The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) – The measurement and monitoring framework for the environment-economy relationship for official statistics

Ivo Havinga United Nations Statistics Division Interactive Dialogue of the General Assembly on Harmony with Nature, United Nations 20 April 2011 1

Outline of presentation

1. Brief history 2. Why do we need the SEEA?

3. What is the SEEA?

4. How do we draft and release the SEEA? – process and timetable 5. Summary 2

Brief history

Policy • Brundtland (WCED) – 1983 • Agenda 21 – 1992 • SIDS – 1994 & 2005 • MDGs – 2000 • Johannesburg – 2002 – Marrakech process • Rio +20 Statistics • Indicator sets (DPSIR, FDES) - 70s onwards • SEEA-1993 – Interim report • SEEA-2003 – Best practices • SEEA-Water - 2007 Statistical standard (interim) • SEEA 2012 Statistical standard • SEEA-Energy 2012 3

Why do we need SEEA?

• International agreed framework for official statistics for the measurement of the economic impacts on the environment and the environmental impacts on the economy • International agreed organisation of economic, financial and natural assets (wealth) and flows of production/income, consumption and accumulation between the environmental and the economy • International comparability of environmental and related socio-economic data – information pyramid 4

The information pyramid

Indicators Accounts SEEA Basic data Econ. Stats|Env. Stats

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Environmental-Economic Accounting and Environment Statistics Environment statistics and indicators: 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

Source:

Julie Hass 6

Environmental-Economic Accounting and Environment Statistics Environmental accounts: • Help to make sense of the larger picture • Help to identify pieces that are missing • Can make connections to other economic and social statistics

Source:

Julie Hass 7

What is SEEA?

• Builds on the System of National Accounts (GDP, saving, lending/borrowing, etc) • Extends environmental (natural) asset boundary, use now and by future generation (land cover(mountains, low and highlands, coastal areas), water, energy and minerals, forest, fish, etc.

• Includes physical valuations of environmental assets and flows (water, energy and minerals, forest, fish, etc.) • Links monetary (market valued) and physical information • Provides environmentally-adjusted aggregated for depleting environmental (natural) assets (for GDP, saving, etc.) 8

Outside territory of reference

The SEEA Framework Actors

-Enterprises -Households -Government -Non-profit institutions

Territory of reference Economy Activities

-Production -Consumption -Accumulation

Instruments

-Financial/Monetary -Taxes/subsidies -Financing -Resource rent -Permits

Land/ Resource use/ Ecosystems Analytical and Policy Frameworks

-Productivity analysis -Natural resource management -Climate change -Green Growth/Green Economy

Emissions/ waste

Outside territory of reference

Environment Natural Resources (stocks)

-Land -Water -Ecosystems -Soil -Etc.

Natural Resource flows

-Materials -Energy -Water -Ecosystem services -Etc.

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Categories of environment indicators

• Selected Indicators of – Efficiency of sustainable production • Decoupling (material use, emissions) • Multi factor productivity – Efficiency of sustainable consumption • Embedded emissions • Footprint indicators – Environmental assets ecosystems • Taxes/subsidies • Permits • Rent • Recurrent and capital cost and their financing SCP • Stocks and changes in stocks of land, natural resources and – Fiscal/monetary instruments (response of society) • Environmental Goods and Services Sector (GDP and employment) • Environmental protection and resource management expenditures 10

SEEA and suite of publications

Frameworks, international recommendations (IR), compilation guidelines, data, quality assessments, knowledge bases SEEA SEEA Water IRWS Compilation guidelines Data SEEA Energy IRES Compilation guidelines Data SEEA-MFA IRWaste Compilation guidelines Data quality assessment Best practices/knowledge base Data … 11

Example: Apppication of SEEA for water sector

Improving drinking water and sanitation services I Mitigating water resources degradation/ Water security for development Improving quality of water resources III Balancing water supply and demand II Adapting to extreme hydro- meteorological events IV 12

How do we draft and release SEEA? – process and time table

– Global consultation with countries and agencies on Chapters of SEEA – ongoing 2011 and 2012 – Internationally agreed central framework of SEEA for adoption by United Nations Statistical Commission – Part 1 – February 2012 – Ecosystem accounting for consideration by United Nations Statistical Commission – Part 2 – February 2013 – Policy applications for consideration by United Nations Statistical Commission - Part 3 – February 2013 13

Summary

• Developing SEEA as an international conceptual standard will be a critical milestone in mainstreaming accounting for the environment • Affirming the SEEA as the measurement and monitoring framework for sustainable development/green economy by official statistical community • Outreach and integrating policy and analytical framework with measurement framework 14

Thank You !

For further information and comments: United Nations Statistics Division Department of Economic and Social Affairs Ivo Havinga, email: [email protected]

Alessandra Alfieri, email: [email protected]

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