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From Green Gnp To The Sustainability Gap: Recent Developments In National Environmental Economic Accounting

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  • PAUL EKINS

    (School of Politics, International Relations and the Environment, Keele University, Staffordshire ST5 5BG, UK)

Abstract

It is now generally accepted that the national accounts which give a comprehensive overview of national economic activity should also account for the way the economy uses, and often has a negative impact on, the environment. However, a number of areas of uncertainty and disagreement remain as to how this should be carried out, involving such issues as whether Net National Product (NNP) is a measure of production or of economic welfare, whether environmental damage can be adequately valued for the purpose of the national accounts, how the macroeconomic aggregates can be adjusted for environmental impacts, and the correct treatment of defensive expenditures. On the basis of a review of these and other issues, the paper's principal conclusion is that there is no methodologically sound and operationally feasible way of deriving a figure for Green GNP by subtracting figures pertaining to environmental degradation or depletion from GNP, but that it is possible to calculate a "sustainability gap" for the economy, in either physical or monetary terms. When expressed as a ratio of GDP, this gives an indicator of the "unsustainability intensity" of economic activity, comparable to the energy intensity indicator that is already in wide use.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Ekins, 2001. "From Green Gnp To The Sustainability Gap: Recent Developments In National Environmental Economic Accounting," Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management (JEAPM), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 3(01), pages 61-93.
    • Handle: RePEc:wsi:jeapmx:v:03:y:2001:i:01:n:s1464333201000558
    DOI: 10.1142/S1464333201000558
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Florian Flachenecker, 2015. "Sustainability, Resource Efficiency and Competitiveness. An Assessment of Resource Efficiency Policies in the European Union," Bruges European Economic Research Papers 32, European Economic Studies Department, College of Europe.
    2. Paul Ekins, 2012. "Sustainable growth revisited: technology, economics and policy," Mineral Economics, Springer;Raw Materials Group (RMG);Luleå University of Technology, vol. 24(2), pages 59-77, June.
    3. Paul Ekins, 2014. "Strong sustainability and critical natural capital," Chapters, in: Giles Atkinson & Simon Dietz & Eric Neumayer & Matthew Agarwala (ed.), Handbook of Sustainable Development, chapter 4, pages 55-71, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    4. Schlör, Holger & Fischer, Wolfgang & Hake, Jürgen-Friedrich, 2013. "Methods of measuring sustainable development of the German energy sector," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 172-181.
    5. Bebbington, Jan & Brown, Judy & Frame, Bob, 2007. "Accounting technologies and sustainability assessment models," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 61(2-3), pages 224-236, March.

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