IRES Front Matter — Publication Data, Preface and Acknowledgements

Scope note. The front matter (PDF pp. 1–13) is largely bibliographic: the title page, publication and copyright data, table of contents, list of tables/boxes/figures, Preface, Acknowledgements, and the list of abbreviations and acronyms. Its substantive content — IRES’s adoption history, its authorship, and the significance of SIEC — is treated more fully in the Chapter I digest and the IRES entity page. This digest records the publication metadata, the Preface’s headline statements, and the Acknowledgements roster so the wiki’s provenance chain covers the whole document, front matter included.

Publication data

IRES is issued as United Nations document ST/ESA/STAT/SER.M/93 by the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Statistics Division, in the Statistical Papers, Series M No. 93, published New York, 2018 [IRES, Front matter, PDF pp. 2, 4, 2018]. It is a United Nations Publication, Sales No. E.14.XVII.11, ISBN 978-92-1-161584-5 and eISBN 978-92-1-056520-2, Copyright © United Nations 2017, all rights reserved [IRES, Front matter, PDF p. 3, 2018]. (The citation convention used throughout this wiki dates IRES to its 2018 publication; the copyright notice reads 2017.)

The publication carries the standard UN disclaimer that the designations and presentation of material do not imply any opinion on the legal status of any country, territory, city or area, and notes that the term “country” also refers, as appropriate, to territories or areas [IRES, Front matter, PDF p. 3, 2018].

Contents, tables, boxes and figures

The table of contents lists eleven chapters (I–XI), Annex A, Annex B and a References section [IRES, Contents, PDF pp. 4–6, 2018]. The front matter also indexes the document’s 18 numbered tables, 7 boxes and 4 figures — among them Table 1.1 (summary of the main recommendations), Table 3.1 (SIEC), the Chapter IV calorific-value tables, the Chapter VIII balance templates (Tables 8.1–8.2), Boxes 1.1 (UN Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics), 9.1 (generic NQAF template) and 11.1 (GHG estimation methods), and Figure 5.1 (main energy flows) [IRES, Contents (Tables/Boxes/Figures), PDF p. 7, 2018].

Preface

The Preface states IRES’s purpose in a single frame: it provides a comprehensive methodological framework for the collection, compilation and dissemination of energy statistics in all countries irrespective of the level of development of their statistical system, covering all aspects of the statistical production process from the institutional and legal framework through concepts, definitions and classifications to data sources, compilation strategies, energy balances, data quality and dissemination [IRES, Preface, PDF p. 8, 2018].

IRES was prepared in response to the request of the United Nations Statistical Commission, at its thirty-seventh session (7–10 March 2006), to review the UN manuals on energy statistics, develop energy statistics as part of official statistics, harmonize energy definitions and compilation methodologies, and develop international standards in energy statistics [IRES, Preface, PDF p. 8, 2018]. The preparation was carried out by the United Nations Statistics Division (UNSD) in close cooperation with the Oslo Group on Energy Statistics and the Intersecretariat Working Group on Energy Statistics (InterEnerStat) [IRES, Preface, PDF p. 8, 2018].

The Preface singles out the Standard International Energy Product Classification (SIEC) as a major milestone — the first standard classification for energy products — built on a set of internationally harmonized product definitions developed by InterEnerStat as mandated by the Commission. SIEC provides a unified set of product definitions, a standard coding scheme and a common hierarchy, and links to other agreed product classifications such as the Central Product Classification (CPC) and the Harmonized Commodity Description and Coding System (HS); beyond traditional energy statistics it may also serve frameworks combining energy statistics with other domains, such as energy accounts in environmental-economic accounting [IRES, Preface, PDF p. 8, 2018].

IRES underwent an extensive preparation process — expert consultations, two rounds of worldwide consultation, and a final review by the Expert Group on Energy Statistics. The United Nations Statistical Commission, at its forty-second session (22–25 February 2011), adopted IRES as a statistical standard and encouraged its implementation in all countries; the Commission also supported UNSD’s work on the Energy Statistics Compilers Manual to provide additional practical guidance [IRES, Preface, PDF p. 8, 2018].

Acknowledgements

The Acknowledgements confirm the same authorship — UNSD in close collaboration with the Oslo Group and InterEnerStat, with input from other expert advisers, countries and international/regional organizations through two rounds of global consultation, and review by the Expert Group on Energy Statistics before submission to the Statistical Commission [IRES, Acknowledgements, PDF p. 10, 2018]. The named Oslo Group contributors span national statistical and energy bodies of Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Canada, Denmark, India, Ireland, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States, together with representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (Mr. A. Gritsevskyi), the International Energy Agency (Mr. J. Y. Garnier and Ms. K. Treanton) and Eurostat (Mr. P. Loesoenen and Mr. R. Mertens) [IRES, Acknowledgements, PDF p. 10, 2018].

UNSD records its gratitude to Mr. O. Ljones and Mr. J. Y. Garnier for leading the Oslo Group and InterEnerStat respectively. The preparation of IRES was undertaken under the supervision of Mr. V. Markhonko (UNSD) and concluded under the overall supervision of Mr. R. Becker (UNSD); Mr. Markhonko, Ms. I. Di Matteo, Mr. L. Souza, Mr. O. Andersen, Mr. A. Blackburn and Mr. Becker were involved in drafting the text at various stages [IRES, Acknowledgements, PDF p. 10, 2018].

List of abbreviations and acronyms

The front matter closes with a two-page list of abbreviations and acronyms (PDF pp. 12–13) covering the units, classifications, frameworks and organizations used throughout IRES — including API, Btu, CHP, CPC, DQAF, ESCM, GCV/NCV, HS, IEA, InterEnerStat, IPCC, ISIC, LNG/LPG/NGL, NQAF, OECD, SDMX, SEEA and SEEA-Energy, SI, SIEC, SIMS, SNA, TES, tce/toe, UNFC and UNFCCC [IRES, List of abbreviations and acronyms, PDF pp. 12–13, 2018]. The canonical forms of the named organizations, standards and systems are maintained in meta/entities.md.

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