EU eco-industries: trade and international markets

This study draws on several sources of data and information in an attempt to build as robust a picture as possible of the trade in environmental products and services within the European Union (EU) and between the EU and the rest of the world. The sources used are: 1. Information from national sources (reports, studies and national statistical offices). 2. Official trade statistics (u0093trade codeu0094 data) provided by EUROSTAT for the period 1994 to 1997. 3. Information on global environmental markets. Gaps in the availability of data and information, combined with the lack of compatibility, and sometimes reliability, of that which is available, means that it is difficult to produce an accurate analysis of the trade in environmental goods and services. Where useful data is available, it is presented in this section. To provide a more in-depth picture, we have analysed standard export data for a limited number of relevant trade codes. The advantages of such an approach are that the resulting analysis is based on a comprehensive and consistent set of data for all EU Member States, both export and import data is available and it offers a complete and up-datable time series, rather than a u0093snap-shotu0094. The disadvantages are that it captures products only and not services, is based on a limited number of products and does not reveal anything about factors that drive markets. Indeed, it should be noted that goods covered by the trade codes used include only a small proportion of the total trade in environmental goods and services. Therefore, while the analysis is more rigorous for the trade covered, it is estimated to represent only around 20% of total trade in environmental goods and services.