rocky harris department for environment, uk use of environmental-economic accounting applications...
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Rocky HarrisDepartment for Environment, UK
Use of environmental-economic accounting applications for UK Sustainable Consumption and
Production policies
IAOS ConferenceSantiago, October 2010
Introduction
Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) is a relatively new cross-cutting policy area
Four broad themes• Sustainable production and resource efficiency• Sustainable consumption and consumer behaviours• Sustainable products and sustainable materials
management• Government showing leadership through
sustainable operations and procurement
Characterised by life-cycle perspective
Now subsumed by wider Green Economy agenda
Sustainable production: resource efficiency policies targeted at
different industrial sectors• Introducing regulatory and fiscal measures to reduce
pollution and reduce consumption of natural resources• Encouraging sector sustainable development strategies
and commitments• Providing advice to businesses about opportunities for
resource efficiency, energy audits etc• Developing the environmental goods and services (EGS)
sector
Sustainable production: environmental accounts
applications• Negotiating and agreements and monitoring policies for the environmental performance of individual sectors
• Understanding drivers of change (structural decomposition analysis)
• Estimating the incidence on different economic sectors of proposed new taxes such as the Climate Change levy
• Informing the strategic targeting of the Environment Agency’s monitoring of the environmental impacts of different industrial sectors
• Comparing spending on the environment with outcomes
1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 20040
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
Moving production abroad accounts for about 30% of our improvements in production (non-household) CO2 emis-
sions
Mill
ion
tonn
es C
O2 Efficiency improvements 31%
Relocation of production 30%
Switch to services 16%
Increase if emissions had risen in line with consumption levels
Savings achieved by:
Without these savings CO2 emissions would have increased by 43% between 1992 and 2004
Dash for gas 23%
UK production (non-household) emissions total
Sustainable consumption policies
o Encouraging behaviour change is about raising awareness • ranges from the introduction of publicity campaigns and
incorporation of discussions within the school curricula• through to the imposition of mandatory metering systems
o Supported by product policies for example to • restrict the availability of certain less sustainable products
(‘choice editing’) • reduce price differentials between sustainable and less
sustainable products• actions taken to provide recycling facilities and support the
market for recycled goods
Key behaviours and impacts
Behaviour goal Impact (kg/hh pa) Current take-up
Insulate home 750 70%
Manage energy use 530 58%
Micro-generation 350 <1%
Recycle waste 540 71%
Waste less 600 64%
Reduce water use 140 52%
More efficient cars 780 27%
Travel locally without car 750 29%
Cut short haul flights 1,120 . 28%
Use energy efficient products 140 62%
Buy local food in season 10 37%
Adopt better diets 260 6%
Less PRODUCT SUSTAINABILITY More
Nu
mb
ers
of
pro
du
cts
in
th
e m
ark
et
Interventions: • Support innovation
Interventions: •Pricing and trading•Voluntary initiatives•Producer responsibility•Business support•Procurement•Labelling•Public information
Interventions:•Minimumstandards
PRODUCT INTERVENTIONS – Overall approach
Cut out the least sustainable products
Encourage development of new, more sustainable products
Drive the existing market towards greater sustainability
Sustainable products
Sustainable products: applications• EU’s EIPRO study shows that food and drink, transport and housing
products account for 70-80% of impacts• Accounts are most relevant as sources of information about the
overall context of products policy• For example, comparing the contribution of electricity use by
appliances covered by integrated products policy with changes in overall electricity consumption within the home
• Also used for carbon footprinting applications• Importance of emissions embedded within capital formation• How emissions relating to services are spread across a wide
supply chain• The potential contribution of technological improvements in
products towards climate change targets
Net trade 25%
UK food chain greenhouse gas emissions
100%
UK production 47%
Pre-farm gate e.g. Fertilisers
3%
Food services 5%
Food manufacturing
9%
UK agriculture and fisheries
35%
Overseas production
30%
Food exports
-5%
Food retail
2%
Catering
3%
Households 14%
Food shopping
3%
Cooking, storage
11%
Road freight within UK
4%
Mapping greenhouse gas emissions and the food chain
Transport 10%
Overseas transport
6%
Business
?mtCO2e
Homes
35mtCO2e
Mapping greenhouse gas emissions from water use
Water distribution
0.6mtCO2e
Direct abstractions
Water supply treatment
1 mtCO2e
Leakage 0.4mtCO2e
Waste water treatment
2.1mtCO2eWaste water collection
0.2mtCO2e
15,350mcmWater
company admin
0.2mtCO2e3,600mcm
3,700mcm 8,700mcm
20,800mcm
Sludge to land
1-2 mtCO2e
Business
Government showing leadership
Policy activities:• Government being seen to manage its own operations in a sustainable manner and meeting its own sustainability targets• Government using its purchasing power to leverage change amongst its suppliers and ensuring the sustainability of its supply chains
Two different approaches
1. Top down – data from national statistics sources
2. Bottom-up – data from government organisations
CO2 emissions from UK public sector share of energy used in the production of goods (first order effect, including electricity)
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 400
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
ConstructionHealth and social work
Pharmaceuticals
Medical instruments
Other business services
Land transport services
Hotels and catering
Sewerage and refuse
Public sector procurement spend (£bn)
Share of market (%) Area of bubble indicates amount of carbon
Scottish Government carbon accounting project
Government policies and grants
Government procurement
Induced emissions from spending of wages and salaries of public
sector and supply chain
Government operations
Products policy
Business engagement
Household behaviours
Conclusions and observations
Useful for determining broad strategic direction and monitoring progress, not so useful for detailed policy targetting apart from resource efficiency policies
Can be used for the compilation of aggregate indicators although none adopted in the UK as yet
Need to incorporate more detail on household impacts within the framework of the accounts
More up-to-date information required – nowcasting techniques are being explored