The System for Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA):

Abstract

The discussion of sustainable development has received increased attention from the international community. For this situation, United Nations Handbook on the SNA Satellite System for Integrated Environmental and Economic Accounting (SEEA) was issued by United Nations Statistical Division (UNSTAT) in 1993.The purpose of this paper is to propose an extended form of the SEEA which can deal with any kind of global environmental problems. The global environmental problems include the five types of environmental disruptions:(a) transboundary pollutions, such as acid rain, (b) environmental disruptions in the less developed countries (LDC) caused by direct foreign investment and economic assistance, (c) depletion of natural resources caused by international trade, (d) disruptions of the ecosystem caused by the poverty in LDC, such as desertification, (e) disruptions of the global commons such as the greenhouse effect and ozone layer depletion.In order to respond better to these environmental problems, all sorts of accounts such as income distribution accounts, financial accounts and external accounts are required. However, the SEEA proposed by UNSTAT has not got access to these accounts because it is constructed only on the basis of the supply and use table of produced goods and services and on the non-financial assets accounts. Therefore it cannot describe the global environmental problems.I propose an extended form of the SEEA, “A Complete SEEA” as an accounting system which can suitably treat any kind of global environmental problems. The Complete SEEA is a comprehensive accounting system which contains all accounts of the 93 SNA including stock accounts. It can describe all sorts of economic and environmental relationships between each country and global commons because it includes not only the accounts of many countries but also the accounts of global commons as a dummy sector. The Complete SEEA is also compared with NAMEA (A National Accounting Matrix including Environmental Accounts) by S. J. Keuning et al. The Complete SEEA is just an integrated information system which can support integrated economic and environmental policy for the sustainable development.