ABS Environmental-Economic Accounts

23.107      A variety of environmental accounts have been compiled by the ABS. These accounts are at different stages of maturity, and some accounts that were compiled in the past, such as environment protection expenditure accounts, are no longer produced. Other ones are in regular annual production, such as the natural resources on the national and sectoral balance sheets, as well as energy and water accounts.

23.108      In some cases, the ABS undertakes substantial primary data collection activity to support the production of accounts, such as Water Account, Australia. In other cases, the ABS draws on a range of external sources. For instance, Energy Account, Australia uses administrative data from the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting (NGER) Scheme; data from the Annual Energy Update published by DCCEEW; and the ABS Energy and Water Survey (EWS).

23.109      Table 23.1 lists the features of ABS environmental-economic accounts releases by theme.

23.110    The following information summarises the key features of each publication:

• Water Account, Australia (annual) – includes information on the physical and monetary supply and use of water in the Australian economy. It also includes information on water use and consumptive practices of key industries (Agriculture, Water supply, sewerage and drainage services) and households, as well as presenting data cubes for Australia and the States and Territories. 
  Water Account, Australia | Australian Bureau of Statistics
• Energy Account, Australia (annual) –  includes physical supply and use tables that identify physical volumes by energy product, including supply and use by Australian industry, households, and energy imports and exports.  In addition, monetary data are provided for the use of energy products by Australian industry, as well as data on physical and monetary energy assets, and indicators such as, per capita uses of energy and energy intensity by industry.
• Land Accounts – the National Land Account, Experimental Estimates and National Land Cover Account bring together statistics that measure changes in land attributes over time, from an economic, extent and environmental perspective. They provide insights on land use, land cover, land tenure, and land value.
• National Ecosystem Accounts, experimental estimates – the ecosystem accounts include physical and monetary estimates of the extent, condition and services provided by Australia's ecosystems, including terrestrial, coastal, freshwater and marine realms.
• Great Barrier Reef ecosystem accounts (2015 & 2017) – draw on a wide range of environmental-economic accounts data, including marine and terrestrial extent and condition; provisioning ecosystem services for crops and fishing; regulating ecosystem services; recreational cultural services; carbon; socioeconomic statistics; social values and Indigenous values pertaining to the region.

23.110      The key sources and methods for these releases are summarised in Table 23.2.

23.111    The SEEA also includes other types of accounts, such as those for emissions and material flows, as well as environmental activity accounts such as environmental goods and services accounts, resource management and environmental protection expenditure, and environmental taxes and subsidies.  ABS do not currently produce these SEEA based accounts.

23.112    There are strong links between the Environmental Economic Accounts produced by ABS and the ASNA. 

23.113    For instance, data in the physical and monetary energy account tables are compiled on the same basis. That is, they use the same definitions and classifications of energy products and energy flows, as well as applying the same time frames and recording principles. The monetary data have close alignment with the energy product data published in the ABS supply and use tables.  Any variations are due to: 

• Classification differences at the product level.
• Source data differences for the historical timeseries.
• Conceptual difference for natural gas. The physical Energy Account includes natural gas converted to LNG, and this has been valued at market prices in the monetary table. However, the ASNA does not consider this own account transformation as a 'use' and so it is not included in the supply and use tables.
• Different balancing options being needed to retain internal consistency within the supply-use tables and the Energy Account. 

23.114    Annual national accounts benchmarks incorporate data from the Water Account, Australia to rebenchmark water charges applied to residential dwellings within the accounts. This rebenchmarking process uses household total expenditure figures drawn from Monetary Water Supply and Use, by Industry and Water Type (Purchasers’ Prices), as reported in Table 11 of the Water Account, Australia. 

23.115    The SEEA Central Framework is currently under review by the international community. It is anticipated that the SEEA Central Framework 2028 will be endorsed by the UN Statistical Commission in March 2028. The SEEA Central Framework review will focus on ensuring alignment with 2025 SNA and other international standards and classifications, as well as updating SEEA for evolving policy demands, including climate change, biodiversity, circular economy and sustainable finance. Integration with the SEEA EA will also be addressed.