Mandate and Governance Structure of the London Group

1. Mandate and Governance Structure of the London Group

2. Outline • Mandate of the London Group • How the LG responded to different international challenges (i.e. SEEA-2003) • Recent change in the international environment (creation of the UNCEEA) • New mandate • Proposed new governance structure

3. Mandate of the LG Established in 1994 as a the City Group (by the Statistical Commission) with the objectives of: • Playing a leadership role in defining international best practices in the theory and practice of environmental accounting within the framework of the SNA; • Providing a forum for the sharing of national and international expertise in this field; • Encouraging the adoption of best practices in the field by promoting the results of the LG's efforts via proceedings volumes, concepts and methods manuals, operational manuals and other means

4. Governance structure 1994-1997 LG is an informal group of statisticians from NSOs and int. organizations. Yearly meeting, report to the UN Statistical Commission In 1998, the UN SC agrees that the LG undertake the revision of the SEEA→ new governance structure

5. Governance structure 1998-2003 • Secretariat of the LG, Statistics Canada • Coordinating Committee (CC) with the main objective of steering the SEEA revision. It was composed of: • the most recent and future host of the LG meetings • Statistics Canada, Secretariat of the LG • the publishing agencies of the SEEA-2003: Eurostat, OECD, UNSD, the World Bank (IMF even though a publishing agency did not become a member of the CC New governance structure

6. Governance structure 2003-2006 CC responsible for organising the LG meetings. It was composed of • the past and future host of the LG meetings • Statistics Canada as secretariat • UNSD 3 sub-groups were established in 2003 to address specific issues and develop compilation guidelines.

7. Sub-groups of the LG Sub-group on Water Accounting, moderated by UNSD which contributed to the SEEAW handbook (finalized recently) Subgroup on Mineral and Energy Accounts, moderated by Statistics Denmark which carried out a survey on country implementation of mineral and energy asset accounts and developed guidelines for a handbook on mineral and energy asset accounts; Subgroup on the Expansion of the SEEA to Social Aspects, moderated by Statistics Sweden which prepared discussion papers for discussion at the LG meetings

8. UNCEEA In 2005, the UN SC establishes a UN Committee of Experts on Environmental-Economic Accounting (UNCEEA) with the objectives of • Mainstreaming environmental-economic accounting and related statistics • Elevating the SEEA to an international statistical standard • Advancing the implementation of the SEEA at the global level.

9. The UNCEEA’s programme of work • coordination of groups working on environmental-economic accounting and related statistics • promotion and implementation of the SEEA • methodological research • harmonisation of data collection activities with environmental-economic accounting concepts and definitions.

10. Coordination • “UNCEEA has within its mandate an umbrella function in coordinating and providing vision, direction and prioritization to ensure that existing groups work in complementary fashion” (UNSC Report of the Secretary General, E/CN.3/2006/9 para 7). To this end, the UNCEEA has been in contact with the LG to establish cooperation in the advancement of the research agenda

11. Methodological research OBJECTIVE: Elevating the SEEA to the level of a standard by 2010 HOW: The UNCEEA will develop a programme of research focusing on refining and clarifying those issues that will permit elevating it to the level of a statistical standard as well as a longer term research agenda. The UNCEEA will prioritize the issues, identify working groups to resolve them, monitor progress of the working groups, review their recommendations and report to the SC on the proposed solutions

12. UNCEEA requests to LG The UNCEEA has requested that the LG consider accepting a significant number of issues of the research agenda as part of its work program. The UNCEEA calls for a new governance structure of the LG to meet the request of the UNCEEA to undertake the research within an agreed time schedule

13. New mandate of the LG • 2006-2008 to resolve those issues in the research agenda that the LG agrees to cover during this meeting (NY, June 2006) and its next meeting (South Africa, early 2007)

14. Proposed governance structure The LG would be composed of: • A Chair • A Secretariat • Members of the LG

15. Role of the Chair • Develop the programme of work and time schedule for the LG on the basis of the agreed list of issues • Facilitate the discussion during and in-between meetings • Contribute substantively to the solution of the issues • Make sure that agreements on issues are reached • Monitor that issue and outcome papers are prepared according to schedule • Report on progress made to the UNCEEA To be elected during this meeting (NY, June 2006)

16. Role of the Secretariat • Assist the Chair in its tasks (incl. providing day-to-day management of the LG, the design of the agenda and organization of the LG meetings) • Establish a website for the update of the SEEA (following the model of the 1993 SNA update) • Maintain internal and external communication on behalf of the LG

17. Role of the LG members • Actively contribute to solving the issues on the research agenda • Prepare issue and outcome paper according to an agreed format and time schedule • Actively participate in electronic discussion groups (EDG) that will be created as appropriate