Transcript Introduction to the International Family of Classification

Introduction to the System of
Environmental and Economic Accounting
(SEEA)
Expert Group Meeting – Cairo, Egypt
5-7 June 2007
Michael Vardon
United Nations Statistics Division
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Outline
1. Background
2. UNCEEA (Committee of Experts on
Environmental-Economic Accounting)
3. The London Group on Environmental
Accounting
4. Why an accounting approach?
5. Key concepts, structure and uses of SEEA
6. Lessons learnt in SEEA implementation
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SEEA
SEEA-2003 jointly published by UN, the
European Commission, IMF, OECD and the
World Bank
SEEA-2003 represents a major step forward in
the harmonization of concepts and methods in
environmental-economic accounting
SEEA to become a statistical standard by 2010 as
recommended by the UN Statistical
Commission
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SEEA
• Satellite system of the System of National Accounts
(1993 SNA)
• Brings together economic and environmental
information in a common framework to measure the
contribution of the environment to the economy and
the impact of the economy on the environment
• Provides policymakers with indicators and
descriptive statistics to monitor these interactions
• Provides an information system for strategic planning
and policy analysis to identify more sustainable paths
of development
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Satellite accounts
• Information systems that, while maintaining consistent
with the SNA, are more flexible and expand the
analytical capacity of national accounts
• Systems which describe in depth aspects that are
hidden in the accounts
• Enlarge the boundaries of the SNA
• Include complementary elements (e.g. physical
information, etc.)
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UN Committee of Experts on
Environmental Accounting
(UNCEEA)
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What is the UNCEEA?
A strategic body of the UN Statistical
Commission to provide leadership,
vision, direction and coordination in
the area of environmental-economic
accounting.
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Objectives of the UNCEEA
Created by the UN Statistical Commission in 2005 with
the overall objectives of:
a) Mainstreaming environmental-economic
accounting and related statistics;
b) Elevating the System of Integrated Environmental
and Economic Accounting (SEEA) to an
international statistical standard in 2010;
c) Advancing the implementation of SEEA at the
global level.
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Members of the UNCEEA
High-level representatives from National Statistical
Offices and international organizations with invited
experts from NGO’s
Countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China,
Denmark, Dominican Republic, Germany, India, Italy,
Norway, Oman, Netherlands, Philippines, South
Africa, Sweden, USA
International agencies: Eurostat, European,
Environment Agency, OECD, UNDSD, UNEP,
UNSD, World Bank
 Considering expanding membership
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UNCEEA – Work programme
1.
2.
3.
4.
Coordination
Promotion and implementation of SEEA
Methodological research
Harmonization of data-collection activities
with environmental-economic accounting
concepts and definitions
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UNCEEA – Coordination
The UNCEEA fosters coordination, integration and
complementarity of programmes in environmentaleconomic accounting and related statistics among
international agencies and countries
Within its mandate, it has an umbrella function in
coordinating and providing vision, direction and
prioritization to ensure that existing groups work in
complementary fashion
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UNCEEA – Promotion and
implementation
UNSD is currently developing:
• a knowledge based website presenting:
• experiences of developed and developing
countries (searchable archive of publications)
• toolkits including promotion and training
materials
• A survey on the status of implementation in countries
and international organizations
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UNCEEA – Methodological
research
In order to elevate the SEEA to the level of
statistical standard by 2012, the UNCEEA has
developed a programme of research on refining
and clarifying the outstanding and unresolved
methodological issues of the SEEA-2003
UNCEEA relies on the expertise of appropriate
city groups such as the London Group, Oslo
Group etc.
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UNCEAA – Harmonization of datacollection activities with
environmental accounting
The UNCCEA fosters the harmonization of
environment statistics and environmentaleconomic accounting.
• A subgroup on Water Statistics of the ISWGES
is working towards the harmonization of data
collection activities and their alignment with the
SEEAW
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UNCEEA: Chair and meetings
• Chair: Germany, Mr. Walter Radermacher
• Preliminary meeting August 2005
• 1st meeting June 2006
• 2nd meeting July 2007
Further information:
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/envaccounting/ceea/
default.asp
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London Group on Environmental
Accounting
….was
created in 1993 to provide an informed forum
for practitioners to share their experience of
developing and implementing environmental
satellite accounts linked to the economic accounts
of the System of National Accounts. It convened
its first meeting in March 1994 in London,
England. Participation includes representatives
from statistical offices and international
organizations.
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London Group on Environmental
Accounting
• Established in 1994
• Provided substantive and substantial inputs into
the SEEA-2003
• Responsible for the methodological advances
of environmental-economic accounting
• Accepted to take on the majority of the issues
in the research agenda for the SEEA-2010
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London Group: Meetings
http://www4.statcan.ca/citygrp/london/london.htm
• London, England 1994
• Washington, USA
1995
• Stockholm , Sweden
1996
• Ottawa, Canada 1997
• Fontevraud, France
1998
• Canberra, Australia
1999
• Voorburg,The
Netherlands 2001
• Rome, Italy 2003
• Copenhagen, Denmark
2004
• New York, USA 2006
• Pretoria, South Africa
2007
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London Group: Chair and Secretariat
Chair
• The Netherlands
• Mr. Mark de Haan
Secretariat
• United Nations Statistics Devision
• Ms Alessandra Alfieri
• [email protected]
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Why an accounting approach?
• Encourages the adoption of standards
• Introduces accounting concepts to environmental
statistics
• Improves both economic and environmental statistics
by encouraging consistency
• Implicitly defines ownership and hence responsibility
for environmental impacts
• Encourages the development of comprehensive data
sets
• Facilitates international comparisons
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Strengths of the accounting
approach
• Organised body of information facilitates
integrated economic-environmental analysis
(complements sustainable development
indicators, modelling)
• Comprehensive and consistent, routinely
produced
• Provides a system into which monetary
valuations of environmental costs can be
incorporated
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Environmental-Economic Accounting
vs Environment Statistics
Environment statistics:
• Often developed to
answer one particular
question or problem
• Difficult to figure out
if all information is
included
• Not always easy to
see the whole picture,
or how it relates to
other things
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Environmental-Economic Accounting
vs Environment Statistics
Environmental accounts:
• Help to make sense of
the larger picture
• Help to identify pieces
that are missing
• Can make connections to
other statistics especially economic
statistics
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Terminology
Terminology is not always consistent among
economists, environmental statisticians,
scientists and policy makers
=> Need to use a clear, agreed terminology
One of the SEEA main contribution is the
standardisation of terms and definitions
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Keys concepts of SEEA
Stocks
Flows
Volume
(e.g. tonnes, m3)
Value
(e.g. $, £, ¥, €)
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Chapters of SEEA-2003
Eleven (11) Chapters plus nine(9) annexes
Ch 1. Introduction to SEEA
Ch 2. The accounting structure of SEEA
Ch 3. Physical flow accounts
Ch 4. Hybrid flow accounts
Ch 5. Accounting for economic activities and products related to the
environment
Ch 6. Accounting for other environmentally related transactions
Ch 7. Asset accounts and the valuation of natural resource stocks
Ch 8. Specific resource accounts
Ch 9. Valuation techniques
Ch 10. Making environmental adjustments to the flow accounts
Ch 11. Applications and policy uses of SEEA
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The SEEA Modules
1. Physical and hybrid flows accounts
2. Environmental protection, resource
management and resource exploitation
expenditures
3. Asset accounts (physical and economic
valuation)
4. Environmentally-adjusted aggregates
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1. Physical and hybrid flow accounts
• Physical flow accounts (material flows)
• Measured in physical units (for example: tonnes)
• Abstraction from the environment, supply and use within
the economy and return of water to the environment
• Residuals (pollution): emissions to air, water and waste
• Hybrid accounts (key: same industry classifications)
• Linking physical and national accounts data together
• Deriving indicators of resource efficiency and productivity
as well as pollution intensity
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2. Environment Protection
Expenditure Accounts
Information is already included in the SNA. Goal is to
separate it from the standard accounts to show the
expenditure of interest from an environmental
perspective:
• environmental protection expenditures
• resource management expenditures
• measurement of environment industries
• environmental taxes, licences and permits to use
natural resources
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3. Asset Accounts
The SEEA
• Expands the asset boundary of the SNA
• Sets out a classification system for natural resource
stocks and ecosystem assets
• Records in physical units stock changes in quantity
and quality
• Follows the conventions adopted in the SNA for the
valuation of economic assets
• Selected accounts for subsoil assets, forests, fisheries,
land and ecosystems, and water
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4. Environmentally-adjusted
aggregates
Objective to adjust macro-aggregates for
• Depletion
• Degradation
However….
• National statistical offices have turned away
from environmentally adjusted aggregates such
as green GDP
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Specific accounts
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Water
Energy
Subsoil
Land
Ecosystems
Forest/timber
Emissions/Pollution
Waste
• Environment
Protection
Expenditure
• Environmental Taxes
and subsidies
• ‘Environment
Industry’
• Material Flow
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SEEA framework
Industries
Final consumption
Assets
Produced assets, opening
stock*
Intermediate consumption
Expenditures on
environmental protection
Final consumption
Final expenditures on
environmental protection
Non-SNA environmental
assets, opening stock
Net depletion /
degradation
Net depletion /
degradation
Gross fixed capital formation
Capital expenditure on
environmental protection
Resource production
Resource use by industries
Resource use by households
and government
Waste consumption by
industries
Waste output by industries
Waste output by households
and industries
Consumption of fixed capital
Depreciation
Sectors
SNA environmental
assets, opening stock
Output
Consumption
of capital
Wastes
Commodities (CPC)
Sectors
(ISIC)
Other changes in volume and Other changes in volume
holding gains (losses) on
and holding gains/losses
economic assets *
on SNA environmental
Produced assets, closing
stock*
SNA environmental
assets, closing stock
Other changes in
volume on Non-SNA
environmental assets
Non-SNA environmental
assets, closing stock
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Implementation
The SEEA modular approach allows for a step-by-step
implementation:
• Focus on priority areas at first (e.g. selected
resources and/or type of accounts)
• Need to establish cooperation with other agencies
producing the physical and monetary data
• Know that while the SNA is a corner-stone of
SEEA, environmental accounts can be done with
only partial knowledge of the SNA
• Barriers . . ..
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Countries using SEEA
At least 49 countries have a program of
environmental accounts.
• Leading implementers are European
countries (e.g. Denmark, Germany,
Netherlands Norway and Sweden) as well
as the Australia and Canada
Source: Results of UN Global Assessment of
Environmental accounting
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Barriers to compiling
environmental accounts
1.
2.
3.
4.
Availability of data (88%)
Quality of data (64%)
Lack of human resources (62%)
Lack of financial resources (55%)
Results of UN Global Assessment of Environmental
accounting (42 respondents to question)
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Policy use
• Indicators and descriptive statistics
• Policy analysis and strategic planning
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Indicators and descriptive
statistics
• Economic efficiency of resources use (e.g. energy
use per € of output)
• Pollution intensity of industries (e.g. volume of
CO2 produced per € of output)
• Contribution of environmental “industry” to the
economy (e.g. employment and value added of
photo-voltaic (or solar power) cell manufacturers)
• Sustainability of resource use (e.g. volume of oil
consumed compared to volume of oil available)
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Policy analysis and strategic
planning
• Economic impact of environmental
regulation
• Economic impact of environmental taxes
• Cost of regulation relative to benefits from
reduced pollution
• Forecasting future demand for resources
• Impacts of re-cycling and reuse
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Key lessons from countries
implementing SEEA
Build on existing policies and programs
A phased approach is needed
• Start with topics/issues of most importance for
Cooperation essential
• Within statistical offices
• Between government agencies
• With the research community
• Between users and producers
Regional forums are very useful for the exchange of
information and experiences
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……reminder of key concepts of SEEA
Stocks
Flows
Volume
Value
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Contact details
Michael Vardon
Adviser on Environmental-Economic Accounting
United Nations Statistics Division
New York 10017 USA
Room DC2 1532
Phone: +1 917 367 5391
Fax: +1 917 363 1374
Email: [email protected]
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