1. Current UNSD Work United Nations Statistics Division Alex Blackburn
10th Oslo Group Meeting
10-13 May 2016
Aguascalientes, Mexico

2. Current work of UNSD Making publications IRES-compliant SDGs:
International process
The energy goal
Technical cooperation
Biomass review

3. IRES-compliant books
Old energy Yearbook used “consumption” for something similar to Total Energy Supply, and “commercial energy” which is no longer distinguished in IRES. (Etc.)
The book has now been updated to agree completely with IRES terminology
Energy Balances and Electricity Profiles (previously the same publication) split and revised, now IRES-compliant too

4. SDGs: Historical Context
As a follow-on to the Millennium Development Goals (which spanned and did not include energy), the post-2015 development agenda was negotiated and agreed by the UN General Assembly in 2015
Statistics is at the forefront

5. Measuring the SDGs
At the 46th session, the Statistical Commission established the Inter-Agency Expert Group on the Sustainable Development Goals (IAEG-SDGs)
The group comprises member states, with international and regional organisations as observers (national ownership is key)
Its mandate is to develop an indicator framework to measure the 17 goals and 169 targets
Indicators for each target have now been proposed and classified into three tiers, relating to status of methodology and data collection

6. SDG7 and its Targets
Sustainable Development Goal 7: Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all
Broken down into three main targets (plus two additional targets relating to means of implementation)
Target 7.1: By 2030, ensure universal access to affordable, reliable and modern energy services
Target 7.2: By 2030, increase substantially the share of renewable energy in the global energy mix
Target 7.3: By 2030, double the rate of improvement in energy efficiency
Unlike some other goals, the targets for Energy are (reasonably) clear to measure, established methodology exists and indicators are already available (thus all tier I)

7. SDG7: Process for indicators
For SDG 7, inputs have been coordinated by leading agencies and umbrella groups on energy statistics, such as:
UNSD, UN-Energy, SE4all, Worldbank
Some representatives also attended as observers at the IAEG meetings to present the inputs

8. SDG7: Process for indicators
Inputs provided so far:
Proposals for indicators that have agreed methodology and existing data collections
Arguments against other proposed indicators that did not
Metadata for energy indicators
Currently still being discussed by the IAEG – with inputs provided by the energy agencies:
Finalization of metadata
Organization of data collection process at world-wide level and identification of lead agencies
Indicators for means of implementation (7.a and 7.b) are still under review
(Current proposals are out of scope of actual energy statistics and are Tier III)

9. SDG 7 indicators 7.1.1: % of population with electricity access
7.1.2 % of population with primary reliance on clean fuels and technology
7.2.1: renewable energy share in total final energy consumption (%)
7.3.1: energy intensity measured in terms of primary energy and GDP
World Bank
WHO
IEA & UNSD energy balances
The SE4all Global Tracking Framework brings data together from different sources

10. SDGs: IAEG work plan
Sub-groups set up on SDMX, Geospatial information, interlinkages between goals
The IAEG-SDGs will develop a plan to review the indicator framework to present to the next UNSC.
The data flows from national to international level are still to be determined, as are baseline years
Tier III indicator proposals to be made by July and finalised by September
Data disaggregation (by income, sex, urban vs rural etc.) is seen as key to reflect the “no-one left behind” approach. Is this relevant/possible for energy?

11. SDG7: UNSD technical cooperation
Two regional workshops in 2015 organised by UN DESA’s Division for Sustainable Development, in Panama and Korea
Title: “Mainstreaming energy SDGs, targets and indicators into statistical programmes of countries”
A great way to promote IRES as a practical tool, highlights the benefits of harmonisation
Allowed countries to see how others are integrating the SDG targets into their statistics systems
A third workshop for African countries is planned for June; China workshop in 2 weeks will cover similar topics

12. SDGs, Green Economy
With so many SDG indicators and just a few related to energy, UNSD launched a project on the Green Economy that includes energy as one of its priorities:
Goal of the project is to strengthen national statistical systems in developing countries
to enable them to effectively produce statistical indicators on green economy and green growth in the context of sustainable development.

13. Green economy energy indicators
The green economy project focuses on indicators more purely derived from energy statistics.
In this respect, they align with the SDG ones while being a bit more detailed.
2.2
Energy
 Core set
2.2.1
Energy productivity [US$ per ktoe] No
2.2.2
Energy consumption per capita [total or final]
Yes
2.2.3
Energy intensity by sector [manufacturing, transport, households, services]
2.2.4
Renewable energy supply [% total energy supply ,TES]
2.2.5
Renewable electricity [% total electricity generation]
2.2.6
Fuelwood, production [thousand cubic metres]
2.2.7
Proportion of bioenergy in total renewable energy production
(IEA will later in the WS talk about energy indicators).

14. Green Economy Conclusion
Countries must identify policy priorities and goals, then strengthen their national statistical systems in order to provide relevant indicators
Energy GEIs will not be enough for national purposes, even if they are more detailed than SDG7
Countries are thus encouraged to complement these indicators with those relevant to their circumstances

15. Biomass Review
Primary Solid Biofuels are 7.9% of Global TES (2013), but 48% of African TES, and as high as 90%+ in some countries
Fuelwood is the majority of this, around 63%
But there are very big differences between IEA, UNSD and FAO numbers

16. World fuelwood production 2000-2013

17. (only if used as a source of energy)
Data collected
Products
Definitions (FAO)
FAO
IEA/UNSD
Wood Fuel (C and NC)
Coniferous and non-coniferous fuelwood: roundwood that will be used as fuel for purposes such as cooking, heating or power production
Yes
(only if used as a source of energy)
Chips and Particles
Wood that has been reduced to small pieces and is suitable for pulping, for particle board and/or fibreboard production, for use as a fuel, or for other purposes.
Wood Residues
Other wood processing co-products. It includes wood waste and scrap not useable as timber and wood residues that will be used for production of pellets and other agglomerated products
Wood Pellets
Agglomerates produced either directly by compression or by the addition of a binder in a proportion not exceeding 3% by weight. Such pellets are cylindrical, with a diameter not exceeding 25 mm and a length not exceeding 100 mm.
Other Agglomerates
Agglomerates other than wood pellets, for example briquettes or logs.
Recovered post-consumer wood
It comprises any waste wood fibre after at least one life cycle. It comprises wood from construction, renovation and demolition, but also packaging as well as old furniture No

18. Units of measurement
UNSD data on fuelwood are collected in thousand cubic metres
FAO data on wood fuel, chips and particles and wood residues are collected in cubic metres. Data on wood pellets and other agglomerates are collected in metric tons. Data are collected separately for each product.
IEA data on fuelwood are collected in TJ (as a memo item, part of primary solid biofuels)
For the purposes of this comparison the NCV used to convert data into terajoules is TJ/1000 cubic metre.

19. Fuelwood production, 2013 Major countries
Petajoules

20. Why the differences? Which estimates are less wrong? Some theories:
Use of a standard NCV across countries and products, could be (very) wrong?
Scope of the data collection, possible exclusion/inclusion of products used/not used for energy
Post-consumer recovered wood is explicitly excluded from the FAO statistics
Estimation methods: 82% of FAO fuelwood production is from modelled data (official data 15%, unofficial sources 3%). IEA data can be estimated/modelled too.
Which estimates are less wrong?

21. THANKS