POWER stations produce a quarter of Britain鈥檚 emissions of greenhouse
gases and 44 per cent of acid rain emissions, according to the country鈥檚 first
set of green accounts.
The accounts have been produced by the government鈥檚 Office of National
Statistics. They try to combine measures of the country鈥檚 economic performance
with an assessment of the environmental impact of each industry. Writing in the
current issue of Economic Trends, Prashant Vaze and Stephen Balchin of
the ONS say that the green accounts are an attempt to assess 鈥渨hether growth is
consistent with sustainable development鈥�.
The accounts, which are based on 1993 statistics, show that although the
electricity industry produces a sizable chunk of pollution, it contributes only
about 1.5 per cent of the country鈥檚 economic output.
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Similar disparities appear throughout the accounts. Heavy goods vehicles, for
example, make a relatively small contribution to the economy. Yet they produce
3.5 per cent of the country鈥檚 greenhouse gas emissions, 4.5 per cent of the acid
rain and more than 30 per cent of black smoke emissions.
Several other countries, including Canada, Denmark and the Netherlands have
already produced green accounts. The accounts, which largely follow the Dutch
model, compare the output of each sector of the economy with the damage it
causes to the environment and how much it depletes finite resources such as
fossil fuel.
Vaze and Balchin say that the accounts are a first attempt to measure all
these factors. Most of the tables are concerned with the impact of atmospheric
pollution, because of the large amount of data available. They hope to include
water pollution and the production of radioactive waste in next year鈥檚
accounts.
But while the authors acknowledge that many factors will still be missing
from the accounts, such as the effect of economic growth on biodiversity, the
tables are full of fascinating detail. Not many people would guess, for example,
that farming is more damaging to the environment than a dirty building site.
Agriculture may contribute about 2 per cent to the country鈥檚 economy, but it
produces 10 per cent of the acid rain and 4 per cent of greenhouse gas
emissions.
By comparison, the construction industry is positively green. It contributes
about 5 per cent to the economy but only 0.8 per cent of the acid rain and 0.8
per cent of its greenhouse gases. And while you might expect the chemical
industry to be the biggest producer of benzene, private cars produce roughly
five times as much.
Charles Secrett, director of Friends of the Earth says: 鈥淚t鈥檚 an important
first step but there are obviously big gaps.鈥� The acid test, he says will be 鈥渋s
the Treasury going to change its opinions and prescriptions as a result of the
accounts? They should do.鈥�
