1. Environmental protection and CEPA
EUROPEAN STATISTICAL TRAINING PROGRAMME (ESTP)
Course on “Environmental Protection Expenditure statistics and accounts and related topics” Vienna, March 2014
Environmental protection and CEPA
Carolina Ardi and Cesare Costantino

2. Scope of EPEA in the wider context of SERIEE
Summary
Scope of EPEA in the wider context of SERIEE
What’s environmental protection (EP)?
What’s CEPA?
CEPA 2000 items
A few remarks on CEPA 2000
SERIEE and EPEA
Environmental protection and CEPA
Production account: units, transactions and Table B
Supply and use of EP services: Table B1
National EP expenditure and financing: Tables A, C, C1

3. Scope of EPEA in the wider context of SERIEE (1)
SERIEE makes a distinction between on the one hand EP and on the other hand RM
Economy
Environment
Pressures: intake of natural resources (depletion)
Corporations
Households
NPISHs
General Government
Pressures: pollution and degradation
Responses: resource management
Responses: environmental protection
SERIEE: EPEA
SERIEE: RUMEA

4. Scope of EPEA in the wider context of SERIEE (2)
SERIEE modules
What we have
Environmental Protection Expenditure Account (EPEA)
Qualitative perspective
Protection against pollution and degradation phenomena
Definitions, concepts, accounting framework and methodology
Definition of EP internationally agreed
Classification (CEPA), included in the family of international standard classification
Some basic data whose collection is compulsory at EU level
Experiences of countries and Eurostat
Natural Resource Use and Management Expenditure Account, (RUMEA)
Quantitative perspective
Management and saving of the stock of natural resources against depletion phenomena
Definitions, concepts, accounting framework and methodology: the same as those of SERIEE to be further developed/adjusted (Eurostat task Force)
Definition of RM internationally agreed derived by further developing indications of SERIEE Chapter X (EGSS, SEEA-CF 2012)
Interim classifications:
CReMA adopted within EGSS
RM part of CEA adopted within SEEA-CF 2012

5. What’s environmental protection (EP)?
Environmental protection groups together all actions and activities that are aimed at the prevention, reduction and elimination of pollution as well as any other degradation of the environment (1994 SERIEE § 2006). It includes measures taken in order to restore the environment after it has been degraded due to the pressures from human activities.
This definition implies that to be included under environmental protection, actions and activities or parts thereof must satisfy the primary purpose criterion (causa finalis), i.e. that environmental protection is their prime objective. Actions and activities which have a favourable impact on the environment but which serve other goals do not come under environmental protection. Hence, excluded from the field of environmental protection are activities which, while beneficial to the environment, primarily satisfy technical needs or the internal requirements for hygiene or security of an enterprise or other institution (1994 SERIEE § 2007).
Activities like water supply or the saving of energy or raw materials are regarded as the management of natural resources and are excluded from environmental protection. However, such activities are considered environmental protection activities to the extent that they mainly aim at environmental protection. An important example is recycling which is included to the extent that it constitutes a substitute for waste management (1994 SERIEE § 2008).
It excludes: RM, use of natural resources, prevention of natural hazards (landslides, floods, etc.), activities aimed at avoiding or treating damage resulting from an already polluted environment
What’s resource management (RM)?
Resource Management includes all actions and activities that are aimed at preserving and maintaining the stock of natural resources and hence safeguarding against depletion. This includes actions and activities aiming at reducing the withdrawals of natural resources (recovery, reuse, recycling, substitution of natural resources) as well as restoring natural resource stocks (increases/ recharges of natural resource stocks) (SEEA 2012)

6. What’s CEPA? (1)
CEPA is the Classification of Environmental Protection Activities and expenditures
The last version – CEPA 2000 – is published in 2002 EPEA compilation guide (Remark: 1994 SERIEE manual includes a old version of CEPA)
CEPA 2000 is a generic, multi-purpose, functional classification for environmental protection. It is used for classifying activities but also products, actual outlays (expenditure) and other transactions (not only activities)
CEPA is designed to classify transactions and activities whose primary purpose is environmental protection (main purpose)
Classification structure: The level 1 structure of CEPA (1-digits) are the CEPA classes. CEPA classes 1 to 7 are also called (environmental) domains. The main function of most 2-digits and 3- digits in CEPA is to guide classification into the classes. Selected 2- digits and 3-digits may also be used for data collection and coding as well as for publication purposes.

7. What’s CEPA? (2) General classification principles
Classification should be made according to the main purpose taking into account the technical nature as well as the policy purpose of an action or activity. Multi-purpose actions, activities and expenditure that address several CEPA classes should be divided by these classes. Classification under the heading ‘indivisible expenditure and activities’ should only be made as a last resort.
Classification of individual items cannot be based solely on the technical nature of the items. For example, the purchase of double-glazed windows in warm countries will typically relate to issues of noise protection, whereas in colder countries they will be a standard energy saving device. Measures against forest fires will be unimportant or purely serve economic purposes (and thus fall outside of CEPA) in some countries whereas in others the main aspect of forest fires will be an environmental one related to landscape and habitat preservation rather than protection of a natural resource.
Classification of transversal activities and expenditure
Transversal activities are R&D, administration and management as well as education, training and information. All R&D should be allocated to CEPA 8. Administration and management as well as education, training and information should, to the extent possible, be allocated to the ‘Other’ positions in CEPA 1-7. Ideally, transversal activities would be identified separately, as well as by CEPA class but primary data sources related to CEPA 1- 7 often do not allow this. R&D, education and training or administration and management are often either not separable from other actions relating to another class (administration or training as part of waste management, for example) or cannot be split by class (R&D data collected by industry expenditure surveys, for example). If such identification problems are considered substantial, data on R&D, administration and management and on education, training and information should not be published at the 2-digit level.
Measures to reduce fertiliser use may primarily fall under CEPA 4 (protection of groundwater), CEPA 2 (prevention of runoff to protect surface waters) or CEPA 6 (prevention of nutrient enrichment to protect biotopes) depending on the main purpose of measures and policies.

8. CEPA 2000 items (1) 1 PROTECTION OF AMBIENT AIR AND CLIMATE
1.1 Prevention of pollution through in-process modifications
1.1.1 for the protection of ambient air
1.1.2 for the protection of climate and ozone layer
1.2 Treatment of exhaust gases and ventilation air
1.2.1 for the protection of ambient air
1.2.2for the protection of climate and ozone layer
1.3 Measurement, control, laboratories and the like
1.4 Other activities
2 WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT
2.1 Prevention of pollution through in-process modifications
2.2 Sewerage networks
2.3 Wastewater treatment
2.4 Treatment of cooling water
2.5 Measurement, control, laboratories and the like
2.6 Other activities
3 WASTE MANAGEMENT
3.1 Prevention of pollution through in-process modifications
3.2 Collection and transport
3.3 Treatment and disposal of hazardous waste
3.3.1 Thermal treatment
3.3.2 Landfill
3.3.3 Other treatment and disposal
3.4 Treatment and disposal of non-hazardous waste
3.4.1 Incineration
3.4.2 Landfill
3.4.3 Other treatment and disposal
3.5 Measurement, control, laboratories and the like
3.6 Other activities
4 PROTECTION AND REMEDIATION OF SOIL, GROUNDWATER AND SURFACE WATER
4.1 Prevention of pollutant infiltration
4.2 Cleaning up of soil and water bodies
4.3 Protection of soil from erosion and other physical degradation
4.4 Prevention and remediation of soil salinity
4.5 Measurement, control, laboratories and the like
4.6 Other activities

9. CEPA 2000 items (2)
5 NOISE AND VIBRATION ABATEMENT (excluding workplace protection)
5.1 Preventive in-process modifications at the source
5.1.1 Road and rail traffic
5.1.2 Air traffic
5.1.3 Industrial and other noise
5.2 Construction of anti noise/vibration facilities
5.2.1 Road and rail traffic
5.2.2 Air traffic
5.2.3 Industrial and other noise
5.3 Measurement, control, laboratories and the like
5.4 Other activities
6 PROTECTION OF BIODIVERSITY AND LANDSCAPES
6.1 Protection and rehabilitation of species and habitats
6.2 Protection of natural and semi-natural landscapes
6.3 Measurement, control, laboratories and the like
6.4 Other activities
7 PROTECTION AGAINST RADIATION (excluding external safety)
7.1 Protection of ambient media
7.2 Transport and treatment of high level radioactive waste
7.3 Measurement, control, laboratories and the like
7.4 Other activities
8 RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
8.1 Protection of ambient air and climate
8.1.1 Protection of ambient air
8.1.2 Protection of atmosphere and climate
8.2 Protection of water
8.3 Waste
8.4 Protection of soil and groundwater
8.5 Abatement of noise and vibration
8.6 Protection of species and habitats
8.7 Protection against radiation
8.8 Other research on the environment
9 OTHER ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ACTIVITIES
9.1 General environmental administration and management
9.1.1 General administration, regulation and the like
9.1.2 Environmental management
9.2 Education, training and information
9.3 Activities leading to indivisible expenditure
9.4 Activities not elsewhere classified

10. A few operational remarks on CEPA
Main purpose
To be used only for solving problems: everything that is already included in CEPA list and its explanatory notes and examples is included in EP scope by definition
‘Other activities’ (2-digit category of each class 1-7)
It does not include things that ‘I don’t know where to classify’; it includes administration, information, education and training activities referring only or mainly to the domain of the class
Indivisibile expenditure (9.3 category):
It refers to activities and actions which have at the same time different purposes and which cannot be split or classified according to only one main purpose (e.g. prevention of risk of industrial accidents – Seveso directive, ...)
It does not refer to statistical units that at the basic data level are ‘too much aggregated for me to easily compile the account’!
Activities n.e.c. (9.4. category)
It refers to activities which cannot be classified in any other position because they do not concern environmental domains 1-7!