Special Session of the UNCEEA on Climate Change, 25 June 2008, New York

SPECIAL SESSION OF THE UN COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS ON ENVIRONMENTAL-ECONOMIC ACCOUNTING ON CLIMATE CHANGE

United Nations
Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Statistics Division
25 June 2008, New York
3 - 6 PM, Conference Room C

The Special Session on Climate Change is being organized as a follow -up to the Conference on Climate Change and Official Statistics (Oslo, 14 -16 June 2008). The Conference requested the United Nations Committee of Experts on Environmental-Economic Accounting to extend its mandate, change the name, adjust its membership to cover statistics related to climate change. Further the United Nations Statistical Commission selected climate change as a topic for the programme review for discussion at its next meeting in February 2009.

The objective of this Special Session is to brainstorm on issues discussed during the climate change conference in order to identify existing initiatives and various stakeholders. This discussion will serve as an input in the drafting of the programme review.

The Special session is structured according to the following themes: aftermath of Bali, compilation of emission inventories, mitigation and impacts and adaptation. Each topic will be introduced by a presentation discussing existing activities both in the statistical as well as in the climate change communities.

Aftermath of Bali - Presentation by Kathleen Abdalla, Division for Sustainable Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs

The Bali Conference agreed on a clear agenda for climate change to be negotiated in 2009 and enter into force in 2013 replacing the Kyoto protocol. Issues on the agenda included: actions for adapting to the negative consequences of climate change; ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; ways to widely deploy climate-friendly technologies and financing both adaptation and mitigation measures. Information to address the issues on the agenda will be needed. The statistical community should be aware of the information needs in the aftermath of Bali.

Information needs for climate change related analysis- the user's perspective - Presentation by Maria Netto, Policy Advisor Environment and Energy Group/Bureau for Development Policy, United Nations Development Programme

Official statistics often does not fit the needs of climate change analyses. Linking climate change related information to economic information has become increasingly important however it is often not an easy task. Differences in classifications (e.g. UNFCCC/IPCC sectors vs. ISIC) level of disaggregation of the information are examples of this challenge.

Compilation of emission inventories - Presentation by Mark de Haan, Statistics Netherlands

The UNFCCC provides detailed guidelines on the compilation of emission inventories. The statistical offices often use/compile and reformat the information of the emission inventories to make them compatible with standard classifications. There is a need for both communities - the statistical community and the UNFCCC/IPCC to understand each other's approach and develop a strategy to bridge the two approaches.

	SPECIAL SESSION OF THE UN COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS ON ENVIRONMENTAL-ECONOMIC ACCOUNTING ON CLIMATE CHANGE United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs Statistics Division 25 June 2008, New York 3 - 6 PM, Conference Room C



The Special Session on Climate Change is being organized as a follow -up to the Conference on Climate Change and Official Statistics (Oslo, 14 -16 June 2008). The Conference requested the United Nations Committee of Experts on Environmental-Economic Accounting to extend its mandate, change the name, adjust its membership to cover statistics related to climate change. Further the United Nations Statistical Commission selected climate change as a topic for the programme review for discussion at its next meeting in February 2009.

The objective of this Special Session is to brainstorm on issues discussed during the climate change conference in order to identify existing initiatives and various stakeholders. This discussion will serve as an input in the drafting of the programme review.

The Special session is structured according to the following themes: aftermath of Bali, compilation of emission inventories, mitigation and impacts and adaptation. Each topic will be introduced by a presentation discussing existing activities both in the statistical as well as in the climate change communities.

Aftermath of Bali - Presentation by Kathleen Abdalla, Division for Sustainable Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs

The Bali Conference agreed on a clear agenda for climate change to be negotiated in 2009 and enter into force in 2013 replacing the Kyoto protocol. Issues on the agenda included: actions for adapting to the negative consequences of climate change; ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; ways to widely deploy climate-friendly technologies and financing both adaptation and mitigation measures. Information to address the issues on the agenda will be needed. The statistical community should be aware of the information needs in the aftermath of Bali.

Information needs for climate change related analysis- the user's perspective - Presentation by Maria Netto, Policy Advisor Environment and Energy Group/Bureau for Development Policy, United Nations Development Programme

Official statistics often does not fit the needs of climate change analyses. Linking climate change related information to economic information has become increasingly important however it is often not an easy task. Differences in classifications (e.g. UNFCCC/IPCC sectors vs. ISIC) level of disaggregation of the information are examples of this challenge.

Compilation of emission inventories - Presentation by Mark de Haan, Statistics Netherlands

The UNFCCC provides detailed guidelines on the compilation of emission inventories. The statistical offices often use/compile and reformat the information of the emission inventories to make them compatible with standard classifications. There is a need for both communities - the statistical community and the UNFCCC/IPCC to understand each other's approach and develop a strategy to bridge the two approaches.