One World - An indication on the state of our environment (27)

What share of GDP is government spending on the environment?

Public environmental expenditure provides an indication of the state's response to environmental issues. In 2006, general Government expenditure on environment protection reached €84.49 million1 (based on Eurostat's Classification of the Functions Of Government), increasing by 20.4 per cent between 2005 and 2006. This represented 3.8 per cent of Government's total expenditure in 2006, 0.5 per cent more than the previous year. In 2006 the share of environment protection expenditure amounted to 1.7 per cent of GDP, 0.2 per cent more than in 2005, and consisted primarily of expenditure on solid and liquid waste treatment facilities.

Source: NSO (National Statistics Office). 2008. Expenditure of General Government Sector by function 2002-2006, News Release No. 18/2008, 31 January 2008.

Note: 2002-2004 figures do not include local councils' environment protection expenditure. In addition any environmental expenditure incurred by joint entities, such as MEPA, where no breakdown is available for COFOG purposes, does not feature. Also, the environmental expenditure of non-general government organisations such as Enemalta and the Water Services Corporation is not covered, as these are not included within the General Government Sector. Finally, expenditure on cultural heritage is not considered environmental expenditure under the COFOG system.

1 NSO (National Statistics Office). 2008. Expenditure of General Government Sector by function 2002-2006, News Release No. 18/2008, 31 January 2008.