System of
Environmental and Economic Accounting
for Energy
SEEA-E
Chapter 1 Introduction
United Nations Statistics Division
DESA
February 2011
ii
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 1
A.
B.
C.
INTRODUCTION TO SEEA-E ................................................................................................ 4
INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................. 4
OBJECTIVE AND FEATURES OF THE SEEA-E ................................................................................................... 4
STRUCTURE OF THIS PUBLICATION ................................................................................................................. 6
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Chapter 1 Introduction to SEEA-E
A. Introduction
1.1.
The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting for Energy, SEEA-E provides a conceptual
accounting framework for organizing information on energy and its role in the economy in a coherent
and consistent manner.
1.2.
The SEEA-E integrates information on physical and monetary aspects of energy with
information on economic activities in order to provide an information basis for analysis of a profusion
of issues such as the availability of national energy resources and their wealth aspects, production,
imports and exports of energy, the use of energy products by industries and households, the energy
expenditures that industries and household incur, and the energy taxes they pay.
1.3.
Coherent measures of energy efficiency and the coupling of economic growth and energy use
can be established on the basis of the SEEA-E due to its logical accounting structure and the application
of the same definitions and classification across all accounts. Further, the SEEA-E presents accounts
and measures, which elaborates and extends the information obtained from the conventional national
accounts, for instance, by presenting so-called depletion adjusted income measures.
1.4.
The SEEA-E provides a basis for calculation of emissions of energy related greenhouse gases
and other types of air emissions by industries and households, and due to its close link to the national
accounts analysis of the link between economic activities and energy use and air emissions are thereby
facilitated. In addition, because of the coherent and consistent approach to organising information on
energy and economy SEEA-E furthers the possibilities to monitor and analyse environmental-economic
performance and to design integrated policies, which reach across the different aspects involved in
energy issues.
B. Objective and features of the SEEA-E
1.5.
The SEEA-E is developed with the objectives of standardizing concepts and methods in energy
accounting. It provides a conceptual framework for organizing information on energy in relation to
economic activities, thus permitting a consistent analysis of the connections.
1.6.
The SEEA-E elaborates the framework presented in the SEEA to cover in more detail all
aspects related to energy. Energy related aspects and accounts for energy are presented in the SEEA
intertwined with the description of other natural resources and other types of materials and products in
the various SEEA modules of environmental-economic accounts, e.g. asset accounts, physical flow
accounts, hybrid accounts and environmental protection expenditure accounts. In contrast, the different
aspects and modules of SEEA are in SEEA-E directed exclusively towards energy issues through an
expansion of the accounts and a coherent presentation focusing directly on energy related issues.
1.7.
Both the SEEA and the SEEA-E are satellite systems of the System of National Accounts 2008,
SNA 2008. As such, they have a similar structure to the updated SNA 2008 and share common
definitions and classifications.
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Implementation guide
1.8.
There is one feature that distinguishes the SEEA and the SEEA-E from other information
systems about energy. The SEEA and SEEA-E directly link environment and energy data, respectively,
to the economic accounts through a shared structure and a set of definitions and classifications. Thus, it
provides a tool to integrate energy, environment and economic analysis and to overcome the tendency
to divide issues along disciplinary lines, in which analyses of the different issues are carried out
independently of one another. The SEEA and the SEEA-E cover the important interactions between the
environmental and the economy, a feature that makes it ideal for addressing cross-sector issues.
1.9.
One purpose of SEEA-E is to ensure consistency across time. It is important when it comes to the
development of comparable time series estimates, which are necessary for monitoring and analyzing the
development and to assist the policy process.
1.10. Implementation of an integrated coherent and consistent information system adds value to
individual sets of data collected, for instance, by allowing for the derivation of indicators, which are
consistent across countries and over time.
1.11. The SEEA-E is aimed to be a transparent information system, which should be used by the
government to make informed decision and used by interest groups and communities to argue their
position on the basis of sound information. In that context the use of a common and universal framework
helps to ensure broad acceptance of the information, which are presented.
1.12. An integrated system such as SEEA-E leads ultimately to more efficient and consistent data
collections because it allows for the identification of inconsistencies in the data. It helps fill data gaps and
the introduction of checks and balances results inevitable in higher quality data.
1.13. A large number of tables are included in order to illustrate the SEEA-E principles, and the use
of standard classifications in relation to energy accounts. They are designed with the objecti ve of
facilitating the compilation of the accounts in countries in a way, which ensures comparability across
countries and over time. The tables are populated by fictitious numbers, which however are based on
actual energy accounts in order to ensure that the accounts appear realistic and that they are applicable
in practice.
1.14. However, while the tables presented aims at being general the population by fictitious numbers
do not reflect every possible situation in countries or every possible recording of item s in the accounts.
Therefore the tables should be seen as a presentation of the general framework and principles, and not
as a complete key to which recording combinations that can be expected in practice.
1.15. It should also be noted that not all accounts and tables may be of interest for all countries and
that when it comes to actual implementation it may be necessary to prioritise and pick those types of
accounts and those tables which are most relevant for the country. Similarly, a choice on the level if
detail with regard to classification, for instance, number of energy products and industries, etc. has to be
taken.
1.16. Among the many accounts and tables for energy included in SEEA-E the following may be
mentioned:

Asset accounts in physical and monetary units (stock accounts)

Supply and use tables for energy products in physical and monetary units (flow accounts)

Hybrid tables including both physical and monetary information

Generation and allocation of income accounts for industries involved in energy extracti on and
production
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Implementation guide

Depletion adjusted accounts

Accounts for environmental protection and resource use and management accounts
1.17. All accounts and tables are based on harmonized concepts, definitions, classifications and
accounting rules, which are described in detail in the text often with a direct reference to the SNA 2008
from which they are derived.
1.18. At the same time SEEA-E aims to be a low-cost extension of energy statistics and balances as
described by the International Recommendation for Energy Statistics, IRES, by including the
information collected on the basis of IRES into a framework coherent with the national accounts.
SEEA-E and IRES are therefore two complementary and coordinated documents.
1.19. While SEEA-E is a system in its own right it should be underlined that reliable quality statistics
is a prerequisite for a successful implementation of the SEEA energy accounts, and that the IRES
provides the basis for such statistics. IRES gives recommendations on, inter alia, concepts and
definitions, classifications of energy products, data sources, data compilation methods, and approaches
to data quality assessment.
A main objective of SEEA-E along with the IRES is to firmly position energy statistics and
accounts within the system of official statistics. This implies adherence to Fundamental Principles of
Official Statistics and consistency with other statistical standards.
1.20.
Besides the close link to the SNA 2008, (SEEA), the SEEA, the IRES also the use of standard
international classifications should be observed. This applies to especially to the Standard International
Energy Classification, SIEC, and the International Standard Industrial Classification of All Economic
Activities, ISIC, which are used through out SEEA-E to shape the accounts.
1.21.
1.22. In general SEEA-E aims not to give specific advice on the compilation of energy accounts.
However, often the recording of certain items of the accounts has to rely on assumptions, conventions and
estimation procedures. This is the case, for instance, for the value of energy resources and their depletion,
which often cannot be statistically observed, because no market transactions take place. Therefore, in
order to harmonise the estimation methods, SEEA-E gives quite detailed advice on how the estimations
should be done in such cases. Otherwise, the user of SEEA-E is referred to the forthcoming UNSD
publication Energy Statistics Compilers Manual and a searchable archive at the UNSD website1 where a
collection of best practices for compilation of economic-environmental accounts can be found.
C. Structure of this publication
1.23. This publication includes 7 Chapters, two annexes and a glossary. The content of the chapters
are described below. Reference is also made to the Section D in Chapter 2 on the SEEA -E framework.
This Section includes an overview of the SEEA-E accounts and some of the basic concepts and
principles applied.
Chapter 2: The SEEA-E framework
1.24. Chapter 2 gives an overview of the SEEA-E framework, and explains some of the fundamental
principles and features of the system. The chapter describes, inter alia, how the generic asset accounts
and supply-use tables are used as building blocks for SEEA-E.
1
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/envaccounting/ceea/archive/Introduction.asp
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Implementation guide
Chapter 3: Physical asset accounts
1.25. Chapter 3 is about physical asset accounts for energy. These accounts describe the stocks of
energy resources available at the beginning and end of the period and the changes in between. The
chapter presents a classification of energy resources by type (crude oil, natural gas, coal, etc.) and a
classification by characteristics following the United Nations Framework Classification for Fossil
Energy and Mineral Resources 2009 (UNFC-2009). Finally, the Chapter includes a description of
physical asset accounts for inventories of energy products.
Chapter 4: Monetary asset accounts
1.26. Chapter 4 on monetary asset accounts departs from the physical asset accounts, but narrows in
practice the scope to the part, which is economic assets, i.e. those resources which are subject to
ownership rights and from which their owners may derive economic benefits. Since market prices for
deposits of energy assets are rarely observed, the recommended method for valuation of energy assets is
the net present value method (NPV), which discounts the value of all expected future benefits back to
the present time. Furthermore, valuation is applied to the flow items, which describe the changes during
the year, i.e. the extractions, discoveries, etc.
1.27. The chapter explains in details how the NPV method is used for the valuation of stocks and
changes in them. Further, it defines and explains concepts like resource rent and depletion, and
presents the conventions used for these measures. While the valuation is first carried out in current
prices, also a method for constant prices valuation is suggested.
1.28. There is a close link between Chapter 4 and Chapter 6 on the monetary flow accounts, because
the NPV valuation of the energy resources relies on some of the concepts and detailed flow accounting
items, which are accounted for more generally in Chapter 6. On the other hand, the concept of
depletion, which is first introduced and explained in Chapter 4 is taken up again in Chapter 6 and
included in the so-called depletion adjusted income accounts.
1.29. Chapter 4 includes also a presentation of monetary asset accounts for inventories of energ y
products and for fixed assets owned by the extraction industries.
Chapter 5: Physical flow accounts
1.30. Chapter 5 deals with physical flow accounts for energy. The physical energy accounts are set up
as physical supply and use tables (PSUT), which record domestic production and imports of energy
products on the one hand, and energy use by industries, households and exports, etc. on the other hand.
1.31. The physical supply and use tables for energy are set up in alternative ways: Various units for
the physical quantities/volumes is applied; detailed tables with a distinction between traded energy
products, own use and losses of energy are included together with more aggregated tables for total
energy flows. Further, tables identifying the primary supply of energy, the transformation, and the end
use of energy are set up. Also a table identifying the purpose of energy use is presented.
1.32. Chapter 5 includes in addition a section on classifications and boundaries. It is in that section
that the classification of products (SIEC) and industries (ISIC) is introduced together with important
concepts such as the residence principle.
1.33. The last sections of Chapter 5 explain the link between energy statistics and energy balances on
the one hand and the SEEA-E energy accounts on the other hand. So-called bridge tables between main
aggregates according to the energy balances and the accounts are presented in order to illustrate the
differences.
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Implementation guide
Chapter 6: Monetary flow accounts
6.1.
Chapter 6 starts with a presentation of the monetary counterpart to the physical supply and use
tables. The monetary supply and use tables reflect the economic transactions identified by the physical
supply and use tables including any trade margins and taxes and subsidies involved. The presentation is
followed by the introduction of so-called hybrid supply and use tables, which highlights the
correspondence by arranging both the physical and monetary data in the same table.
6.2.
While the supply and use tables focuses on the energy products, a series of ad ditional SEEA-E
accounts and tables highlights the general economic flows involved when the industries extract and
produce energy. It involves, inter alia, the presentation of all types of taxes, subsidies and other
transfers involved as well as generation and income measures for the industries. These accounts reflect
the standard national accounts, but in addition they extend those by introducing the so -called depletion
adjusted accounts, which deducts measures of depletion from the conventional national a ccounts
measures in order to obtain more “correct” measures of the surplus generated by the activities. The
definition and interpretation of the concepts of resource rent and depletion, which is introduced first in
Chapter 4, is an integral part of these adjusted accounts, and Chapter 6 includes therefore some further
text on this.
6.3.
Finally, Chapter 6 deals with energy related expenditures for environmental protection and
resource use and management.
Chapter 7: Applications
/* to be completed*/
In Chapter 7 some examples of analysis based on the energy accounts are presented. Amongst the
applications are input-output analysis of the inter-linkages between economic activities on one hand and
energy use and emissions of greenhouse gases on the other hand. If time series of the accounts and
input-output tables are available, so-called decomposition analysis of the development can be
performed. This gives a picture of the driving forces behind the development and explains, for example,
the factors, which lay behind decoupling of economic growth and energy use.
Annexes
/* to be completed */
Glossary
1.34. Throughout SEEA-E a specific terminology is used in relation to the accounts. Part of the
terminology is specific to the national accounts and SEEA as such. Another part of the terminology is
particular in the context of energy. Effort has been made to align and use the terminology with the
terminology used in relation to the International Recommendation of Energy Statistics, IRES. However,
in some cases it has been found appropriate to use a slightly different terminology in order to avoid
conflicts with the concurrent use of the national accounts terminology.
1.35. The glossary provides an agreed terminology for energy accounting. The glossary standardizes
terms and definitions from the energy, emissions and economic spheres in an agreed set of definitions.
EXCEL workbook with templates
1.36. An EXCEL file with templates for standard tables and numerical examples, etc. will be
available from the UNSD web site.
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