Regional Environmental Accounting Matrices And Eco-Efficiency Indicators To Support Sustainable Policies

This research deals with an environmental accounting matrix built for Emilia-Romagna (Italy) which allows studying the economy-environment relationships thanks to the robustness offered by standardized systems and official data. RAMEA, a regional National Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts, leads to analyse the pressures placed on the environment by economic and consumption activities. The first pilot, focused on air emissions, has been realised by ARPA Emilia-Romagna, lead partner of an EU-funded project. Starting from RAMEA, an eco-efficiency analysis of the regional economic system was developed. Then by means of a Shift-Share analysis the causes of the positive advantage of the region, in comparison with the national average, have been quantified. Together with the University of Bologna and encouraged by the European Commission, RAMEA has then been integrated with the environmental themes suggested by Eurostat framework: a more complete environmental accounting system indeed could explain and cover the complex structure of the regional economy and related environmental performances.