Update of the SEEA Central Framework
The SEEA Central Framework was adopted by the United Nations Statistical Commission at its 43rd Session in 2012, as the first international statistical standard for environmental-economic accounting. Since then, there have been a number of new, emerging demands for integrated environmental and economic data in support of climate change, circular economy, biodiversity and other policies. There have also been updates to related statistical standards and classifications, such as the System of National Accounts 2025. Thus, at its 55th Session in 2024, the United Nations Statistical Commission endorsed the proposed update of the SEEA Central Framework (Decision 55/109(a) of E/CN.3/2024/36).
The update of the SEEA Central framework is being carried out under the auspices of the United Nations Committee of Experts on Environmental-Economic Accounting (UNCEEA) and its Technical Committee on the SEEA Central Framework, in close collaboration with the London Group on Environmental Accounting and other expert groups.
List of issues for the update of the SEEA Central framework
In 2024, the UNCEEA, through its Technical Committee on the SEEA Central Framework, worked on finalizing the proposed list of issues for the update. The Technical Committee developed an initial list of issues based on the research agenda of the SEEA Central Framework; issues arising from its implementation; discussions at the meetings of the London Group on Environmental Accounting; and issues from the update of the 2008 SNA.
The initial list of issues was circulated for global consultation from July to September 2024. For more information on the global consultation visit its webpage here. The Technical Committee reviewed and discussed the feedback from the global consultation (see Annex for a summary) and made some adjustments in the list of issues proposed for the update of the SEEA Central Framework.
The final list of 29 issues was reviewed by the UNCEEA Bureau and the broader UNCEEA, and endorsed by the Statistical Commission at its 56th Session in March 2025. Please find the final list of issues in the background document to the Commission as well as in excel format with descriptions.
Governance structure
The below figure shows the governance structure, the various groups involved in the update process. Detailed explanations of the roles for each of these groups can be found in Section IV of the background document on the process.
Process on the update of the SEEA Central framework (last updated in January 2026)
Overall, the update of the SEEA Central Framework is carried out under the auspices of the UNCEEA and it follows a three-pronged approach: (a) undertaking technical research to reach recommended guidance on the issues identified for the update; (b) engaging in broad consultations with compilers, users and relevant stakeholders; and (c) coordination and collaboration with different expert communities and update processes to ensure consistency and relevance of the updated recommendations.
A high-level timeline for the SEEA Central Framework update is presented in the figure below.
In 2025, four Task Teams (TTs) have been established under the Technical Committee to undertake the technical research and draft guidance notes. The four task teams are on: A. Overarching issues, including consistency with the SNA; B. Physical flow accounts; C. Environmental activity accounts and related flows; and D. Asset accounts. Update issues were assigned to one of the four task teams and assigned a priority, and the nature of treatment needed (i.e., substantive or textual).
The TTs have appointed lead authors for each of the update issues. The first step undertaken for each of these research issues was to draft short Scoping Notes. The Scoping Notes were intended to clarify the SEEA Central Framework update issues, identify linkages across issues, and outline research questions that will need to be addressed in the Guidance Notes. They are not meant to propose solutions; that will be done in the next phase of the process during the preparation of the Guidance Notes. Feedback was sought from various groups, including the Technical Committee, UNCEEA, and others, to ensure that the description of each issue in the Scoping Notes was accurately reflected. The Technical Committee approved the final versions of the Scoping Notes which are all published here.
After the finalization of the Scoping Notes, the lead authors started drafting of the Guidance Notes, which were separated in three tranches for the global consultation planned for February 2026, June 2026 and October 2026, respectively. The Guidance Notes in the first tranche were discussed at the in-person meeting of the Technical Committee in November 2025 in New York. Further two meetings of the Technical Committee are planned to discuss the second and third tranche Guidance Notes in March 2026 in Geneva along with the Joint UNECE/OECD Expert Meeting on Implementation of SEEA and in September 2026 in Guatemala along with the annual London Group meeting.
For more information on the update process, please see the Statistical Commission's background document on the process.