Environmental goods and services sector: documentation of statistics

The statistics on the environmental goods and services sector describe business activities involving the environment in Finland. The environmental goods and services sector refers to production that prevents environmental pollution or saves natural resources The production may consist of the production of products, services or technology. The statistics include the turnover, value added, exports and employment of the environmental goods and services sector. The figures are presented according to the classification of environmental goods and services based on an EU standard and the industrial classification used in national accounts. The statistics on the environmental goods and services sector are part of the framework of the System of Environmental Economic Accounts (SEEA), which monitors the interaction between the environment and the economy.

The statistics are based on register data. The statistical population consists of units engaged in economic activity in Finland. The units are aggregated so that they can no longer be separated in the statistics. Institutional sectors (business enterprises, non-profit institutions, households and the public sector) are likewise aggregated.

The data in the statistics are produced on the basis of data supplied by Statistics Finland (National Accounts, statistics on industrial output, structural business and financial statement statistics), Finnish Customs, the Energy Authority, and the Finnish Environmental Insurance Centre. The data from the statistics’ different data sources are linked to the classifications required by the statistics.

In the statistics, turnover, value added, and exports are given in EUR million. Employment is given in person/years.

The statistics do not contain indices.

The reference period of the statistics is a calendar year.

The statistics cover the whole of Finland as a single area. The statistics do not include regional classifications.

The statistics cover all sectors of the economy producing a market output according to the classification of transactions. The statistics cover all industries according to the industrial classification on the 2-digit level.

The statistics cover the period between 2012 and 2022. The data concerning the latest two years are not final but will be updated over the coming years.

The statistics are published annually.

The statistics are compiled in accordance with the principles of national accounts, due to which these statistics are subject to the same requirements on overall accuracy. The key uncertainty in the statistics pertains to the factors based on the estimates of experts describing the proportion of the environmental goods and services sector.

The data are available 6 to 11 months after the end of the reference period.
The first results are published approximately 12 months after the end of the reference period.
The final results are published approximately 36 months after the end of the reference period.

The statistics are published according to the release calendar.

The statistics are comparable with the statistics of EU countries. The statistics are not produced outside the EU.

The statistics are comparable from 2012 onwards. The statistics are not comparable with the previous statistics on the environmental goods and services sector (compiled from 2009 to 2011).

While the statistics are compiled to correspond with the framework, methodology and definitions of national accounts in other respects, turnover in the statistics complies with the structural business and financial statement statistics.

There are no other statistics which would release data corresponding with the data in the statistics on the environmental goods and services sector.

The statistics are based on administrative sources. Some individual pieces of data are picked from websites or inquired about via email, but these data account for a small portion of the total data. The most important sources consist of the data of Statistics Finland and Finnish Customs, all of which are in the databases of Statistics Finland. Of Statistics Finland’s data, the annual national accounts are used not only as a source of data, but also as a framework for the statistics. The data used for the statistics are based on the data of the national accounts, published some three months before. In addition, the product data from the supply and use tables, used as a basis for national accounts, are also used independently for compiling these statistics. The turnover and personnel data of the business statistics are also used, as are the statistics on industrial output. The data in the latter are based on data released a month before. Of the aforementioned data sources, the databases’ data sources based on something other than data to be published are used on a rolling basis, meaning that they may have been updated from one to three months before their use in the compilation of the statistics.

Nearly all data in the statistics are composed of data supplied by Statistics Finland and Finnish Customs, collected from the databases of Statistics Finland. The remaining data consist of individual pieces of external data collected via email requests and from Internet sources. 

The basic data are collected once a year.

The 2-digit industry data in national accounts are multiplied by the coefficients describing the environmental goods and services sector of the industry in question. The rest of the data are multiplied with the coefficients corresponding to them and aggregated to the 2-digit industry level.

The received data are compared to the previous data with the same content and any data related to the same topic.

The statistics are compiled using the sources mentioned in section 3.5. The values ​​of the variables come either directly from selected source data or with the help of separately defined coefficients describing the share of environmental business. The coefficients are defined on the basis of several sources and are updated every two years. The sources used to define the coefficients are: EU Environmental Accounting Implementation Regulation (no. 2174/2015), Eurostat's environmental business product lists, statistical and register materials, research materials, coefficients used by the German Statistical Office and expert assessments.

Before the change in 2018, new buildings belonging to energy efficiency classes A and B in the EU's Energy Performance of Buildings Directive were included in low energy construction. The change in the definition of low energy construction was taken into consideration in the calculation of the 2021 statistics on the environmental goods and services sector, for which reason starting from 2018, the turnover, value added, exports and staff-years of the environmental goods and services sector are lower than previously reported.

Statistics Finland

Economic Statistics

The statistics are based on EU Regulation on European environmental economic accounts (No 691/2011, amended by Regulation (EU) 538/2014) and its implementing regulation (No 2015/2174). The compilation of the statistics is furthermore guided by the general act of the national statistical service, the Statistics Act (280/2004, amended by 361/2013). Only the necessary data that are not available from administrative data sources are collected from data suppliers. Index series are published so that no individual enterprise’s data or development can be deduced from them.

The data protection of data collected for statistical purposes is absolutely guaranteed in accordance with the Statistics Act (280/2004), the Personal Data Act (532/1999) and the Act on the Openness of Government Activities (621/1999), as well as the requirements of the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (2016/679). The data materials are protected at all stages of processing with the necessary physical and technical solutions. Statistics Finland has compiled detailed directions and instructions for confidential processing of the data. Employees have access only to the data essential for their duties. The premises where unit-level data are processed are not accessible to outsiders. Members of the personnel have signed a pledge of secrecy upon entering the service. Wilful breaching of data protection is punishable.

According to the Statistics Act (280/2004), the data of the statistics are in the public domain.

The tables in the statistics are produced by using/editing the classification of a table on a level that is sufficiently high or general to prevent the emergence of small cell frequencies.

The Statistics Act (280/2004) defines the data on the number of enterprises as being in the public domain, which is why even small cell frequencies do not need to be protected. In quantity tables, cells containing few observations (threshold value) or dominated by one or two units (dominance rule) are protected by suppressing the value of the cell to prevent the data of an individual enterprise being revealed.  In addition, other cells have been suppressed to prevent the calculation of the primarily suppressing cell values with the aid of marginal sums. The suppressed cells in released tables are marked by single quotation marks ’..’. Further information on suppression is available in the Handbook on Statistical Disclosure Control (2010).
The data of the statistics are not released in an identifiable format outside Statistics Finland. The use of the data for scientific research and statistical surveys is possible only on the basis of a separate licensing decision and in an unidentifiable format. Further information about licences.

The statistics are released annually in December, some 12 months after the end of the statistical reference year in question. Statistics Finland’s release calendar lists in advance all the statistical data and publications to be released over the year. Statistical releases can be found under statistics-specific releases. Statistical data are released on the Internet at 8 am, unless otherwise indicated. The calendar is updated on weekdays. Statistics Finland’s release calendar for the coming year is published every year in December.

The results of the statistics on the environmental goods and services sector are published on the predefined date on the Internet on the statistics’ home page. The links on the home page lead to the description of the statistics, concepts and definitions as well as free of charge statistical database tables (StatFin). Eurostat publishes data of the statistics on the environmental goods and services sector on its own website.

Statistical data are published as database tables in the StatFin database. The database is the primary publishing site of data, and new data are updated first there. When releasing statistical data, existing database tables can be updated with new data or completely new database tables can be published.

In addition to statistical data published in the StatFin database, a release on the key data is usually published in the web service. If the release contains data concerning several reference periods (e.g. monthly and annual data), a review bringing together these data is published in the web service. Database tables updated at the time of publication are listed both in the release and in the review. In some cases, statistical data can also be published as mere database releases in the StatFin database. No release or review is published in connection with these database releases.

Releases and database tables are published in three languages, in Finnish, Swedish and English. The language versions of releases may have more limited content than in Finnish.

Information about changes in the publication schedules of releases and database tables and about corrections are given as change releases in the web service.

Revisions – i.e. improvements in the accuracy of statistical data already published – are a normal feature of statistical production and result in improved quality of statistics. The principle is that statistical data are based on the best available data and information concerning the statistical phenomenon. On the other hand, the revisions are communicated as transparently as possible in advance. Advance communication ensures that the users can prepare for the data revisions.

The reason why data in statistical releases become revised is often caused by the data becoming supplemented. Then the new, revised statistical figure is based on a wider information basis and describes the phenomenon more accurately than before.

Revisions of statistical data may also be caused by the calculation method used, such as annual benchmarking or updating of weight structures. Changes of base years and used classifications may also cause revisions to data.

Quality management requires comprehensive guidance of activities. The quality management framework of the field of statistics is the European Statistics Code of Practice (CoP). The quality criteria of Official Statistics of Finland are also compatible with the European Statistics Code of Practice.

Further information: Quality management | Statistics Finland (stat.fi)

The publication principles for statistics at Statistics Finland apply, for example, to how and when statistics are published, as well as the confidentiality of data prior to publication. Data are released to all users at the same time. In special cases data can be released before the official release under the so-called embargo principle.