United Nations Statistical Commission

This side event "Green Economy indicators complementing the SDG framework" will inform about the ongoing work on Green Economy and Green Growth indicators in various international organisations and about the application of these indicators in Latin American and Asian countries. The presentations will show that there is a clear link between the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Green Economy. This was already expressed in 2012 in the outcome document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, the Rio+20 Conference. The outcome document titled "The future we want", which was endorsed the same year by the United Nations General Assembly, states that the "green economy in the context of sustainable development and poverty eradication [is considered] as one of the important tools available for achieving sustainable development". Although the SDGs and the SDG indicator framework do not mention the terms "green economy" and "green growth", many of the indicators used in the SDG indicator framework are also present in the Green Economy Indicator framework.

The UNSD Green Economy Indicators (GEI) were created to support the formulation, implementation and monitoring of green economy policies in developing countries and have an integrated approach that covers the areas of "environmental and resource productivity", "the natural asset base", "the environmental dimension of quality of life", and "the policy responses and economic opportunities". These areas are complemented by indicators on "the economic, demographic and social context for sustainable development". The UNSD GEI framework builds on the experience and previous work on green economy indicators within and outside the United Nations system. UNSD's GEI have a close relationship to the OECD Green Growth Indicators, but the circumstances, priorities and data availability in developing countries made it necessary to amend and modify that framework. Particular attention was paid to indicators that could be applied immediately or that could be calculated in the not too distant future.

The main focus of the side event will be on the UNSD Green Economy Indicator framework and on the countries’ experiences implementing this framework for the reporting on green economy issues and for the formulation and monitoring of green economy policies. The presentations by UNSD and by the pilot countries of our Development Account project "Supporting developing countries measure progress towards achieving a Green Economy" will be complemented by presentations of the OECD and UN Environment on their Green Economy strategies and indicator frameworks.

Programme Agenda

Moderator:
• Mr. Ralf Becker, UNSD

Speakers:
• Mr. Alexander Loschky, UNSD: Work on Green Economy / Green Growth (indicators) in various international organizations, link between Green Economy and SDGs (overlap and complementing areas), short introduction to UNSD's Green Economy Indicator framework
• Mr. Paul Schreyer, OECD: Work of the OECD on Green Growth
• Ms. Jillian Campbell, UN Environment: Work of UN Environment on the Green Economy
• Ms. Dandar Oyunchimeg, National Statistics Office of Mongolia: Green Economy Initiatives and the Link to the National SDGs
• Department of Statistics, Malaysia: Malaysia's experience in compiling Green Economy Indicators
• Ms. Rayén Quiroga, UN ECLAC: Presentation on Green Economy initiatives in Latin American countries, their links to the national SDG strategies, and presentation of selected indicators used in the region
• Mr. Ralf Becker, UNSD: Outlook: future work on Green Economy Indicators
• Discussion

For more information on UNSD's Green Economy Indicators, please visit https://unstats.un.org/unsd/greeneconomy