Material flow accounts
Material balance sheets in physical units and material flow indicators derived from these | |
Economy-wide material flow accounts and derived indicators. – A methodological guide, Eurostat 2001 Economy-wide Material Flow Accounting – guide for beginners, co-ordinated by Helga Weisz and Willi Haas, Eurostat 2006 Economy Wide Material Flow Accounts: Compilation Guidelines for reporting to the 2009 Eurostat questionnaire, Eurostat 2009 Measuring material flows and resource productivity. Synthesis report, OECD 2007 Standard International Trade Classification (SITC Rev. 4) | |
All economic activities | |
Biomass – biomass from agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting and other activities. Biomass from agriculture – biomass from agriculture harvest, from agriculture by-products of harvest used as forage, fodder crops and from grazing of agricultural animals. Dissipative losses of products – estimations of air emissions of particles due to abrasion of tyres and breaks and erosion of roads as well as leakages during transport and storage of fuels. Dissipative use of products – materials dispersed into the environment as a result of product use. Dissipative use on agricultural land – quantity of mineral fertilizers (N, K₂O ja P₂O₅), farmyard manure, sewage sludge, compost, pesticides expressed as total quantity of used formulations and seeds used by agricultural holdings. Dissipative use on roads – estimated quantities of used de-icing substances (salt, sand and granite gravel) are included in this indicator. Emissions and wastes – quantity of emitted air pollutants, quantity of pollutants in waste water discharged into natural water bodies and quantity of land filled wastes. Emissions into air – CO₂, CH₄, N₂O, NOₓ, HFCs, PFCs, SFₓ, CO, non-methane volatile organic compounds, SO₂, NHₓ, heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants and particles. Emissions into water – total quantity of pollutants released into natural water bodies with waste water. Fossil fuels – oil shale and peat. Material flow accounts (MFA) – consistent compilations of the overall material inputs into national economies, the changes of material stock within the economic system and the material outputs into economies of other countries or into the environment, in physical units. Material input – all materials used in domestic economy: all domestic natural resources and imported materials. Material output – all emissions, land filled wastes and also exported materials expressed as basic natural resources indicating their processing level. Memorandum items for balancing – materials which are excluded from MFA (bulk water and air flows), but are essential for the mass balance. Memorandum items for balancing input – quantity of oxygen used for combustion of fuels and respiration of humans and livestock. Memorandum items for balancing output – water vapour from combustion and also CO₂ and water vapour from respiration of humans and livestock. Non-metallic minerals – cement and ceramic clay, technological limestone and limestone for cement, lake lime, land for technology and ceramics, sapropel, construction gravel, construction sand, construction limestone and dolomite, used waste of excavation of mineral resources and used waste of rocks and soil. Physical exports – all exported materials are recalculated for their basic natural resources indicating their processing level: raw material, semi-manufactured products and finished products. Physical imports – all imported materials are recalculated for their basic natural resources indicating their processing level: raw material, semi-manufactured products and finished products. Unused biomass from harvest – estimations of wood harvesting losses and discarded by-catch in fishery. Unused domestic extraction – materials which are moved or extracted from the environment during economic activity, but which were not used in production or consumption process. Unused extraction from mining and quarrying – quantity of land filled waste from excavation of mineral resources and quantity of land filled rocks and soil. | |
Material flow | |
Not applicable FRAME Not applicable | |
Estonia as a whole | |
2000–… | |
Not applicable |
DIRECTLY APPLICABLE LEGAL ACTS Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 6 July 2011 on European environmental economic accounts Regulation (EU) No 538/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 April 2014 amending Regulation (EU) No 691/2011 on European environmental economic accounts (Text with EEA relevance) OTHER LEGAL ACTS Not available OTHER AGREEMENTS Not available |
The dissemination of data collected for the purpose of producing official statistics is guided by the requirements provided for in § 32, § 34, § 35, § 38 of the Official Statistics Act. | |
The dissemination of data collected for the production of official statistics is based on the requirements laid down in §§ 34 and 35 of the Official Statistics Act. The principles for treatment of confidential data can be found here. |
Notifications about the dissemination of statistics are published in the release calendar, which is available on the website. Every year on 1 October, the release times of the statistical database, news releases, main indicators by IMF SDDS and publications for the following year are announced in the release calendar (in the case of publications – the release month). | |
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Not published | |
Not published | |
Data are published in the statistical database at https://andmed.stat.ee/en/stat under the subject area “Environment / Environmental accounts / Material flow accounts” in the following tables: KK91: Used domestic extraction by type of raw material KK92: Unused domestic extraction by type of raw material KK93: Memorandum items for balancing input KK94: Domestic output KK95: Memorandum items for balancing output KK956: Physical imports by type of material KK957: Physical exports by type of material KK958: Physical trade balance by type of material KK99: Material flow indicators. | |
Not applicable | |
Not used | |
Economy Wide Material Flow Accounts: Compilation Guidelines for reporting to the 2009 Eurostat questionnaire, Eurostat (2009) http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/1798247/6191533/2013-EW-MFA-Guide-10Sep2013.pdf Measuring material flows and resource productivity. Synthesis report, OECD http://old.seri.at/documentupload/pdf/oecd_2008_material_flows_and_resource_productivity.pdf | |
The quality report will be prepared in 2019. |
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Statistics Estonia performs all statistical activities according to an international model (Generic Statistical Business Process Model – GSBPM). According to the GSBPM, the final phase of statistical activities is overall evaluation using information gathered in each phase or sub-process; this information can take many forms, including feedback from users, process metadata, system metrics and suggestions from employees. This information is used to prepare the evaluation report which outlines all the quality problems related to the specific statistical activity and serves as input for improvement actions. |
Ministry of the Environment Ministry of the Interior Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI Tallinn) Local government authorities MFA resource productivity indicator allows the complex assessments of the implementation of resource-saving measures presented in competitiveness agenda “Estonia 2020”. The collection of data every other year causes gaps in the statistical time series and decreases reliability of the analysis. A complete time series is necessary for the analysis of time series. Currently data exists for 2000–2011. Material flow accounts allows the assessment of the economy’s dependence on the use of resources and, thus, flexibility and growth potential of the economy, partly also the needs for political choices directed towards reduction in resource use. In order to improve the adaptability of economy, it is more beneficial for the state to choose a development strategy, which reduces reliance on individual resource availability, price and imports. | |
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In compliance with the rules (regulations) |
The use of an internationally harmonized methodology, based on the European Union Regulation on environmental economic accounts, allows for cross-country comparisons of published data. | |
The data are comparable over time. The methodology and basic principles, definitions and classifications have remained the same over time. | |
Material flow accounts is connected with the foreign trade, economy, energy, population, environment and agriculture statistics and air emissions accounts. | |
A clear statistical framework (data compilation guidelines) ensures the coherence of the outputs of the material flow accounts. |
The data revision policy and notification of corrections are described in the section Principles of dissemination of official statistics of the website of Statistics Estonia. | |
Not applicable |
SURVEY DATA Not used ADMINISTRATIVE DATA Data on the extraction of mineral resources are received from the Estonian Land Board. Data on the F-gases are received from the Estonian Environmental Research Centre. Data on air emissions, greenhouse gas emissions, hunting, forestry, wastewater and waste handling are received from the Estonian Environment Agency. Data on fishery are received from the Ministry of Rural Affairs. DATA FROM OTHER STATISTICAL ACTIVITIES Data from statistical activities 10401 “Waste management”, 20701 “Fish catch”, 21214 “Crop farming”, 22303 “Foreign trade”, 10104 “Environmental taxes accounts”, 10406 “Air emissions accounts”, 20206 “Energy consumption and production (annual)”, 21203 “Livestock farming and meat production”, 21207 “Economic accounts for agriculture”, 21213 “Supply balance sheets of agricultural products”, 21401 “National accounts (annual)”, 22026 “Transport infrastructure”, 30101 “Population” and 40202 “Tourism Survey” are used. | |
Annual | |
Data from the Estonian Land Board, Estonian Environment Agency and the Estonian Environmental Research Centre are received by e-mail. | |
Arithmetic and qualitative controls are used in the validation process, including comparison with other data. Before data dissemination, the internal coherence of the data is checked. | |
The material flow accounts comprises two main elements: material balance sheets compiled in physical units and material flow indicators derived from these tables. On the input side of balance sheets are indicated the data of materials used in the domestic economy (all domestic natural resources and imported materials). The used materials are classified according to the basic material categories to biomass, mineral resources and fossil fuels. For comparability all imported materials are recalculated for their basic natural resources indicating their processing level. For example refrigerator made mostly of metals is accounted as finished product of mineral resources, as metallic minerals were extracted for its production. All emissions and waste generated in the production and consumption process as well as exported materials by types of material and their processing level are accounted for on the output side of material balance sheets. The material balance sheets include lot of detailed information, but are difficult to interpret for the general public. Therefore, a number of material flow indicators are derived from the balance sheets, which are easily understandable and usable both in social decision-making and for journalists in informing the public. At the same time, the material flow indicators contain substantial information about special characteristic of domestic material use, its intensity and productivity and environmental risks connected to use of natural resources. Material flow indicators are usually classified as material input, consumption, resource productivity and intensity, material output and balance indicators. The data are processed according to the methodology developed by Eurostat so that the data of all European Union Member States are comparable. Indicators: Domestic extraction (used) (DEu); Direct material import (DMI) = Domestic extraction + Imports; Domestic material consumption (DMC) = Domestic extraction + Imports – Exports; Resource productivity = *GDP / Domestic material consumption; Direct resource productivity = *GDP / Direct material input; Domestic material intensity = Domestic material consumption / *GDP; Direct material intensity = Direct material input / *GDP *In calculations GDP chain-linked volume (reference year 2015) is used. | |
Not applicable |