Sport, Events and Tourism

What is Environmental Input-Output (ENVIO) Analysis?

An ENVIO approach works to capture the interactions between the economy and the environment. Simply, the approach is based on information representing economy – environment transactions, showing the output of environmental good per unit of economic good. This then shows how the output of a good or service is linked to the creation of environmental ‘goods’ (or ‘bads’), for example, the amount of greenhouse gases connected with different types of industry production.

ENVIO research in Wales and the UK is fairly well developed. In Wales, for example, regionally derived information on air and other emissions is combined with information from the regional Welsh Input-Output tables. The basic input-output framework shows the financial transactions between different sectors of the economy, government and final consumers. Then regionally derived information on emissions and natural resources can be used in conjunction with the input-output framework to generate the direct and indirect volume of the given pollutant generated by changes in final demands in each industry.

The significance of the input-output framework is that it allows, given a series of assumptions, one industry’s production to be linked with another industry’s pollution creation. The method is also able to illustrate that some industries, whilst not directly producing high levels of pollutants themselves, may support the production of externalities further up the supply chain. The approach permits a useful snapshot for regional policymakers demonstrating how progress in one sector can be linked to externalities created in others. In absolute terms the direct carbon impacts tend to be greatest in industries such as oil processing and chemicals, and electricity, gas and water. However, the multiplier effects here are lower as much of the greenhouse gas emissions are direct rather than within the supply chain. The opposite applies in sectors such as consumer electronics and motor vehicles where much of the greenhouse gas emissions are a result of activity in the supply chain that supports the industry.