Definition: Internal Current expenditure (on environmental pro...

Category: Environment

Internal current expenditure includes the use of energy, material, maintenance and own personnel for measures made by the sector to protect the environment. A large part of internal expenditure is related to operating environmental protection equipment. There are also other internal expenditure such as general administration, education, information, environmental management and certification, research and development.
Internal current expenditure includes purchases of connected and adapted non-capital goods such as extra cost for low sulphur fuels. These are sometimes not part of specific surveys but estimated based on existing information e.g. on number of units and unit costs. The coverage of adapted and connected products in the figures reported should be specified, as this could vary considerably between countries.
Internal current expenditure exclude purchases of environmental protection services bought from the Public sector or Specialised producers such as waste collection, sewage treatment, environmental consultancy services, or surveillance fees. All such purchases should be reported under Fees/Purchases as they only finance EXP I (expenditures according to the abater principle) in other sectors.
The concept Total current expenditure for environmental protection (used e.g. in industry surveys and in the SBS regulation) includes both internal current expenditure and fees/purchases. Only when the basic data sources do not provide a division between the two, should the total amount be reported under Internal current expenditure along with a note of the coverage. If possible, provide an estimate of the share of fees/payments for EP services in total current expenditure.