1 1 SEEA/Environmental accountings user needs with regards to renewable energy Julie L. Hass, Ph.D. Kristine E. Kolshus Division for Environmental Statistics Statistics Norway London Group Meeting December 2007 Rome, Italy

2 Goals: Where are renewables an important category? –example from energy statistics, sustainable development indicators What are renewables? Definition(s)? What type of information is needed about renewables with respect to environmental accounting/statistics? Identify SEEA-user needs to be able to communicate to others that are also working in this area.

3 Fuel shares of world total primary energy supply (TPES) ** Geothermal, solar, wind, tide/wave/ocean. Totals in graph might not add up due to rounding. Source: Renewables in global energy supply: An IEA Fact Sheet, page 3

4 Energy use per unit GDP 1 and total energy use (PJ) for renewable and non-renewable energy sources (official Norwegian sustainable development indicator)

5 Challenges… - with renewables: - with Norwegian SDI: For energy in general: Systems boundaries & coverage, break down by institutional units, terminology For renewables: Classification of renewables Coordination between renewables classification and product classifications (HS/CPA/SITC) Information regarding the sources of the energy used – how it was produced System boundary – GDP vs Kyoto related energy use Definition of renewables – what to include? –Waste –Import of electricity (99% of Norwegian electricity production from hydro sources) – need to know production source of imported electricity –Are all own-use/auxillary energy included? Biogas from sewage treatment facilities (newer energy sources) – coverage?

6 IEA Renewable energy commodity categories Combustible Renewables and Waste: –Solid Biomass –Wood, Wood Waste, Other Solid Waste –Charcoal –Biogas –Liquid Biofuels –Municipal Waste (renewables)* Hydropower Geothermal Energy Solar Energy Wind Energy Tide/Wave/Ocean Energy *Some of the waste (the non-biodegradable part of the waste) is not considered renewables as such. However, proper breakdown between renewables and non-renewables is not always available. Source: IEA (2007a) Renewables Fact Sheet – page 23

7 Is this electricity-only vs. Stock and/or non-stock? Then where to place hydro since that has water reserve basins that are stocks (in the sense of the word used here like solid biomass)? IEA/OECD-Eurostat- UNECE energy manual, page 116

8 Renewables and Waste Electricity-only renewable sources (Group I) Multiple use renewable sources (electricity, heat, etc.) Renewable sources without stock changes (Group II) Renewable sources with stock changes (Group III)

9 Liquid biofuels Increasing interest - specific biofuel goals - March 2007 European Council: raise the share of biofuels in transport to 10 per cent by 2020 How to measure this? As there is no specific customs classification for biofuels, the exact amount of imported ethanol, oilseeds and vegetable oil ultimately used in the transport sector cannot be quantified. …assessment will have to specify whether the focus should be on CN codes (internal EU) or on international HS codes. Creating a new HS code requires international negotiation, while a new CN code may be appropriate for EU statistical purposes.

10 Biofuels hidden in HS codes Beverages, spirits & vinegar (chapter 22): Bioethanol denatured HS Code Bioethanol undenatured HS Code Miscellaneous chemical products (chapter 38): Biodiesel HS Code

11 Clean/green/emissions free electricity production, use, imports and exports European Electricity Directive 2003/54/EC of 26 June 2003 concerning common rules for the internal market in electricity: Member States shall ensure that electricity suppliers specify in or with the bills and in promotional materials made available to final customers: –the contribution of each energy source to the overall fuel mix of the supplier over the preceding year; –at least the reference to existing reference sources, such as web-pages, where information on the environmental impact, in terms of at least emissions of CO 2 and the radioactive waste resulting from the electricity produced by the overall fuel mix of the supplier over the preceding year is publicly available. With respect to electricity obtained via an electricity exchange or imported from an undertaking situated outside the Community, aggregate figures provided by the exchange or the undertaking in question over the preceding year maybe used.

12 Need new products that also include production technique/source information ? Currently: electricity Do we need? –Electricity from nuclear –Electricity from hydro –Electricity from coal –Electricity from waste –Etc. –Is this practically possible? Bioethanol –From crops such as corn, sugar beet, palm oil, vegatable oil –From cellulosic biomass feedstock –Etc. NACE Rev Production of electricity NACE Rev Production of electricity… …from hydro …from wind …from biofuels, waste and landfill gases …from natural gas …from other sources

13 Conclusion Terminology is confusing and needs to be harmonized – Oslo Group actively working on this A number of fora are involved in discussing product categories for renewables, for example a Eurostat working group. LG should coordinate with these energy and trade experts to provide input to the revision of the standard product categories in the standards (HS/CPA/SITC) What is different with regards to renewables is the need to identify how the energy is produced and/or transformed. How to solve this? More detailed product and source product categories?