Comments to OMB on Initial Guidance for Environmental-Economic Accounting Classifications

The Institute for Policy Integrity recommends that the EEA-C ITWG align environmental-economic accounting classifications with practical stakeholder use cases and increase transparency regarding data, code, and methods to encourage business adoption. Specific technical suggestions include expanding Forest accounts to distinguish between native and non-native forests and monoculture versus diverse plantations, adding plastic pollution to Water accounts, and incorporating measures of uncertainty to avoid misleading estimates.

• The Institute for Policy Integrity suggests that the EEA-C ITWG should determine how stakeholders, including businesses and statisticians, will utilize environmental-economic accounts to ensure the classifications are relevant and usable.
• To increase confidence and adoption among businesses, the document recommends full transparency regarding the methods, assumptions, code, and data used in the classifications.
• The document proposes specific expansions to accounting subcategories: Forest accounts should differentiate between native and non-native regenerating forests and between monoculture and diverse plantations, while Water accounts should include plastic pollution.
• The Institute for Policy Integrity advises incorporating uncertainty measures into estimates to prevent misleading the public and to clarify data limitations.

APA

Atal, J. A. S. P. H. R. (2025). Comments to OMB on Initial Guidance for Environmental-Economic Accounting Classifications. Institute for Policy Integrity. https://policyintegrity.org/projects/update/comments-to-omb-on-initial-guidance-for-environmental-economic-accounting-classifications

Chicago

Atal, Jason A Schwartz, Peter Howard, Raimundo. Comments to OMB on Initial Guidance for Environmental-Economic Accounting Classifications. Institute for Policy Integrity, 2025. https://policyintegrity.org/projects/update/comments-to-omb-on-initial-guidance-for-environmental-economic-accounting-classifications.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Atal |first1=Jason A Schwartz, Peter Howard, Raimundo |title=Comments to OMB on Initial Guidance for Environmental-Economic Accounting Classifications |publisher=Institute for Policy Integrity |date=18 February 2025 |url=https://policyintegrity.org/projects/update/comments-to-omb-on-initial-guidance-for-environmental-economic-accounting-classifications |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{atal2025comments, author = {Atal, Jason A Schwartz, Peter Howard, Raimundo}, title = {{Comments to OMB on Initial Guidance for Environmental-Economic Accounting Classifications}}, publisher = {Institute for Policy Integrity}, year = {2025}, month = feb, url = {https://policyintegrity.org/projects/update/comments-to-omb-on-initial-guidance-for-environmental-economic-accounting-classifications}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }