Integrating a Regional Social Accounting Matrix with Environmental Accounts (Samea). An Illustration for a Spanish Region

Abstract

The increasing awareness of the deterioration of the environment during the past three decades has given rise to the enhanced development of environmental accounts by governments and international agencies. However, as they are generally compiled at a national level, they may not be sufficient to yield accurate information for environmental decision-making processes at the regional level. This paper provides a description of a method followed in elaborating the Greenhouse Gases (GHG) and water accounts for a regional economy under conditions of limited information. This methodology provides a solution to the recurring compilation divergences between these environmental and the economic accounts generally incorporated in the Social Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts (SAMEA) structure. As an illustration, the SAMEA for air emissions and water resources is applied for the case of a NUTS 2 Spanish region, Extremadura, for the year 2005. The proposed methodology is sufficiently general to create SAMEAs by replicating the water and the atmospheric emissions accounts in other regions.