Technical Advances through 

Environmental-Economic Accounting

to Expand Statistical Measures

Charles Rhodes, Ph.D.

Office of Management and Budget

Building on GDP: The Future of Economic Statistics
“Historically, we’ve lacked a standard approach to track the 

condition of nature or its economic role and value, which 

impairs our ability to fight the climate crisis, build a strong and 

sustainable economy, and advance economic equity” 

cover of the National Strategy to Develop Statistics for Environmental-Economic Decisions (SEED), 

Prabhakar, Young, and Raimondo, p iv.

If you had a flock of geese that laid precious-metal eggs and 

someone was killing them, would you want to know how many 

geese were left, and what precious metal each goose laid? 

What kind of manager would you be if you didn’t want to know?

Need for SEED
• Environmental-Economic Accounting (EEA) extends 

national economic accounting (GDP-type) to include 

measures of stocks, processes, and products wherever 

humans and the environment connect.

• Natural Capital Accounting (NCA) measures natural 

resource stocks, processes, and interactions with the 

human economy more comprehensively than in the past.

Definitions
System of Environmental-Economic Accounting 

(SEEA)

2014 2021

UN: seea.un.org

2007 2019 2020

BEA-DOI: 

Outdoor 

Recreation

BEANOAA: 

Marine 

Economy

(satellite accounts)
SEEA Central Framework (SEEA-CF)

• Environmental flows (energy, water, materials, air emissions, solid waste, etc.)

• Stocks of environmental assets 

(mineral and energy, land, soil, timber, 

aquatic/water resources, etc.)

• Economic activity related to the 

environment (environmental protection expenditures, 

environmental goods and services 

sector, tax and subsidy accounts)

or

Kenneth Boulding, 1966

seea.un.org/content/seea-central-framework (Ecosystem Services are not in these accounts!)
SEEA Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA)

seea.un.org/content/frequently-asked-questions#Does%20monetary%20valuation%20amount%20to%20putting%20a%20price%20on%20nature

(Ecosystem Services are in these accounts!)
Map from 2021. Since 2021, add:

• U.S.

• Chile 

Global landscape: 

NCA now being implemented around the world
National Strategy

• Coordination across 

Federal Government and 

others

• Data sharing

• Interoperability

• 15-year phased approach

• Research

• Experimental stats/pilots

• Core Statistical Products

www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/NaturalCapital-Accounting-Strategy-final.pdf

Released: Davos, Switzerland, 19 Jan 2023
National Strategy – Five Principal 

Recommendations

NCA and environmental-economic statistics should:

1. Be pragmatic and provide information that supports a range of 

decision-making that affects human-environment relationships

2. Provide domestic comparability through time and advance 

international comparisons and harmonization

3. Be embedded in the broader U.S. economic statistical system, 

compliant with SEEA, accounting boundaries, and appropriate 

valuation methods

4. Via a 15-year phased approach, transition from research grade 

environmental-economic statistics and natural capital accounts to 

core statistical products

5. Use existing authorities and substantial expertise within Federal 

departments and agencies to coordinate across agencies
www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/Naturalwww.bea.gov/data/economic-accounts/national Capital-Accounting-Strategy-final.pdf

U.S. Domestic EEA Development
Wentland et al. 2020 (Ecosystem Services) Bagstad et al. 2020 (Ecosystem Services)

Warnell et al. 2020, 

Heris et al. 2021 (Ecosystem Services)

National Strategy implementation plans for 

specific account types are in Phase I and II (of III) 

ocean,

U.S. Domestic EEA Development
Timeline
Timeline
• CSOTUS role interplays statutes, regulations, and policies that govern 

issues of data-sharing, -access, -protection, -dissemination, and -quality

• EEA involves many core CSOTUS focus areas, so OCSOTUS is 

Technical Lead on many domestic and international EEA challenges

• Implementing the National Strategy, CSOTUS roles include:

• Coordinating interagency work to set new EEA Classifications; ITWG to include 

BEA, DOI, EPA, NOAA, USDA, NASA, Census, BLS, other OMB (and others...)

• Exploring Data Sharing issues and facilitating resolutions or workarounds where 

possible (forum TBD)

• Exploring Valuation issues with a broader OIRA team, other EOP offices, and 

agencies (forum TBD)

Chief Statistician of the United States and 

NCA
Bureau of Economic Analysis Examples

Table from: Fixler, Hass, Highfill, Wentland, and 

Wentland (2023), “Accounting for Environmental 

Activity: Measuring Public Environmental 

Expenditures and the Environmental Goods and 

Services Sector,” NBER, March 2023.

• BEA pilot, estimating size 

of “green economy”

• Drawing on data from: 

BEA, Census, EPA, 

USDA, BLS, and others

Environmental Goods & Services Sector (EGSS) Pilot
Bureau of Economic Analysis Examples

Land Value (Pilot) Estimates for the Contiguous U.S.

• Combining multiple data sources

• Valuation

• Detailed transaction-level “Big Data”

• 2020: hedonic regression; 2023: machine learning 

• Quantifying land

• National Land Use Database

• Combines data from USGS, USDA, Census, NOAA, 

& others

• 2010 only

From: Wentland, Moulton, and Cornwall (2023), “For What It’s Worth: Measuring Land Value in the Era of Big Data and 

Machine Learning,” BEA Working Paper, May 2023.

Air Emissions Pilot Account – BEA Working Paper 

Matthew Chambers 
DOI USGS / EPA – Example

Water accounts – assets, use, quality, emissions

• USGS & EPA are modeling work to deliver state-of-the-art 

information into water accounts, planned from FY24–FY30

• Capacity to integrate these data into water accounts currently 

remains limited

• SNA-compliant approaches to valuing water quality & quantity must 

be developed

• Current data limitations/needs

• More widespread & consistent water quality monitoring

• National-scale databases

• National survey

Water accounts Implementation Plan furthers and expands work described in: 

Bagstad et al. 2020 (Ecosystem Services)
Water accounts – complexity
NLCD (USGS)

USDA Cropland 

Data Layer

USDA-NASS 

crop yield & 

price data 

Ecological data on 

pollinators (USDA, 

USGS, others)

https://code.usgs.gov/

Landsat (USGS/NASA)

USGS 

supercomputing

USGS-Public data repository

Pollinator accounts – complexity
Science needs: General challenges

• Reduce latency of key data products

• e.g., National Land Cover Database; USDA Cropland Data Layer

• Data gaps remain

• Identify & fill the most important ones

• Understand where existing data are good enough

• Move from agency to USG-wide monitoring & modeling

• Need a data/model management strategy (interoperability)

• Data & models are housed across agencies

• Relying on individual scientists to regularly re-run their models is unsustainable

• Public code repositories a desirable starting point (avoid platform lock-in)

• High-level interoperability (e.g., ARIES for SEEA) potentially desirable, but will 

require commitment & small changes to the status quo

• The challenge of AK, HI, territories (especially AK)

• Agencies already produce much needed data, but lack capacity 

for the “last mile” to turn it into accounts
Not Started 

In Progress

Completed

Finalized

SEED Products Tracker

Implementation 

Plan Pilot Prototype Valuation Production

Air emissions

Water

Land

Env. Activities & Jobs

Marine (I)

Phase 2

Minerals & Energy

Forests

Urban Green Space

Pollinators

Marine (II)

Hazards
Council of Account Leads

Co-chairs: Ken Bagstad (USGS), Scott Wentland (BEA)

• Communication, collaboration

• Avoid foreseeable obstacles, coordinate strategies

• Centralize communication between account teams & EOP
“Our countries are committed to halting 

and reversing environmental degradation, 

including via environmental economic 

accounting and reporting, nature-based 

solutions, preventing pollution, and 

protecting and restoring biodiversity on 

both land and in water.”

www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/05/20/australia-united-states-joint-leaders-statement-an-alliance-for-our-times/

New York City, September 19, 2023 – Senior Official Dialogue

Technical Track

U.S. International EEA Development – Special Agreements

High-Ambition Global Leadership Meeting: Australia – US
Thank You!

Charles Rhodes, PhD

Office of the Chief Statistician of the United States

Office of Management and Budget

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(e) Charles.R.Rhodes@omb.eop.gov

(w) CSOTUS | FSS | FCSM

Questions?