Introduction to the project

Topic VIII.1.a. Harmonising and sharing of methods and data in environmental and health externalities evaluation; extraction of operational estimates from existing studies (excluding energy and transport).

The objectives of the MethodEx project are to advance best practice in external cost assessment, and extend the ExternE analysis to agriculture, industry, waste and other sectors. The project will review the existing environmental and health externality studies for these sectors. It will provide, for the first time, an integrated methodology to a high standard across all areas by:

(i) harmonising information with existing approaches for the energy and transport sectors; and

(ii) where necessary and practicable, extending the methodology for application in these new sectors.

The use of externality studies in these sectors will be assisted by incorporating information into the ‘Review of Externalities Data’ database (RED) and policy tool. The project will also undertake case studies using the harmonised approach. In doing so we will investigate data transferability. Combined with the broadening of the project team through expertise in newly acceded countries, the project will permit wider application of the resulting methods, data and information. The study will also compile research recommendations to inform where further development is needed to improve methods or to undertake additional studies to address specific issues.

Special attention will be given to ensure the greatest usefulness of the resulting study output. This input, along with the harmonised values from the review and case studies, will be fed into the RED database. Mid-way through the project we will obtain feedback from policy makers to inform and improve the development of the database and tools.

To facilitate future use of the data by policy makers, the study will develop a ‘toolbox’ to assist in interpretation and estimation of external costs in new situations and in the treatment of uncertainty. This will be backed up with guidance on how to use the data and limitations of current approaches. The work will be disseminated through project reports, the RED internet site and workshops with key stakeholders.

The outputs of this work will be useful to policy makers, analysts and researchers in relation to agriculture, industry, waste management and various other fields. The project commenced in January 2004, and will run for 30 months.