September 2011

International Recommendations for Energy Statistics

The United Nations Statistical Commission, at its forty-second session held in New York, 22 to 25 February 2011, adopted the International Recommendations for Energy Statistics (IRES).

IRES draft version submitted to the UN Statistical Commission 2011

The International Recommendations for Energy Statistics provide data compilers with a complete set of recommendations covering all aspects of the statistical production process framework, from basic concepts, definitions and classifications to data sources, data compilation strategies, energy balances, data quality and statistical dissemination. IRES is expected to be published in printed format by early 2012.

IRES was prepared in accordance with the Commission’s endorsement, during its fortieth session in February 2009, of the United Nations Statistics Division’s strategy to prepare the International Recommendations for Energy Statistics. IRES was prepared by UNSD in close cooperation with the Oslo Group on Energy Statistics and the Intersecretariat Working Group on Energy Statistics (InterEnerStat). Consultations with specific groups of experts took place during the preparation process, such as the Committee of Experts on Environmental-Economic Accounting, the Expert Group on International Economic and Social Classifications and the London Group on Environmental Accounting.

More information on the preparation process can be found here.

With the adoption of IRES by the United Nations Statistical Commission, UNSD started the preparation of the Energy Statistics Compilers Manual (ESCM), which will contain further and more detailed explanations of the recommendations and provide practical guidance for compilers of energy statistics, balances and accounts.