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 supporting statistics. The UNCEEA meets once a year in New York and is governed by the Bureau of the UNCEEA and chaired by Statistics Canada. 

The UNCEEA has the following three broad objectives: 

• Mainstream environmental-economic accounts and supporting statistics
• Elevate the System of Environmental-Economic Accounts (SEEA) to an international statistical standard
• Advance the implementation of the SEEA in countries

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

• Coordination of programmes in environmental-economic accounts and supporting statistics among international agencies and countries
• Implementation of the SEEA in countries around the world and promotion of its use in support of government policy
• Furthering methodologies by identifying and prioritising critical issues, establishing appropriate mechanisms to address those issues, monitoring progress, reviewing proposed solutions and submitting recommendations to the United Nations Statistical Commission
• Harmonization of data collection activities of environment and supporting statistics with concepts and definitions of environmental-economic accounts

Bureau of the UNCEEA

The Bureau was established in 2007 to assist the Chair 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 Statistics Canada, Australian Bureau of Statistics, , the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation of India, INEGI Mexico, Statistics Netherlands, Statistics New Zealand, Philippines Statistics Authority, Statistics South Africa, Eurostat, FAO, OECD, UNSD and World Bank.