Classification of Environmental Activities (CEA) Expert Group Meeting on Classifications (New York, 20 May 2011)

Background UNSC decided in 2007 to elevate the SEEA to the level of a statistical standard The UN Committee of Experts on Environmental-Economic Accounting (UNCEEA) oversees the revision process The UNCEEA has a Bureau (9 members) An Editor and an Editorial Board has been appointed A list of issues was agreed on by the Statistical Commission and city groups discussed the issues (21 issues)

Background (Cont’ed) Outcome papers on the 21 were circulated for global consultation (Issue #9 was CEA) Recommendations on the issues were submitted to the UNSC Drafting of the Chapters has started

Timeline Global consultation on chapters Chapter 5 – Asset Accounts (13 May – 24 June 2011) Chapters 3 and 4 on Physical and Monetary Flow Accounts (including CEA) (13 June -25 July 2011) Chapters on Introduction, framework and Hybrid Accounts (1 July- 26 August 2011) Complete document (Fall 2011) UN Statistical Commission (February 2012)

CEA - background The Classification of Environmental Protection Activities (CEPA), a component of CEA, is part of the family of classifications CEPA adopted by the UN Statistical Commission in 2002 Previous draft of CEA was discussed by the Classification EG in September 2009 Modifications requested by the EG were implemented CEA has further changed as a result of the global consultation on the issues (Issue #9) Recommendation agreed by UNSC

CEA CEA consists of 3 parts: –Environmental Protection Activities and expenditures (EP) Aimed at protecting the environment against pollution, losses in quality and any kind of physical degradation (qualitative perspective) –Resource Management activities and expenditures(RM) Aimed at preserving and maintaining the stocks of natural resopurces safeguarding against depletion –Resource Use activities and expenditures (RU) Aimed at the abstraction, harvesting and extraction of natural assets, including exploration and development Resource Management and Resource Use are limited only to activities concerning non-produced resources.

CEA - Structure CEPA

Activities for identifying CEA Environmental problems faced Main environment al functions concerned Kind of environmental activities and expenditures Expenditure aggregates and accounts Pollution Losses in quality Physical degradation Sink functions Service functions Protection of the quality of the natural environment (EP) how much do resident units pay and in what form? who pays for it? DepletionResource functions Resource Management (RM), i.e. savings/ recycling/recovery how much does it cost to save the stock of natural resources? who pays for it? Resource functions Resource Use (RU), i.e. exploitation/ exploration how much does it cost to provide the economy with the natural resources needed? who pays for it? EPEA RUMEA EGSS

Next steps Align terminology with the other parts of the SEEA Global consultation on the classification as part of Chapter 4 on monetary flows (13 June – 25 July 2011) EGM on classification to be consulted during global consultation Possible future inclusion in the family of classifications replacing CEPA