EIPOT Final Project Report - Stockholm Environment Institute

ERA-NET SKEP Project EIPOT (www.eipot.eu)
“Development of a methodology for the assessment of global environmental impacts of traded goods and services”
Executive Summary
In 2008, the SKEP (Scientific Knowledge for Environmental Protection) network commissioned
research to develop a suitable methodology to assess transnational environmental impacts through
international trade, which led to the establishment of the EIPOT project (environmental impacts of
trade). The project was carried out between April 2008 and May 2009 by a consortium of four
European research institutions: Stockholm Environment Institute at the University of York (project
coordinator), Sustainable Europe Research Institute in Vienna, Netherlands Environmental
Assessment Agency in Bilthoven and Statistics Sweden in Stockholm. The project aimed to:
• review and evaluate existing environmental accounting techniques that can be used to illustrate
transnational impacts of traded goods and services;
• specify the (theoretical) framework and criteria for environmental accounting methodologies to
assess the environmental impacts of imported and exported goods and services;
• identify the most suitable methodology and expand it into an accounting approach which can be
used by all SKEP member states;
• identify data requirements and possible data sources for the recommended method;
• elaborate the roles of different regulatory authorities in providing the required data and advice on
the practical implementation of the methodology.
During the project, it became clear that a) given the variety of possible research and policy questions
to be answered, it would not be appropriate to stipulate one single method but rather put forward a
flexible range of compatible methods and b) as a consequence, the focus should be on the
developments needed in data and organisational roles. The EIPOT project report will be of interest
and use to the SKEP network, national ministries and agencies, national statistical offices (NSO), the
European Commission (EC) and Eurostat as well as academia.
In the EIPOT project, an evaluation approach called RACER was adapted for the purposes of the
project. RACER is used by the European Commission Directorate General Environment to assess the
suitability of methods and indicators for policy-oriented applications. On the basis of assessments
carried out here, EIPOT makes recommendations for setting up a method able to fulfil the project's
aim of assessing transnational environmental impacts of traded goods and products. The suggested
way forward is a methodology incorporating elements of different tools which have proven to be
successful, and identification of future needs in order to develop an effective and applicable tool,
rather than focussing on one approach and its further development.
The relevance and suitability of any methodology always depends on the particular research or policy
question that needs to be answered. The report looked at five policy dimensions – economic,
environmental pressure/impact, geography, time, and life cycle stage – in order to understand the
specific requirements for the methodology. The primary focus of the EIPOT project was on trade flows
between different economies and production sectors within them, rather than on individual traded
products.
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