Measuring the green economy

Policymakers globally have been and remain interested in understanding the scale of economic activity associated with various aspects of the green economy. But defining what is ‘green’ is not straightforward, and standard industrial classifications are unhelpful for many areas of green activity which involve relatively new technologies. This research has been funded by the Office for National Statistics as part of the research programme of the Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE). The report reviews the definitions of ‘green’ economic activity used in a variety of contexts, and considers whether and how the UK’s approaches to estimating the ‘Environmental Goods and Service Sector’ could be improved.