The European Commission is proposing to amend the Regulation on European environmental economic accounts (EEEA), a statistical instrument for the development and monitoring of effective European environmental policy (see EUROPE 12347/9), in order to add new Eurostat statistics to the Regulation, in particular on ecosystems.
The amendment, proposed on Monday 11 July, adds three new accounts: ecosystems, forests and environmental subsidies.
With regard to ecosystems, the proposal requires Member States to produce statistics on the size of ecosystems, their health and the benefits they provide to businesses and citizens.
This could be, for example, data on carbon sequestration and storage, pollination, wood supply and nature-based tourism, the institution says.
The Commission also says that these data could be used for a range of current and future applications, such as measuring Member States’ progress towards the mandatory targets of restoring at least 20% of the EU’s terrestrial and marine ecosystems by 2030, which it proposed on 22 June through an EU regulation (see EUROPE 12977/17). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)