This document provides practical guidelines on how to implement the Conference of European Statisticians’ Core Set of Climate Change-Related Indicators (CES Indicator Set), taking into account national policy priorities and data availability. It complements the main report of the Task Force and the metadata sheets with detailed information on individual indicators.
The CES Indicator Set, its implementation guidelines and indicator metadata sheets were developed by a dedicated UNECE Task Force on a set of key Climate Change-Related Statistics Using the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) established by the Conference of European Statisticians. The set of documents was endorsed in 2020 by the Heads of national statistical offices of more than 60 CES member countries.
The CES Indicator Set provides the foundation for developing national sets of climate change-related indicators intended to show the big picture of climate change-related issues, address the most relevant current policy questions and help meet upcoming information needs. It includes 44 indicators covering climate change drivers, emissions, climate change impacts, mitigation and adaptation. It also proposes corresponding contextual and operational indicators, helping interpret the core set in the national and global context and provide more details according to national circumstances and priorities. The selection of the indicators followed a careful vetting process based on the criteria of policy relevance, methodological soundness and data availability. The CES Indicator Set is the recommended set of climate change-related indicators to be compiled and published in the CES member countries.