Transcript on Green Economy and Official Statistics

Reflections on the International Seminar
on Green Economy and Official Statistics
Lee, Jae-won
Statistical Research Institute
Statistics Korea
2011. 9. 28
Contents
1. Seminar Overview
2. Issues Discussed
3. Challenges Ahead
1. Seminar Overview
1-1. Seminar Overview
• Title: International Seminar on Green
Economy and Official Statistics
• Organizers: KOSTAT, UNSD
• Date: July 6-8, 2011
• Venue: Seoul, Korea (Jamshil Lotte Hotel)
4/20
1-2. Participants
• High level statistical professionals, policy
makers, and experts on green economy
– From advanced, developing countries and major
international organizations
• 100 attendees from 22 countries and
international organizations (UNSD, EUROSTAT,
OECD, etc)
5/20
1-3. Topics
• Session 1: Korea’s Green Growth Initiative and
Official Statistics
• Session 2: Green Economy and Official Statistics
• Session 3: Economic Instruments to Reduce
Greenhouse Gas Emissions and
Statistical Issues Arising
6/20
1-3. Topics
• Session 4: Identifying Green Jobs/Adapting
Statistical Classifications
• Session 5: Statistics on Energy Efficiencies
and
Renewable, Production Efficiencies
and Consumption Efficiencies
• Session 6: The Statistical Issues from the
Developing Countries’ Perspectives
7/20
1-4. Motivation for Organizing Seminar
• To discuss the role of official statistical agencies and international
statistical standards for green economy
– The paradigm shift in national development strategies to green economy
– Lack of national statistics on establishing and monitoring green
economy policies
• Organized based on the agreement between Statistics Korea and
UNSD to annually organize international seminar on global issues
– First seminar : ｢International Seminar on ICT Statistics｣, July 19-21, 2010 in
Seoul
– This seminar was the second joint seminar between Statistics Korea and
UNSD
8/20
2. Issues Discussed
2-1. Economic Polices and Official Statistics
• Economic policies towards environmentally friendly direction
Brown Economy
Green Economy
Energy-intensive
Society
Energy-efficient
Low carbon
society
Brown Statistics
Green Statistics
• “Green goods and services” are emerging as new economic engine
– Green economic statistics development efforts throughout the world:
OECD (green growth indicators), India (environmental resource accounts)
– Green is a dynamic concept : the stage of maturity for each society
needs to be considered to quantify green economy
10/20
2-2. Core Indicators for International Comparison
• Need core indicators to ensure international comparability in
green economy/growth indicators
• Also need a set of core indicators between various programs on
green economy led by international organizations
Set of Core Indicators
Programs on green economy
Green Economy Initiative (UNEP)
EU 20-20-20 Actions on Climate Change
UN Summit on Sustainable Development
Green Growth Initiative (OECD)
11/20
2-3. Importance of Utilizing SEEA
• System of Integrated Environmental and Economic
Accounts (SEEA) as a framework for consistent
measurement of green economy
• SEEA Volume1 will be included in the agenda for UN
Statistics Commission in 2012
• Need accompanying guidance on how countries may
apply SEEA in accordance with their particular priorities
• Significant portion of statistics used in Netherlands’
green growth indicators are based on SEEA
12/20
2-4. EGSS as Framework for Measuring Green Economy
• The environmental goods and services sector
(EGSS) : a critical role as a framework for
measuring green economy
• EGSS can be used in harmony with
CEPA2000 and SEEA
* CEPA : Classification of Environmental Protection Activities
• Statistics on EGSS can be compared with
those of all other industries
13/20
2-5. Green Classification
• Official statisticians should be prudent in labeling
particular phenomena as “green” or not
• The perspectives for “green jobs”
– the perspective of people employed in defined industries
– the perspective of people working in a defined set of
occupations
• For international comparability, classifications should
be applicable to countries with diverse environments
14/20
2-6. Korea’s Experience for Green Growth Statistics
‘Low carbon green growth’ as one of Korea’s national vision for growth
Develop green growth indicators, green industry statistics,
green life indicators to statistically support the national strategy for
green growth
To monitor the progress of green growth, seminar took place at a midpoint (2011) of the nation’s five-year plan for green growth
Under study to adopt SEEA frameworks to enhance international
comparability based on recommendations of the seminar
15/20
3. Challenges Ahead
Challenges Ahead
• Re-establishing the role of official statistical organizations in
regards to green growth statistics
Review green growth policies of each country
Develop basic conceptual framework and classifications of
green growth statistics
• Compiling “SEEA” as framework for measuring green economy
– SEEA and EGSS : a critical role in compiling consistent and
internationally comparable statistics for green economy
– Preparation works by statistical agencies of each country to compile
SEEA and EGSS
17/20
Challenges Ahead
• Improving statistics on energy efficiency
– Improved statistics on energy are required in the fields of
efficient energy use and renewable energy
• As most of greenhouse gas emissions occur during the process of
producing energy
• Compiling green economy statistics tailored for
each country’s circumstances
– Sharing experiences of each country would be useful in
compiling statistics tailored to each country’s circumstances
• Statistics on consumption and household
dimensions are essential to green economy issues18/20
Challenges Ahead
• Importance of sharing outcomes of the seminar
– Report key conclusions from the seminar to the 43rd Session of the
UN Statistical Commission in 2012
• Upcoming project and meeting
– UNSD: Project on Developing Green Economy Indicators
 UNSD project (2012-2015) to support development of green
economy indicators for its member countries
19/20
Challenges Ahead
• UNEP : Workshop on Statistics for Environmental
Goods and Services
– UNEP Workshop on the EGSS for measuring green economy
on November 14-15, 2011 in Geneva
20/20