taxes, such as vehicle tax or fuel tax, are shown. Another important part of environmental protective measures consist of investment and ongoing expenditure for environmental protection in the government and manufacturing industry sectors, as well as privatised public enterprises. Contrary to the physical electric power accounts of the material and energy flow accounts and the physical asset accounts describing the state of the environment, the EEA shows the environmental protective measures in the form of monetary accounts. The sectoral reporting modules, presently used for the transport, agriculture, forestry, and private households sectors, enable extending the EEA standard programme by single items for politically significant topics. For such sectors, these reporting modules provide a much more detailed picture of the complete range of interdependencies between the environment and the economy, across the EEA components mentioned above. Typical of EEA is considering the environmental impact (removing raw materials, land use, services of the environment) of economic activities from two angles: the first Federal Statistical Office, Introduction in the Environmental-Economic Accounting, 2015 6 InEnvironmental-Economic accounting of the Federal Statistical Office 1 Environmental-Economic Accounting of the Federal Statistical Office question is to what extent an environmental factor enters the economic cycle or is adversely affected in production or consumption of private households. Apart from this it is however also important to know what quantities of environmental factors are being employed and for what final purpose. This second assessment not only assigns directly consumed factor components to a specific category of use (such as the consumption activities of private households), but also those quantities needed to manufacture all the goods consumed by the households (at all stages of the production process) and therefore consumed, as it were, "indirectly" by the households. This contrasting of direct and indirect parameters is comparable with the presentation of origin and use in the national accounts, and applies to numerous subjects of EEA. "Upstream" indirect consumption cannot be derived from the accounting system directly. Allocation takes place through a model approach based on input-output tables (IOT). IOTs are central elements of the national accounts; they include details of the upstream interdependencies between the individual production sectors, to name just one example. The concept of Environmental Economic Accounts was established and further developed at international level by the United Nations, in particular, and adopted in February 2012 as an international statistical standard "System of Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA Central Framework 2012) " 2. In Germany substantial sections of the environmental economic accounts are drawn up based on these conceptual proposals in the SEEA. 2 European Commission/Food and Agriculture Organisation/International Monetary Fund/Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development/ United Nations/World Bank (2012): System of Environmental-Economic Accounting – Central Framework, White cover publication, pre-edited text subject to official editing. Federal Statistical Office, Introduction in the Environmental-Economic Accounting, 2015 7 InEnvironmental-Economic accounting of the Federal Statistical Office 2 Environmental-Economic Accounting and sustainability policy The aim of EEA is – as described in Section 1 – to systematically portray the relationships between economic activities and the environment. EEA is therefore predestined to provide important and statistically reliable information on sustainability policy topics relating to the economy and the environment. Supporting the Federal Government's sustainability policy has become an important area of EEA application in recent years. The development of the indicators specified in the Federal Government's national sustainability strategy is described and updated in the regularly published indicator report on sustainable development in Germany (latest edition 2014, see EnvironmentalEconomic Accounting). The aim of sustainability indicators is to inform the public and the media, using easily understandable messages, about developments in important fields and to control the success of policy decisions. Sustainability policy demands a holistic approach in order to prevent it becoming merely a collection of unrelated, individual topics and indicators. An integrating view is particularly promising. It should focus on the varying needs of politics, economy, environment, and society, and thus can highlight conflicts in objectives and show possible solutions. Figure 3 The relation between indicator approach and accounts for the derivation of headline indicators for sustainable development Indicator approach Accounting approach Headline indicators Primary data Primary data Communication and performance control Formulation of measures, integrated analysis, balancing conflicting goals Two different approaches for deriving sustainability indicators should be pointed out here. What is known as the data or information pyramid demonstrates the relationship between the various basic data at the broad base of the pyramid and the few selected key or headline indicators at the top of the pyramid (see Figure 3). In the indicator approach (at the left of the figure) the key indicators are derived directly from the basic data (primary data). Such directly derived key indicators generally appear isolated, meaning that interrelationships between them are not always immediately recognisable. In the accounting approach (at the right of the figure), in contrast, the middle level of the information pyramid is occupied by the additional accounting data. Basic datadriven accounting generates additional secondary data, thus creating a system of interrelated information. The advantages of using the interlinked national and environmental-economic accounting systems as suitable data base were previously pointed out in Section 1. The systems are consistent because uniform concepts, definitions, Federal Statistical Office, Introduction in the Environmental-Economic Accounting, 2015 8 InEnvironmental-Economic accounting of the Federal Statistical Office 2 Environmental-Economic Accounting and sustainability policy demarcations, and structures are used. A particularly important classification in national and environmental-economic accounting is the differentiation according to economic activities (industries or production branches and private household consumption), among others. Because all core environmental-economic accounting results have a similar structure, they can be related both with each other and with identically structured national accounting data. Overall, this allows an integrated analysis of the indicators. Reporting using indicators integrated in environmental-economic accounting makes the relationships between certain developments more easily recognisable and contributes to better estimates of the effects of potential political measures. It is therefore desirable that as many indicators in an indicator set as possible are derived from accounting. The specific benefit in terms of the indicator discussion results from the central characteristics of the accounting approach: system orientation, completeness and consistency, independence from specific topics. More specifically, the results of environmentaleconomic accounting can be used for the environmental indicators in sustainability reporting in numerous ways: • Environmental-economic accounting provides data as a basis for calculating indicators which, in contrast to the underlying statistical basic data, are already suitably grouped in terms of national statements on the economic–environment system. From a methodological perspective, it is highly beneficial if indicators are derived from scientifically oriented, systematic and uniform concepts such as environmental-economic accounting, and can be interlinked with these concepts. This also facilitates interpretation of the corresponding indicators. • Conversely, the results of environmental-economic accounting can underlie the indicators thanks to more deeply differentiating and consistently structured data. This allows the indicator sets, often limited to merely listing the indicators, to become more informative by showing interlinkages. This affects relationships between different sustainability dimensions (in environmental-economic accounting primarily between the economy and the environment) as well as between various environmental topics. The political demand for integration of environmental aspects in sectoral policies in particular requires data which allow the economic and environmental facts for the respective sector to be analysed in an integrated way and the overall effect of the varied sectoral policies to be studied. • The results of environmental-economic accounting provide the starting point for more detailed analyses and forecasts, as well as for formulating measures. In particular, these include: Deriving overall economic indicators. Of particular interest are indicators which link monetary economic variables with physical environmental indicators (example: energy productivity as a link between the gross domestic product (GDP) and energy consumption) in the form of efficiency measures (e.g. productivities or intensities). Deriving sectoral indicators (e.g. specific energy consumption of individual industries or production branches). Here, too, the sector-specific efficiency indicators are of particular importance. Decomposition analysis: this method allows to describe the development of an indicator by the evolution of its influencing factors (e.g. the development of emissions can be analysed for efficiency increases or for structural effects, changes in general demand, and others). Federal Statistical Office, Introduction in the Environmental-Economic Accounting, 2015 9 InEnvironmental-Economic accounting of the Federal Statistical Office 2 Environmental-Economic Accounting and sustainability policy Input-output analysis: the environmental pressure data available in physical units are linked to monetary or physical input-output tables in order to calculate the cumulative effects. In addition to the direct burden (e.g. the direct energy consumption of a production area), the indirect effects (e.g. resulting from the use of energy at all production stages of a product) is also taken into consideration when calculating the cumulative effects. The effect of displacing environment-intensive activities to the rest of the world can be quantified. Econometric modelling approaches: the environmental-economic accounting data can be used in multi-sectoral, econometric modelling approaches in order to model scenarios of an integrated view of the development of environmental and economic variables. The national strategy for sustainable development (The Federal Government: Perspectives for Germany, 2002) was last updated by the 2012 progress report. 3 The core of the national strategy is given by 21 indicators for the 21st century, with which policy makers define those topics regarded as particularly important from a sustainability perspective. Most of the indicators 4 are furnished with quantified target values, making the successes or failures of sustainability policies better measurable. The Federal Statistical Office compiles the sustainable development indicator reports on behalf of the Federal Government. They are published every four years as a component of the progress reports and – every two years – as independent publication. The indicator reports are accompanied by a collection of data (online only) containing all time series' and background data on the sustainability indicators (most recent data on the Indicator Report 2014; Environmental-Economic Accounting). The majority of the data on which the indicators are based is taken from official statistics. Several of the strategy indicators are anchored in national and environmentaleconomic accounting and can therefore be thoroughly analysed and underlain with additional information. In environmental-economic accounting this affects the energy productivity and primary energy consumption indicators (strategy indicators 1a and 1b), raw material productivity (indicator 1c), greenhouse gases (indicator 2), the increase in housing and transport areas (indicator 4), transport (indicators 11a, b, c and d) and air pollution (indicator 13). The raw material productivity indicator is calculated within environmental-economic accounting. The sustainability strategy's indicators on the environment and the economy are continuously – that is, at least annually − updated and published online (EnvironmentalEconomic Accounting). Table 1 shows the current time series' at the time of publication of the present report (in abbreviated form here only the environmentally relevant indicators). 3 Federal Government: Nationale Nachhaltigkeitsstrategie, Fortschrittsbericht 2012. www.bundesregierung.de/Content/DE/Artikel/2012/02/2012-02-15-kabinett-fortschrittsbericht2012.html 4 The strategy currently comprises 38 indicators. Federal Statistical Office, Introduction in the Environmental-Economic Accounting, 2015 10 InEnvironmental-Economic accounting of the Federal Statistical Office 2 Environmental-Economic Accounting and sustainability policy Table 1 Environmental Indicators of the German Strategy for Sustainable Development* Indicator Unit 1 1990 1994 1999 2000 2010 2013 2014 Goals Target years 1990 = 100 100 111.3 119.6 122.5 135.7 146.0 155.8 200 2020 Primary energy consumption (1b) 1990 = 100 100 95.2 96.1 96.6 95.4 92.3 87.9 76,3/ 47,7 2020/2050 Raw material productivity (1c) 1994 = 100 − 100 115.5 119.8 147.4 147.4 … 200 2020 Greenhouse gas emissions (2) 1990 = 100 100 90.0 83.8 83.7 75.6 76.3 … 79/ 60/ 20 - 5 2008-2012/ 2020/2050 Share of renewable energy sources in final energy consumption (3a) % 1.9 0.0 3.4 3.7 10.3 12.4 … 18/ 60 2020/2050 Share of renewable energy sources in electricity consumption (3b) % 3.4 4.3 5.2 6.2 17.0 25.4 27.8 40-45/ 55-60/ 80 2025/2035/ 2050 Increase in land use for housing and transport (4) 2 ha pro Tag − 120 3 126 129 87 73 … 30 2020 Species diversity and landscape quality (5) 2015 = 100 76.5 76.6 74.8 71.9 67.6 63,4 4 … 100 2015 Intensity of goods transport (11a) 1999 = 100 − − 100 99.9 112.2 108,8 5 … 95 2020 Passenger transport intensity (11b) 1999 = 100 − − 100 96.0 93.9 91,7 5 … 80 2020 Share of railway transport in goods transport performance (11c) % − − 16.5 17.2 17.8 18,2 5 … 25 2015 Share of inland freight water transport in goods transport performance (11d) % − − 13.5 13.8 10.4 9,7 5 … 14 2015 Nitrogen surplus (12a) 6 kg/ha 7 114.7 114.6 112.5 94.8 100.6 4 … 80 2010 − − 2.9 − 5.6 6.0 … 20 kein Zieljahr 100 66.0 55.7 53.5 43.0 42.5 … 30 2010 Energy productivity (1a) Organic farming (12b) Air pollution (13) % 1990 = 100 130,3 * Update compared with the indicator report 2014. 1 Numbers in brackets according to the German Strategy for Sustainable Development. 2 Moving four-year average, reference in the relevant year and the preceding three years. 3 1996. 4 2011. 5 2012. 6 Moving three-year average, reference to the second year. 7 1991. A set of sustainability indicators should remain as stable as possible, but cannot be permanently defined. Depending on the knowledge base and political priorities, it may change with time. The formulation of sustainability indicators and the creation of the necessary integrated basic data are long-term processes, in which policy makers, scientists and statisticians must work hand-in-hand. The aim, embedding the sustainability indicators as far as possible in the accounting system, can be achieved in stages in the mid-term: • Based on new methodological insights, new problems, wishes expressed by the public and associations (e.g. in the so-called consultation process, which takes place in conjunction with the respective progress report on the sustainability strategy) and with the perspective of better international comparability, in particular at the European level, regular monitoring and adaptation of the indicator system is foreseeable. When revising the indicators the aim should be that those indicators for which interdependencies with the overall system play a role are derived as far as possible from the accounting system, because of the advantages this presents. Federal Statistical Office, Introduction in the Environmental-Economic Accounting, 2015 11 InEnvironmental-Economic accounting of the Federal Statistical Office 2 Environmental-Economic Accounting and sustainability policy • At the same time, when developing the accounting data set, statistics must react to the data requirements resulting from the sustainability strategy. Based on accounting systems, this can often be achieved relatively easily and economically, because the accounting framework provides the option to generate the required information by amalgamating data from different sources, originally not fully consistent or incomplete, by reformatting and estimates. Depending on the quality requirements on the data it would be desirable in the long term to more effectively substantiate previous estimates in the framework of the accounting system using appropriate primary surveys. • Another important objective is for policy makers and the institutions charged with providing scientific policy advice to make greater use of the existing data inventory within the framework of the sustainability strategy. In this context the environmental-economic accounting data are increasingly used in analyses (in addition to the environmental and sustainability reports, e.g. including environmental economy reports, most recently in 2011 5). Moreover, it is necessary to invest in the development of appropriate analysis instruments, such as suitable modelling approaches. Supranationally and internationally the development and use of environmentaleconomic accounting data as the basis for sustainability indicator reporting is on the advance. In Europe the European Commission assumes that in the long term 'better integrated ecological, social and national accounting will form the basis for new indicators at the uppermost level'. The European initiative 'GDP – and Beyond: measuring progress in a changing world' aimed at complementing calculations of gross domestic product (GDP) as a measure of the economic performance of a national economy such that it also reflects welfare and well-being aspects, and sustainable development. The Commission encourages the development and use of environmental-economic accounting to aid in implementing this project. This proposal was also included in the 2009 Commission communication 'GDP – and Beyond: measuring progress in a changing world' 6. The Stiglitz, Sen and Fitoussi report 7 , compiled on behalf of the French government in 2009, points in the same direction. It provided the impulse for further indicator development activities to complement GDP for the three topics 'extension of classical GDP', 'measuring quality of life' (both relative to the present) and 'measuring sustainability and the environment' (relative to the future). In conjunction with this the German Bundestag established a Study Commission in 2011 to compile a report on Growth, Well-being, Quality of life – Paths to Sustainable Economic Activity and Social Progress in the Social Market Economy, together with an accompanying indicator system (2013). 8 In the context of the European Statistical System (ESS) and on recommendation of the Sponsorship Group on measuring progress, well-being and sustainable development, 9 priorities for developing statistics in the EU were defined in 2011 and it was recommended that sustainability and environmental indicators should be developed in the future based on accounting, where possible. In July 2011 the European Parliament passed an EU regulation for implementing environmental-economic accounting in all 5 Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (2011): Report on the Environmental Economy 2011. www.bmu.de 6 Commission of the European Community, Communication to the Council and the European Parliament dated 20/08/2009: GDP – and Beyond: measuring progress in a changing world (COM(2009)433 final). 7 Stiglitz, J., Sen, A. & Fitoussi, J.P. (2009): Report by the Commission on the Measurement of Economic Performance and Social Progress. 8 Enquete Kommission Wachstum, Wohlstand, Lebensqualität – Wege zu nachhaltigem Wirtschaften und gesellschaftlichem Fortschritt in der Sozialen Marktwirtschaft (2013): Schlussbericht. Bundestag Printed Paper 17/13300 dated 3/5/2013. 9 European Statistical System (2011): Sponsorship Group on measuring progress, well-being and sustainable development. Final report November 2011. EEA ESSC 2011/11/05/EN. Federal Statistical Office, Introduction in the Environmental-Economic Accounting, 2015 12 InEnvironmental-Economic accounting of the Federal Statistical Office 2 Environmental-Economic Accounting and sustainability policy member states 10. Initially, datasets for three modules (air emissions, material flow accounting, environmental taxes) were to lead to harmonisation in national reporting and to similar green accounts throughout the EU. In a second step, three further modules 11 were added in 2014 (environmental protection expenditure, environmental goods and services sector, energy). According to the will of the parliamentarians, additional modules will follow (cf. Article 10 of the EU regulation). The first obligatory data transmission for the first three modules was due in 2013. In Germany, a data inventory in part over and above the requirements is already available for the second set of modules (first data delivery in 2017). However, methodological adaptations are also required in places. Together with the national indicator report on sustainable development they form the basis for substantiating the recommendations of the Stiglitz/Sen/Fitoussi report on environmental sustainability indicators and for providing data. In environmental-economic accounting, particular emphasis is placed on reflecting resource use and environmental pressure from a global perspective, which is indispensable from an environmental point of view. After several years of preparatory work, the United Nations Statistical Commission adopted an international statistical standard for environmental-economic accounting in February 2012 (SEEA Central Framework 12). In a second step, ecosystem accounting is currently being developed. The work is being carried out – just as for the Central Framework – under the aegis of the UN Committee of Experts on EnvironmentalEconomic Accounting (UNCEEA) and is supported by the London Group. The activities of UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), who have been working on developing a Green Economy strategy since 2008, should also be mentioned. 13 The Green Economy strategy was accepted at the Earth Summit Rio+20 in June 2012 in support of sustainable development. It focuses on environmental and economic sustainability aspects. 14 The OECD with its Green Growth initiative, passed in 2011, is moving in the same direction. 15 Both strategies work with a set of indicators, whereby the OECD 16 strategy has already been compiled in more detail. The OECD expressly recommends environmental-economic accounting as an optimal data basis for consistent reporting on the Green Growth strategy. 10 Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2011 on European environmental economic accounts. Official Journal of the European Union, L 192/2 dated 22/07/2011. 11 Regulation (EU) No. 538/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 on European environmental economic accounts. Official Journal of the European Union, L 158/113 dated 27/05/2014. 12 European Commission/Food and Agriculture Organisation/International Monetary Fund/Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OECD/United Nations UN,/World Bank (2012): System of Environmental Economic Accounting, Central Framework. White Cover Publication, pre-edited text. http://unstats.un.org/unsd/envaccounting/White_cover.pdf 13 UNEP/United Nations Environment Programme (June 2012): Measuring Progress towards a Green Economy. 14 With a view to the Millennium Objectives expiring in 2015, it is also worth mentioning here the development of global sustainability indicators at the UN level, and their statistical measurement for the time post-2015. 15 OECD (2011): Towards Green Growth. Also see the results of the practical trial in Germany: Federal Statistical Office (2012), Test of OECD Green Growth indicator sets in Germany. www.destatis.de, Publications, Environmental-Economic Accounting 16 OECD (2014): Green Growth Indicators 2014. OECD Green Growth Studies. Federal Statistical Office, Introduction in the Environmental-Economic Accounting, 2015 13