Strategy for Environmental-Economic Accounts in India, 2022–2026

Why in News?

The Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) has been developing environmental accounts in India since 2018, following the United Nations-endorsed System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA). To provide a strategic direction to this work, the National Statistical Office (NSO), MoSPI, released the Strategy for Environmental-Economic Accounts in India 2022–2026.

About SEEA

The System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) is an international statistical framework endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission. It provides a systematic approach to measuring the relationship between the environment and the economy by integrating environmental data with economic statistics.

The SEEA Central Framework covers three main areas: environmental flows, stocks of environmental assets, and economic activities related to the environment.

Environmental flows include the movement of natural resources, energy and residuals such as emissions between the environment and the economy. Stocks of environmental assets measure the quantity and condition of resources such as land, water, forests and minerals. Environment-related economic activities include production, expenditure and other activities associated with environmental protection and resource management.

Strategy for Environmental-Economic Accounts in India, 2022–2026

Released by the NSO under MoSPI, the strategy provides a roadmap for strengthening environmental accounting in India. It identified priority areas for development, including Material Flow Accounts (MFAs), Ocean Accounts, Energy Accounts, and thematic accounts for biodiversity and urban areas.

Environmental-economic accounting can help policymakers assess natural resource use, ecosystem changes and the environmental implications of economic growth. It supports evidence-based policymaking for sustainable development by linking economic performance with environmental conditions.

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