1. Overview of the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA)
Julian Chow
United Nations Statistics Division

2. Natural Capital Accounting – balancing the book of natural capital
Assets
Services
Waste & degradation
Economy and well-being
Regeneration

3. System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA)
The SEEA Central Framework was adopted as an international statistical standard by the UN Statistical Commission in 2012
The SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting complements the Central Framework and represents international efforts toward coherent ecosystem accounting

4. The SNA and SEEA: Systems of integrated information
The SEEA has a number of different components.
First there is the SEEA Central Framework which is an international statistical standard to measure the environment and its relationship to the economy. It is fully consistent with the SNA which is the standard to measure the economy, and is essentially a satellite account of the SNA o extend to the environmental dimension.
The SEEA CF has various subsystems, which serve to provide more detailed guidance on accounting for specific environmental assets. Water is the most established, and energy is in the process of being finalized. FAO and UNSD have also developed a SEEA-AFF and is currently under global consultation. More will be developed in time.
Other modules will be developed in due course depending on policy need. In addition, technical notes are being developed to provide more detailed guidance about accounting for specific topics.
In addition, we have the SEEA EEA which is still in the experimental stage, and represents a synthesis of current knowledge on ecosystem accounting.

5. SEEA Environment Economy National wealth National Balance Sheet
Resource life
“Critical” Natural Capital
Stocks (P & Q)
Minerals & energy
Land, Soil
Timber
Aquatic
Other biological
Water
Ecosystems + conditions
Environment
Flows (P & Q)
Materials
Energy
Water
Ecosystem services
Benefits/Costs
SNA: Contribution of natural inputs to economy (rent)
Depletion, degradation adjusted net savings
Non-SNA: Contribution of natural inputs to well being
Externalities (health, poverty)
Economy
Production
Consumption
Accumulation
Imports
Exports
Mitigate & Manage (P)
Protection $
Goods & Services
Taxes & subsidies

6. One Environment: Two perspectives
Individual environmental assets & resources:
Timber
Water
Soil
Fish
Ecosystems: Biotic and abiotic elements functioning together:
Forests
Lakes
Cropland
Wetlands
SEEA Central Framework (SEEA_CF) starts with economy and links to physical information on natural assets, flows and residuals
SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EEA) starts with ecosystems and links their services to economic and other human activity
Together, they provide the foundation for measuring the relationship between the environment, and economic and other human activity

7. SEEA SEEA-CF (Central Framework)
Assets
Physical flows
Monetary flows
Minerals & Energy, Land, Timber, Soil, Water, Aquatic, Other Biological
Materials, Energy, Water, Emissions, Effluents, Wastes
Protection expenditures, taxes & subsidies
SEEA Water; SEEA Energy; SEEA Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Add sector detail
As above for
Water
Energy
Agricultural, Forestry and Fisheries
SEEA-EEA (Experimental Ecosystem Accounting)
Adds spatial detail and ecosystem perspective
Extent, Condition, Ecosystem Services, Thematic: Carbon, Water, Biodiversity
Different types of accounts
Crucial !! Spatial underpinning of ecosystem accounts, that is what sets it apart from other approaches.

8. SEEA-CF – Asset accounts
Assets (=stocks; physical and monetary)
Opening balance; additions; removals. Closing balance
Mineral and energy resources
Land, Forest
Soil
Timber
Aquatic resources
Other biological resources
Water
Source: Statistics Canada

9. General structure of the physical account for environmental assets (physical units)
Mineral & energy resources
Land (incl. forest land)
Soil resources
Timber resources
Aquatic resources
Water resources
Cultivated
Natural
Opening stock of resources
Yes
Additions to stock of resources
Growth in stock na
Yes*
Soil formation
Growth
Natural growth
Precipitation
Soil deposition
Return flows
Discoveries of new stock
Upwards reappraisals
Reclassifications
Total additions to stock
Reductions in stock of resources
Extractions
Soil extraction
Removals
Harvest
Gross catch
Abstraction
Normal reductions in stock
Erosion
Natural losses
Normal losses
Evaporation
Evapotranspiration
Catastrophic losses
Downwards reappraisals
Total reductions in stock
Closing stock of resources

10. SEEA-CF – Physical flow accounts
Physical flows
Supply/use of materials (extract  consume)
Material flows (through economy) to final demand (e.g., GHGs)
Water supply/use
Energy supply/use
Residuals
Air emissions
Water emissions
Wastes (generated and used/recycled)
Source: Statistics Denmark

11. SEEA-CF – Environmental activity accounts
Environmental activities
Expenditures on protection, management and regulation
EPE: Environmental protection expenditures (demand side)
EGSS: Environmental goods and services sector (supply side)
Resource use and management
Environmentally-related payments by & to government (fines, fees, taxes, subsidies, concession payments)
EGSSs in Netherlands
Source: Statistics Netherlands

12. Ecosystem Accounting model
The SEEA EEA ecosystem accounting model has five main components that are reflected in diagram. Starting at the bottom, the model is based around accounting for an ecosystem asset (1) that is represented by a spatial area. The delineation of the area that defines an ecosystem asset is required for accounting purposes and should be considered a statistical representation of ecosystems, which by their nature are not discrete systems.
Conceptually, ecosystem assets are represented by ecosystem units (EU).
Each ecosystem asset has a range of relevant ecosystem characteristics and processes (2) that together describe the functioning of the ecosystem. The accounting model proposes that the stock and changes in stock of ecosystem assets is measured by considering the ecosystem asset’s extent and condition which can be done using indicators of the relevant ecosystem asset’s area, characteristics and processes.
Each ecosystem asset generates a set or basket of ecosystem services (3) which, in turn, contribute to the production of benefits (4). Benefits may be goods or services (products) currently included in the economic production boundary of the SNA, referred to as SNA benefits; or they may be benefits received by individuals that are not produced by economic units (e.g. clean air). These are referred to as non-SNA benefits. Both SNA and non-SNA benefits contribute to individual and societal well-being (5).
The chain of relationships from ecosystem assets to well-being is at the core of the SEEA EEA. While there remain some important issues of definition in terms of the boundaries between different components, and there are measurement challenges; the core model reflecting the relationships between ecosystem assets, ecosystem services, benefits and individual and societal well-being remains strong.

13. Broad steps in ecosystem accounting
a. Physical Accounts
Ecosystem thematic accounts: Land, Carbon, Water, Biodiversity
Supporting information: Socio-economic conditions and activities, ecological production functions
Tools: classifications, spatial units, scaling, aggregation, biophysical modelling
Source: Official statistics, spatial data, remote sensing data
b. Monetary Accounts
The current slide describe the broad steps in ecosystem accounting.
The use of Earth Observation data (remote sensing data) was highlighted to indicated that Big data is an important source data for the compilation of ecosystem accounts
Supporting information: SNA accounts, I-O tables
Tools: Valuation techniques

14. International bodies for SEEA
United Nations Committee of Experts on Environmental Economic Accounting (UNCEEA)
The governing body for the mainstreaming and implementation of the SEEA. Established by the UN Statistical Commission at its at its 36th Session in Chair: Bert Kroese, Statistics Netherlands || Secretariat: UNSD
Technical Committee of the SEEA Central Framework
Technical Committee of the SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting
London Group on Environmental Economic Accounting
Forum of Experts on SEEA Experimental Ecosystem Accounting

15. Status of SEEA implementation
Global Assessment on Environmental Economic Accounting 2014
84 countries responded
54 countries have an SEEA program
Accounts most commonly compiled;
Air Emissions, Material Flows, Energy (due to Eurostat legislation)
Priorities accounts going forward;
Developed Countries: Energy, EPEA and EGSS
Developing Countries: Energy, Water and Environmental Taxes and Subsidies