Fourth Meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Working Group on Energy statistics and Regional Workshop on Final Energy Consumption surveys in the Transport sector – Paris – 26-28 September 2017
Assessing new challenges in Energy statistics for the Mediterranean region
Energy statistics constitute a fast-developing area in direct relation with sustainable development goals and related challenges in terms of energy efficiency. National energy statistics systems themselves witness constant progress in the analysis of energy production and consumption and new challenges constantly appear along the road.
In this context, the Fourth Meeting of the Euro-Mediterranean Working Group on Energy statistics (EMWGES), held in Paris on the 28 September 2017, allowed ENP-S Countries to present and discuss the main evolutions in their statistical systems on energy and to assess the main progress achieved in the production and dissemination of energy statistics since the start of the MEDSTAT IV Project in all three areas covered, i.e. energy balances, final energy consumption surveys and energy efficiency indicators.
The meeting also allowed to take stock of the implementation of the MEDSTAT IV work programme in this area and to adjust it for the period 2017-2018. All initial objectives of the project in this area were confirmed and all the events originally planned will be implemented before the end of 2018.
The meeting also gave the opportunity to discuss key issues for the follow-up of the work programme and the visibility of its results through the adoption of monitoring indicators in the first case and a first discussion on the development of infographics in the second.
This meeting was preceded by a two-day regional workshop on Final Energy Consumption surveys in the Transport sector. Final energy consumption is not always properly covered by the statistical systems of the ENP-S countries. The transport sector is a major consumer of energy and estimating its contribution to the final energy consumption of a country may greatly help in increasing the quality and relevance of the energy statistics.
In this context, this workshop allowed to share experiences and to define a common basis for the production of harmonized final energy consumption statistics across the region. It was largely based on the experience of several partner countries who have already implemented a Final Energy Consumption survey in the Transport sector.
The discussion on these surveys, which have been implemented on the basis of noticeably different methodological approaches, reflecting national specificities in terms of transport systems and statistical methodologies, allowed to draw collective lessons and to identify areas of convergence with a view to fostering harmonization. The presentation of international experiences was also key to the achievement of these objectives. A key lesson learnt at this occasion was that countries should make use of many different kinds of data sources in the production of final energy consumption statistics, not only surveys but also administrative data, payment data, geospatial data and data modelling techniques.
For any questions, please contact medstat4@expertisefrance.fr
