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