Annual Environmental Protection Expenditures Survey (EPES)

Detailed information for 2022

Status:

Active

Frequency:

Annual

Record number:

1903

The purpose of this survey is to obtain information on the expenditures made by industry to protect the environment in Canada. This information serves as an important indicator of Canadian investment in environmental protection.

Data release - Scheduled for Fall of 2024

Description

The Annual Environmental Protection Expenditures Survey provides a measure of the costs incurred by Canadian industries to protect the environment, whether or not they are in response to current or anticipated Canadian or international environmental regulations, conventions or voluntary agreements. The survey also collects information on the goods, technologies and services purchased by industries as well as the processes and practices adopted by them to protect the environment.

Data from this survey are used by all levels of government for establishing informed environmental policies. The private sector also uses this information in the corporate decision-making process.

Statistical activity

The survey is administered as part of the Integrated Business Statistics Program (IBSP). The IBSP has been designed to integrate approximately 200 separate business surveys into a single master survey program. The IBSP aims at collecting industry and product detail at the provincial level while minimizing overlap between different survey questionnaires. The redesigned business survey questionnaires have a consistent look, structure, and content.

The integrated approach makes reporting easier for firms operating in different industries because they can provide similar information for each branch operation. This way they avoid having to respond to questionnaires that differ for each industry in terms of format, wording and even concepts. The combined results produce more coherent and accurate statistics on the economy.

Reference period: The calendar year or the 12-month fiscal period for which the final day occurs on or between April 1st of the reference year and March 31st of the following year.

Collection period: August through February of the year after the reference period.

Subjects

  • Environment
  • Environmental protection

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The target population includes establishments engaged in primary industries (resource extraction), manufacturing industries, the electric power generation, transmission and distribution industry, the natural gas distribution industry and the pipeline transportation industry.

The observed population comes from the Generic Survey Universe File (GSUF) created by Statistics Canada's Data Integration Infrastructure Division in April 2023. It contains all establishments in Canada existing in April 2023. From this frame, only establishments with the following North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes are retained: Manufacturing industries (31-33), Logging (except contract) (113311), Oil and gas extraction (211), Coal mining (2121), Metal ore mining (2122), Other non-metallic mineral mining and quarrying (21239), Shale, clay and refractory mineral mining and quarrying (212326), Electric power generation, transmission and distribution (2211), Natural gas distribution (2212) and Pipeline transportation (486).

For this survey, smaller establishments have been excluded from the target population. That means, in each industry group (NAICS code at three digits level) by region, 10% of the smallest establishments in term of the size measure (revenue) have been excluded from the population.

Instrument design

The questionnaire has undergone various transformations since its inception in 1994. The original material was developed by the Environmental Accounts and Statistics Division with assistance from Industry Canada. A pilot study involving a limited group of respondents was performed as a means of initial testing of content and terminology. The basic expenditure questions have remained relatively consistent up to 2016, when the survey was biennial, with most significant changes involving the environmental management processes and technological materials (qualitative data).

The survey was redesigned for the reference year 2018 to harmonize the environmental protection activities with international classifications and extend the survey scope to include all expenditures made to protect the environment, whether or not they are in response to current or anticipated Canadian or international regulations, conventions or voluntary agreements. It introduces new questions on goods, technologies and services purchased by industries during the reference year, as well as questions on resource management. These changes were implemented in response to the new data requirements of Natural Resources Canada and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada.

Prior to its implementation, the new questionnaire was tested on survey respondents and others industry members to ensure that the concepts were clearly understood and that respondents were able to answer the questions correctly.

Sampling

This is a sample survey with a cross-sectional design.

The Generic Survey Universe File (GSUF) was used as the survey frame. A stratified Bernoulli sample of establishments classified to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) Canada 2022 and to geographical regions was selected.

Data sources

Data collection for this reference period: 2023-08-14 to 2024-02-20

Responding to this survey is mandatory.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents.

Data are collected using English and French electronic questionnaires. Respondents are contacted by email or letter and given a secured access code and password for the electronic questionnaire for the survey. The electronic questionnaires are addressed to a contact person who is either responsible for, or has knowledge of, the environment-related operations of the firm.

Telephone follow-up is used to obtain data from establishments who return incomplete questionnaires or who fail to respond.

View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s) .

Error detection

The metadata will be provided upon release.

Imputation

The metadata will be provided upon release.

Estimation

The metadata will be provided upon release.

Quality evaluation

The metadata will be provided upon release.

Disclosure control

The metadata will be provided upon release.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

The metadata will be provided upon release.

Data accuracy

The metadata will be provided upon release.

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