Statistical presentation

Data description

The statistics show the amount of greenhouse gas that has been emitted in the supply chains for Danish final use. The emissions are distributed by type of final use, emitting industries and countries, as well as by supplying industries.

The calculation of the climate footprint uses 100-year Global Warming Potentials from the IPCC's fourth assessment report (AR4) to convert tonnes of a given greenhouse gas into tonnes of C02 equivalents.

The supply chain for a type of final use is defined in these statistics as all the production activities in Denmark and the rest of the world that have been necessary to produce the products for final use. The supply chain behind e.g. milk includes both raw milk production and further processing, the production of dairy cows and feed for them, the production of electricity to run the stables and dairies, as well as steel and wood to build the stables and dairies, etc.

The emissions are calculated in tonnes of CO2e (CO2 equivalents) and include the greenhouse gases CO2, CH4 (Methane), N2O (Nitrous oxide) and F-gases (SF6, HFC-gases and PFC-gases). In relation to LULUCF (unfccc.int) the climate footprint only includes emissions from land use in the agricultural sector.

The statistic has four variables:

• Types of use: The type of Danish final use whose supply chain led to the greenhouse gas emissions.
• Emitting industry: The industry where the production that emitted the greenhouse gas took place.
• Emitting country: The country where the production that emitted the greenhouse gas took place.
• Year: The year of final use.

For example, StatBank table AFTRYK1 shows which foreign industries and countries, according to the climate footprint model, contribute to greenhouse gas emissions in the global supply chains underlying Danish consumption of goods and services.

When looking at the emissions from emitting industries, you must be aware that the figures only include emissions from the industry's own production. This means, for example, that the agricultural industry as a emitting industry includes emissions from, among other things, cows and tractors, but not from the production of the electricity that the agricultural industry buys from the electricity supply industry. These emissions are listed as emissions in the electricity supply industry. The industry breakdown of output industries is calculated in the same way as in the Emissions account.

The statistics are compiled using a so-called attributional approach. This means that the statistics allocate actually observed global greenhouse gas emissions in a given year to Danish final use in the same year. The results should therefore be interpreted as an accounting-based attribution of emissions to Danish final use, rather than as an estimate of how global emissions would necessarily change if Danish final use had a different composition or scale.

The model is based on observed production and trade structures, as well as average emission intensities at the industry and country level. The statistics are therefore well suited to illustrating the level and composition of the climate footprint, but less well suited to analysing the consequences of larger changes in demand, where production, technology, trade, and other market conditions would also be expected to change. It is therefore not methodologically warranted to conclude that a substantial reduction in Danish food consumption would necessarily lead to a corresponding percentage reduction in the climate footprint. For such analyses, a consequential approach is more suitable, because it seeks to capture the changes in production and supplier structure that may result from changes in demand.

Schaubroeck et al, 2021 provide a more detailed explanation of the difference between attributional and consequential approaches.

Classification system

Types of use and industries are divided according to classifications that are also used in the national accounts. In table AFTRYK1, domestic final use is further divided into private consumption, NPISH consumption, public consumption and investment, and private consumption is divided into 11 subgroups as follows COICOP the classification.

The industries are divided according to the national accounts' 117 industry classification. This corresponds – with a few deviations – to the 127 industry classification in the Danish Industry Code 2007 (DB07). DB07 is a Danish version of the international nomenclatures EU's NACE, Rev. 2 and the UN's ISIC, Rev. 4, and contains a number of standard groupings: the 127, 36, 19 and 10 groupings. The national accounts' 117 industries can be aggregated to the other standard groupings in DB07.

The country breakdown comes from EXIOBASE and consists of 44 individual countries and five groupings for the rest of the world.

Sector coverage

The Climate Footprint covers all sectors of the economy.

Statistical concepts and definitions

Climate footprint: The amount of greenhouse gas emitted in the supply chains for the Danish domestic final use, which includes household consumption, consumption in institutions etc. (NPISH), public consumption and investments.

Supply chain: The term supply chain is used somewhat interchangeably and has varying definitions. In this statistic, the term supply chain is used to illustrate the network made up of all the production activities in Denmark and the rest of the world that have been necessary to produce the products in the final use. The term supply chain thus includes both direct and indirect, derived production in Denmark as well as abroad. In the calculations, emissions of greenhouse gases are linked to the production activities in the supply chains. The supply chain behind e.g. milk includes the production of raw milk in the agricultural sector, the transport to and further processing in the dairies, the production of feed for dairy cows, the production of electricity to run the barns and dairies, steel and wood to build the barns, tank truck and dairies, etc.

Statistical unit

The units in the national accounts are resident companies, households or other units that are characterized by being able to make independent financial decisions and enter into financial transactions with other resident or non-resident units.

Statistical population

Danish domestic final use (household consumption, NPISH, government consumption and investment)

Reference area

Denmark

Time coverage

The statistics covers the period from 1990 and onwards

Base period

Not relevant for this statistics.

Unit of measure

Tonnes of CO2 equivalents.

Reference period

Calendar year.

Frequency of dissemination

Annual

Legal acts and other agreements

Legal authority for data collection is found in § 8 subsection 1 in the Act on Denmark's Statistics, cf. Legislative Decree No. 610 of 30 May 2018 in as well as Regulation No. 691/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council on European environmental economic accounts.

Cost and burden

The statistic is based on information from existing statistics. There is therefore no direct reporting burden in connection with the calculation of this statistic.

Comment

Other information can be found on the statistics subject page or can be obtained by contacting Statistics Denmark.