Scene-setting presentation by Carl OBST, Director, Institute for Development of Environmental-Economic Accounting (IDEEA), Melbourne, Australia.

1. Natural Capital
Accounting using
the SEEA:
Opportunities and
challenges
Presentation to the 2020
OECD Green Growth and
Sustainable Development
Forum
November 2020
Carl Obst Director IDEEA
Group; SEEA Editor

2. The need
for
integrat
ion
26/11/2020
© IDEEA
Group2
Information and policy silos  Integrated Statistics
Agency A
Policy A
Info A
Data A
Agency C
Policy C
Info C
Data C
Agency B
Policy B
Info B
Data B
Indicators
Accounts
SNA and SEEA
Basic data & Statistics
Economy Environment Social
Accounts to integrate statistics:
 Linking policy needs (environmental themes & link to
economy) and statistics
 Understanding the institutional arrangements
 Integrated statistical production process/chain and
services
 Consistency between basic data, accounts, tables and
indicators

3. Coverage
of the
SEEA
26/11/2020
© IDEEA
Group3

4. Completi
ng the
picture
26/11/2020
© IDEEA
Group4
Pressure
Pressure
Response
State
State
Impact

5. Using
common
data and
a common
language
26/11/2020
© IDEEA
Group5

6. State of
play on
the SEEA
26/11/2020
© IDEEA
Group6
Advancing
on:
• Ocean
Accounts
• Measuring
the
Sustainabil
ity of
Tourism
• Accounting
for
Implementation
:
• Around 100
countries with
SEEA programs
• Links to
global
reporting SDG,
CBD, UNCCD,
IPBES, IUCN

7. Challeng
es and
barriers
:
What
steps
are
needed
• Moving from one-off, ad hoc assessments to
regular and ongoing compilation of accounts
• Recognising the investment (not cost) required to
integrate data and the benefits of an agreed and
shared environmental “history”
• Moving beyond a focus on external disclosure
and sustainability reporting to using accounting
to support local and internal management
decisions
• Recognising that accounting principles can be
applied without monetary valuation and that
integrating financial and non-financial data is the
core challenge
26/11/2020
© IDEEA
Group7

8. Thank you
26/11/2020
c IDEEA
Group8