Supplementing national accounts so that the tree no longer hides the forest[Compléter les comptes nationaux pour que l’arbre ne cache plus la forêt]

Faced with climate change and its many consequences, public decision-makers need reliable information on the costs and benefits of environmental protection measures. To this end, it is essential to have an accounting valuation of environmental capital that goes beyond the market framework alone. Using the example of forests, Dominique Bureau, Philippe Delacote, Fanny Henriet, and Alexandra Niedzwiedz propose, in this CAE note, a method for valuing the multiple services provided by forests in national accounts. This work sheds light on public policy by making visible the previously implicit costs and benefits of actions in favor of the forestry sector. While this exercise can be extended to other ecosystems, the case of forests is exemplary: forest carbon sinks have halved in ten years, and their future contribution to carbon neutrality targets remains uncertain.