Regional analysis: Differences in emission-intensity due to differences in economic structure or environmental efficiency?

Abstract

The economy is a complex system with many aspects having different interrelated dimensions. Many of these different aspects of the economy may have consequences for the quality of water. Therefore a clear but complex link exists between the economy and the quality of water. This relationship is currently an important issue in estimating the costs of implementing the Water Framework Directive. There are many mechanisms by which the Water Framework Directive affects water quality and the economy. The Water Framework Directive sets water quality targets at river basin level. This is partly explained by the fact that water pollution is very much a local environmental problem. Between river basins exist large differences in emissions to water and economic activity. As a result, the emission-intensity, here defined as the ratio between emissions and value added, differs between river basins. This paper tries to give an answer to why there are differences in emission-intensity between river basins in The Netherlands. In doing so, we will focus on differences in economic structure and environmental efficiency.Keywords: Water pollution, Water accounts, Emission-intensity, Economic structure, Environmental efficiency IntroductionSustainable economic development is an increasingly important issue among policymakers and the public. There is thus a high demand for statistics that can support the measurement and analysis of sustainable development. The system of integrated environmental accounts, also known as SEEA (UN, 2003), is a useful tool for monitoring, measuring and analyzing the relationship between environmental policies and the economy by providing consistent time series of data, tables and accounts. The SEEA is a satellite system of the System of National accounts. It brings together economic and environmental information in a comprehensive framework to measure the contribution of the environment to the economy and the impact of the economy on the environment. Specific accounts cover natural resources such as oil and gas, material flows, air emissions, water emissions, waste, and environmental expenditure. At international level the water accounting framework 'the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for Water', commonly referred to as SEEAW, has been prepared by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD, 2006). The SEEAW is a conceptual framework for the organization of physical and economic information related to water using concepts, definitions and classifications consistent to those of the System of National Accounts 1993 (UN, 1993). The SEEAW framework is an elaboration of that in the handbook Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting 2003 (UN, 2003).In the Netherlands, the economic framework National Accounting Matrix (NAM) has also been extended with satellite accounts for the environment. These satellite accounts describe the relationship between environmental pressure and added value for different economic sectors in the economy (NAMEA). A further specification of NAMEA (De Haan, ...