Measuring the impact of environmental policies on GDP
A recent workshop brought together researchers and administrators from across Europe to discuss a new approach to national accounting which is designed to take account of the impact of environmental policies. The Greenstamp method was developed by a project funded by the EU's Environment and Climate research programme, and is aimed at assessing the impact on GDP of the implementation of alternative environmental policies. The Greenstamp approach was validated at the workshop, which called for additional work to be undertaken within the Fifth Framework Programme and pilot applications to be implemented. An initial one-year test has already started in the Czech Republic, with financial support from the PHARE programme. Interest has also been expressed by participants for further applications in several EU countries. Three main aspects to national accounting systems are covered by the Greenstamp methodology: defensive expenditures, avoidance costs and micro-macro aspects. Building blocks for a practical manual have been developed for audiences such as national statistical offices, providing advice on applying defensive expenditure and avoidance costs measures.