UN Committee of Experts on Environmental-Economic Accounting (UNCEEA)

About the Committee

The UN Committee of Experts on Environmental-Economic Accounting (UNCEEA) was established by the UN Statistical Commission at its 36th session in March 2005. The UNCEEA functions as an intergovernmental body to provide overall vision, coordination, prioritization and direction in the field of environmental economic accounting and related statistics. The original mandate and governance of the UNCEEA was first updated in 2010, and then again in 2025 to reflect current priorities and the work program of the Commitee.  

The UNCEEA meets once a year in New York and is supported by a Bureau and a Steering Group. The UNCEEA is currently co-chaired by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and Colombia's National Administrative Department of Statistics. 

The UNCEEA has the following objectives: 

• Provide strategic vision in the field of environmental-economic accounting and related statistics
• Mainstream environmental-economic accounts and related statistics into national statistical systems and policy and decision making
• Maintain the System of Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA) and supporting documents through regular updates to ensure its relevance and coherence with other statistical standards
• Advance the implementation of the SEEA in countries

To achieve these objectives, the programme of work of the UNCEEA focuses on:

• Ensuring coordination, integration and complementarity of programmes and initiatives on or relevant to environmental-economic accounts and related statistics
• Promoting the use of environmental-economic accounting in support of policy and decision making
• Supporting the implementation of the SEEA and related statistics in countries and its mainstreaming into policy, taking into consideration policy priorities, capacity needs and data availability and ensuring coordination among international agencies and countries
• Revising and updating the SEEA and developing supportive normative international statistical standards and other methodological documents on the SEEA and related statistics, in line with the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics
• Developing global and regional databases for environmental-economic accounts

Bureau of the UNCEEA

The Bureau was established in 2007 to assist the Chair, and Co-Chairs, to carry out specific activities in between meetings. The Bureau meets 3-4 times per year. Members of the Bureau are elected from senior officials from National Statistical Offices and International Organizations.

Members of the Bureau include Australian Bureau of Statistics, Statistics Canada, DANE Colombia, DESTATIS Germany, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation of India, Kenya National Bureau of Statistics, INEGI Mexico, Statistics Netherlands, Statistics New Zealand, ONS United Kingdom, Eurostat, FAO, IMF, OECD, UNSD and World Bank.