Methodology

City Groups   Oslo Group

Experts from energy statistics producers (statistical offices and other energy statistics producers) from several countries: Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Belarus, Brazil, Cameroun, Canada, China, Congo (RDC), Denmark, Egypt, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greenland, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Iran, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Mexico, Mozambique, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Palestine, Poland, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Russian Federation, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Sultanate of Oman, Sweden, Tajikistan, Thailand, Togo, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, USA and Yemen. International organizations: United Nations Statistics Division, International Energy Agency (IEA), Eurostat, International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Statistical Centre for the Cooperation Council for the Arab Countries of the Gulf (GCC-STAT), and International Monetary Fund Statistics Departments.

First meeting: Oslo, 6-8 February 2006
Second meeting: Delhi, 5-7 February 2007
Third meeting: Vienna, 4-6 February 2008
Fourth meeting: Ottawa, 2-6 February 2009
Expert Group meeting on Energy Balances, Oslo, Norway, 18 - 20 May 2009
Fifth meeting: Cork, 1-4 February 2010
Sixth meeting: Canberra, 2-5 May 2011
Seventh meeting: Helsinki, 23-26 October 2012
Eighth meeting: Baku, 24-27 September 2013
Ninth meeting: Abu Dhabi, 5-8 May 2014
Tenth meeting: Mexico, 10-13 May 2016
Eleventh meeting: Stockholm, 8-11 May 2017
Twelfth meeting: the Hague, 12-14 June 2018

• User needs for energy statistics
• Scope of official energy statistics
• Country best practices in the collection and dissemination of energy statistics
• Selected methodological and data quality challenges in energy statistics
• Needs for harmonization of important energy statistics systems
• Key content provider for the new UN manuals on energy statistics, International Recommendation on Energy Statistics (IRES) and Energy Statistics Compilers Manual (ESCM)
• Methods for improving consistency in different statistic systems and reducing response burden
• Currently there are three main focus areas for the Group: administrative data, big data, and new and innovative data sources; best practices and update of manuals; and estimation methods for off-grid energy and biomass.

Presentations, papers, reports and all draft documents prepared for meetings and in the process of revision of the UN energy statistics manuals are available on the Oslo Group Website: http://unstats.un.org/oslogroup.

The International Recommendations for Energy Statistic - IRES

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 provides data compilers with a complete set of recommendations covering all aspects of the statistical production process framework, thus covering a range of topics from basic concepts, definitions and classifications to data sources, data compilation strategies, energy balances, energy accounts, data quality and statistical dissemination. It has been published and translated into all UN official languages.

Energy Statistics Compilers Manual - ESCM

The Oslo Group provided plentiful material for the development of an Energy Statistics Compilers Manual (ESCM). This document is intended to serve as a practical guide to assist countries in the implementation of the IRES. As such, the ESCM covers the conceptual framework, the institutional arrangements and the statistical production process for energy statistics. The document is undergoing copy preparation and publishing, but there is no translation arrangement currently in place to the other UN official languages. Oslo Group members were the main content providers to the ESCM, submitting country practices, preparing textual inputs, writing the different ESCM chapters, and reviewing drafts on a voluntary basis. As the ESCM is intended to be an integral part of the implementation process of both the IRES and SEEA-Energy, the Oslo Group collaborated in this work with the London Group on Environmental Accounting.

Template for Country Practices in Energy Statistics

As part of the preparation of the Energy Statistics Compilers Manual (ESCM), a country practice template was developed by the Oslo Group in cooperation with UNSD. The template provides a common format for countries to report and share their practices in the collection, compilation and dissemination of energy statistics. The use of a common format facilitated the review and the comparisons of country practices, feeding into the preparation of the ESCM. The filled templates are available from the UNSD Website.

With the work of the Energy Statistics Compilers Manual complete, the Oslo Group has identified several other issues and challenges to address in order to further promote and support the collection and use of good quality energy data. These new topics include, among others: administrative data, big data, and new and innovative data sources; best practices and update of manuals; and estimation methods for off-grid energy and biomass.

The efforts and outputs of the working groups will make important contributions to support the collection of quality, comparable energy statistics at the international level. The activities, work plans and progress of each of the working groups will be discussed at the next OG meeting.

The Oslo Group web site and discussion forum is available at: http://unstats.un.org/oslogroup.

• Report of 2018
• Report of 2014
• Report of 2013
• Report of 2011
• Report of 2009
• Report of 2007

Last updated 3 November 2021

• London Group
• Oslo Group
• Ottawa Group
• Praia Group
• Titchfield Group
• Voorburg Group
• Washington Group
• Wiesbaden Group

• Canberra Group
• Canberra I
• Canberra II
• Delhi Group
• Paris Group
• Rio Group
• Siena Group
• Ulaanbaatar Group
• Wye Group