Indicators in the SEEA: Identifying the main Accounting Aggregates in SEEA – Volume I Sjoerd Schenau Statistics Netherlands

Content Conclusions previous LG meetings Indicators in the revised SEEA Key aggregates: Volume I 1) Physical flow accounts 2) Monetary accounts 3) Asset accounts and depletion Questions for the London Group

Conclusions previous meetings General consensus that indicators are important and should be included in the SEEA. Aggregates resulting directly from accounting identities should be presented as part of the standard (Volume I). Indicators are applications of the accounts and should be discussed in application chapter (Volume III)

Indicators in the revised SEEA Volume I: identification of key aggregates that can be directly derived from the standard tables. Volume III: general discussion on indicators from SEEA General introduction, policy uses etc. Aggregation issues, ratio indicators Comparison with international indicator sets Indicators derived from economic analyses and modelling application

Ratio indicators (I) A) Ratio indicators that can be derived by combining data from different tables examples: intensity, productivity, per capita etc. Different units !!!! These kind of ratio indicators are to be discussed in Volume III

Ratio indicators (II) B) Ratio indicators that can be directly derived from the standard tables Examples: recycling rate of solid waste, life length of an asset, tax burden on the use of the environment Same units !!! percentage Proposal: These kind of ratio indicators are to be discussed in Volume I

Physical flow accounts Economy wide MFA Energy accounts Water accounts Residual accounts Important subaccounts

Residual accounts Global scale Gross emissions by producers + households + other sources = reabsorpion by producers + accumulation in the global environment Regional scale Transboundary inflow + gross emissions by producers, households and other sources = transboundary outflow + reabsorpion by producers + accumulation on national territory

Residual accounts Indicators for specific environmental problems Aggregation based on scientific weights may provide useful indicators. 1.Gross emissions (emissions by residents 2.Net emisions (gross emissions-absorption) 3.Absorption / gross emissions 4.Net accumulation on national territory 5.Net cross outflow by env. media

Monetary accounts Most key aggregates are total amounts, such as total environmental expenditure, total environmental taxes, etc. More interesting indicators are ratio indicators

Environmental taxes and subsidies: Key aggregates 1.Total environmental taxes 2.Total environmentally motivated subsidies

Environmental taxes and subsidies: derived indicators 1.Total environmental taxes / total tax revenues 2.Total environmentally motivated subsidies / total subsidies

Other monetary accounts Environmental expenditure Capital expenditure, current expenditure Environmental permits stocks, permits purchased, permits sold, permits surrendered Environmental goods and service sector Value added, employment, exports

Asset accounts Opening stock = changes due to transactions + additions to stock level – deductions from stock level other changes in stock level = Closing stock

Asset accounts

Depletion: physical dimension

Depletion: monetary dimension Valuation of natural resource assets enables direct wealth comparisons with other asset types, like produced assets or financial assets. The current accounts presented in the revised SEEA Part I should also include the standard SNA balancing items, net domestic product, net national income, net disposable income and net saving corrected, not only for the consumption of fixed capital but also for natural resource depletion.

Questions for the London Group 1) Does the London group agree with the proposed selection and explicit presentation of accounting aggregates in Volume I with the goal of identifying the main building blocks of indicator construction as discussed in Volume III in the revised SEEA? 2) Does the London group agree that ratio indicators that can be directly derived from the standard tables should be mentioned in Volume I of the revised SEEA ? 3) Does the London group agree with the proposed list of key aggregates and derived indicators for physical flows as presented in table 1 and 2 ?

Questions for the London Group 4) Does the London group agree with the proposed list of key aggregates and derived indicators for environmental expenditure and other environmental related transactions as presented in table 5 and 6 ? 5) Should wealth accounts and accounts for depletion adjusted national accounts balancing items be developed in the revised SEEA as suggested in pars 38 and 42? 6) Has the London group additional suggestions for identifying key aggregates that could serve as building blocks for SEEA indicators?