This case study summarizes the results of a review of the policy-related users and uses of the environmental accounts compiled in a select group of developed countries. The countries reviewed were chosen on the basis of having long experience in the field and a broad set of environmental accounts.
For the purposes of the study, “environmental accounts” were defined to include:
- All accounts formally considered part of a national environmental accounting system, and
- All environmental statistics having the characteristics of environmental accounts but not falling formally under that heading.
For each country, a brief overview of the environmental accounting system in terms of the scope, frequency of update, length of time series, and any other relevant information regarding the accounts making up the system is given. The research undertaken to prepare this report demonstrates unequivocally that environmental accounts are policy relevant and are actively used in a variety of ways. They respond directly to stated policy goals in a number of nations. In other cases, data from the accounts are used as part of the evidence base to monitor policy success. In others, they feed into analytical research that either leads to policy action or assesses the success of that action.
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