System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
The UN System of EnvironmentalEconomic Accounting (SEEA) and its
implementation in pilot countries
Ivo Havinga
United Nations Statistics Division
havinga@un.org
Rio Conventions Pavilion Event:
Transformative Initiatives in Biodiversity
Mainstreaming and Financing
16 October 2014
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
Policy Demand: International Context
 Agenda 21
 Rio+20 outcome document
 High-Level Panel Report on the Post-2015
Development Agenda
 SDGs monitoring
 European legislation
 Aichi targets
 Natural Capital Accounting
 International initiatives
• OECD’s Green Growth Strategy, WAVES, VANTAGE, UNEPled Green Economy programme, CBD, TEEB
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
Integrated multi-dimensional statistics
 Demand for Integrated
statistics which allow
coherent understanding for
integrated policy
 Requires accounting
approach and integrated
statistical production
process
 Ensure quality of
information and consistency
between basic data,
accounts and tables and
indicators
Indicators
Accounts
SEEA
Basic data
Economic
Environmental Social
Statistics
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
Integrated multi-dimensional statistics
 Transforming sectoral
data into integrated
policy-relevant
information
 Interrelations between
economy, environment
and society through
systems approach – SNA
and SEEA
 Communication and
visualization of the story
the statistics tell
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
SEEA: Enabler for the transformative agenda
SNA
SEEA Central Framework
SEEA Experimental
Ecosystem
Accounting
Enable integration of
biophysical data,
monitoring changes in
ecosystem and linking
those changes to
economic and human
activity
Inform post 2015
development
agenda and SDGs
Enable partnership at
international, regional,
sub-regional and
national level.
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
SEEA Conceptual Framework
Territory of reference
Environment
Imports/Exports
Outside
territory of
reference
Economic Units
-Enterprises
-Households
-Government
-Non-profit
institutions
Natural inputs
Ecosystem
services
Economy
Activities
-Production
-Consumption
-Accumulation
Instruments
-Financial/Monetary
-Taxes/subsidies
- Financing
-Resource rent
-Permits
Analytical and Policy
Frameworks
-Productivity analysis
-Natural resource management
-Climate change
-Green Growth/Green Economy
-Post-2015 Development Agenda
Residuals (e.g.,
emissions,
waste)
Individual Environmental Assets (e.g., land,
water, mineral and energy, soil, aquatic)
Ecosystem Assets
Transboundary Environmental Flows
Outside
territory of
reference
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
SEEA Central Framework
 Internationally agreed
statistical framework to
measure environment and
its interactions with
economy
 Adopted as international
statistical standard by UN
Statistical Commission in
2012
 Developed through intergovernmental process
 Published by UN, EU,
FAO, IMF, OECD, WB
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
The SEEA Central Framework Accounts
1. Flow accounts: supply and use tables for products, natural inputs and
residuals (e.g. waste, wastewater) generated by economic activities.
• physical (e.g. m2 of water) and/or monetary values (e.g. permits to
access water, cost of wastewater treatment, etc.)
2. Stock accounts for environmental assets: natural resources and land
• physical (e.g. fish stocks and changes in stocks) and/or monetary
values (e.g. value of natural capital, depletion)
3. Activity / purpose accounts that explicitly identify environmental
transactions already existing in the SNA.
• e.g. Environmental Protection Expenditure (EPE) accounts,
environmental taxes and subsidies
4. Combined physical and monetary accounts that bring together physical
and monetary information for derivation indicators, including depletion
adjusted aggregates
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting
 Complements SEEA Central
Framework
 Integrated statistical framework
for accounting for ecosystem
assets and associated
ecosystem services
 Important first step in
development of statistical
framework for ecosystem
accounting
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
Linking ecosystem assets and wellbeing through ecosystem services
Individual & societal well-being
Benefits
SNA & non-SNA
Human inputs (e.g.
labour, produced assets)
Ecosystem services
Ecosystem processes
Ecosystem characteristics
Intra-ecosystem flows
ECOSYSTEM ASSET
Inter-ecosystem flows
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
Relationship to SEEA Central Framework
 Extends range of flows related to regulatory and
cultural services (production boundary) for
accounting compared to SNA and SEEA CF in
physical and monetary terms
 Many flows from Central Framework also included in
Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (e.g. flows of
timber), but extension of EEA is to attribute flows to
spatial areas
 Some Central Framework natural input flows are
excluded from Experimental Ecosystem Accounting
(e.g. mineral and energy resources)
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
Approach for developing SEEA
Experimental Ecosystem Accounting
• Land Cover Accounting
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• Land Use Accounting
3
• Framing the Measurement of Ecosystem Conditions
4
• Carbon Stock Accounting
5
• Biodiversity Stock Accounting
6
• Water Stock Accounting
7
• Accounting for Ecosystem Services
8
• Integrating Ecosystem Accounting with National Accounts
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
The SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting brings in
two new dimensions:
1. Spatial characteristics expressed in spatial units
2. Integrated or holistic view of multiple characteristics for
each unit
Minimum dataset scheme
Unifying themes
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Land
Water
Carbon
Biodiversity
Nutrients
Pollution
Human activities
Ecosystem services
Image source: http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/La-Mi/Land-Use-Planning.html
The EEA is focused on living (renewable) natural resources
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
Spatial data perspective: harmonizing reporting units
 Measurement units for social, economic and environmental
parameters remain untouched
 New accounting and reporting units created for ecosystem
accounting purposes
Overlay of units (UK)
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
SEEA-EEA integration framework
Integration of ecosystem services in
macroeconomic aggregates, like
GDP and NDP
Amenity
Risks
Ecosystem services in
monetary and physical terms
Land account
Consistent physical and
monetary asset accounts
Raw data collection, processing
and harmonization
Land cover/use
Accounting units
Administrative reg.,
habitats, ecoregions
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
Hierarchical (nested-grid)
aggregation
Country
State
Ecosystem
Accounting Unit
(EAU)
Region
Statistical Areas
Land
Cover/Ecosystem
Functional Unit
(LCEU)
Parcel
Grid cell
(e.g. 20m x 20m or
100m x 100m)
Basic Spatial Unit
(BSU)
18
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
Geography
Building analytical capability
for units and ensure that GIS
standards are maintained
Accounting
e.g. unified and
hierarchical classifications
and variables for units
(grid)
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
Asset accounts on carbon:
Theme unifying a number of
components, processes and data
sets:
Statistical data on:
1. Forest biomass (FRA, 2000, 2005, 2010)
2. Crops harvest (EUROSTAT 2000 – 2010)
3. Timber harvest (EUROSTAT 2000 – 2010)
4. Livestock (EUROSTAT 2000 – 2010)
GPP
Imports
TER
Exports
Remote sensing products:
1. Land cover (CORINE LC 2000, 2006)
2. Vegetation (SPOT vegetation NDVI 1999 –
2010)
3. Primary production (GPP) and Ecosystem
respiration (TER), (NASA, 2000 – 2010)
Modelled data:
1. Soil organic carbon (Global map, JRC
(Hiederer and Köchy, 2012)
Source: European Environment Agency and ETC-SIA
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
European carbon accounts
The two basic balancing items are designed to summarize ‘vertical’ and ‘horizontal’
carbon transfers
Net ecosystem production = Gross Primary
Production – Terrestrial Ecosystem Respiration
Balance of lateral imports and exports
= Carbon returns – carbon ‘uses’
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
Examples: Net ecosystem carbon balance
• On country level the
ecosystem carbon accounts
should be consistent with
IPCC’s in assessing whether
ecosystems acted as net
source or sink of CO2 for a
given period of time.
• The maps shows a decade
average, with areas in green
indicating prevailing sink
(most of Europe) and in red –
prevailing source functions
(e.g. parts of North West Europe,
Po valley in Italy, and spots of
forest-burned areas of Portugal).
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
Advancing SEEA- Experimental
Ecosystem Accounting in pilot countries
Countries
List of pilot countries (7 countries)
Non-exhaustive list of potential
associate country pilots
Africa: South Africa, Mauritius
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Asia: Indonesia, Vietnam, Bhutan
Latin America: Mexico, Chile
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Australia
Canada
Ecuador
Netherlands
Norway
Peru (project managed by
Conservation International
Philippines (through WAVES)
Colombia (through WAVES)
United Kingdom
United States
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
Project activities – Advancing SEEA-EEA
 Norwegian funded and joint collaboration between UNSD-UNEPCBD
 Country missions
 Regional workshops: will gather and exchange experiences from the
country pilots and other initiatives
 Forum of experts: contacts of people involved in ecosystem
accounting at national level and other (related) initiatives
 Knowledge base: will include data and materials generated in the
course of guidelines development and country missions
 Research agenda: addressing challenging issues (for ex.
mainstreamed classification of ecosystem services)
 Guidance and training material
 Global strategy for SEEA EEA
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
Management and governance
 Recognize multi-agency requirements and harnessing
existing knowledge
 Technical committee under the auspices of the UNCEEA
responsible for:
▫ Coordinate and advance the research agenda on the basis of
lessons learnt from testing with the objective of developing best
practices and in the longer term mainstreaming
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
Short term priorities
 Spatial units
• Scaling and aggregation methods
 Methods for measuring ecosystem services and
assets
• Classification of services and link to ecosystem
condition
 Presentation and accounting structure
• Dissemination, including visualisations
 Linking to socio-economic data
• Integration of scales
 Valuation of ecosystem services
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
Medium to long term priorities
 Accounting concepts
• Degradation – valuation and allocation
• Integration of ecosystem values into standard accounts and
balance sheets (links to wealth a/c)
• Treatment of expenditures on ecosystems
 Connections between ecosystem services and
ecosystem condition
• Often seen as competing approaches
• SEEA EEA sees clear links but they are complex and non-linear
 Aggregation and ecosystem-wide indicators
• Most challenging aspect: needs to build and combine all other
research and testing work
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
Building on existing initiatives
 SEEA and WAVES
• WAVES uses as entry point the Ministries of Planning
or Ministries of Finance – focus on institutional
arrangements and policy applications
• SEEA – UNSD uses the NSOs as entry points and
has as objective to assist countries in developing an
integrated statistical system to support the
implementation of the SEEA
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
SEEA and TEEB
 TEEB focuses on answer specific policy
questions in specific geographical areas
 Objective is to raise awareness of the issues
through using valuation
 Broad ranges of types of projects
 Working with SEEA with UNSD taking the lead
in supporting countries in the SEEA
implementation in the countries of the project
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
SEEA and BIOFIN
 BIOFIN has the objective of bringing together
different stakeholders and make an assessment
of the financing for biodiversity (e.g. financial
gaps, etc.)
 Developing a taxonomy on biodiversity
expenditures, taxes, subsidies
 SEEA – UNSD is working with BIOFIN to align
the taxonomy with the standard classifications of
environmental activities
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
SEEA CF
Accounts
Ecosystem
Accounts
Accounts for environmental
activities and transaction
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
SEEA and CBD
 Aichi Target 2 is about mainstreaming
biodiversity into national accounts
 SEEA has been recognized as the statistical
framework for measuring and monitoring
ecosystems and biodiversity into an accounting
approach
 CBD partner in the project
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
SEEA and Green economy initiatives
 OECD recognized the SEEA as the statistical
framework for green growth indicators
 SEEA informs many of the green economy
policies
 SEEA working in Mauritius with PAGE
(Programe of Action for Green Economy)
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting
National and international communities must
join hands in advancing the work!