Yaoundé, June 2026 — The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), through its Sub-Regional Office for Central Africa and the African Centre for Statistics, is providing technical assistance to Cameroon in developing its energy accounts. This initiative, carried out in collaboration with Cameroon’s National Institute of Statistics (INS) and the World Bank under the HISWACA project, reached a key milestone with a workshop in Douala from June 22 to 26, 2026.
The workshop brought together government agencies, energy sector specialists, and technical and financial partners. The goal was to jointly assess available data and technical, methodological, and institutional requirements needed to compile energy accounts aligned with the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA)—the globally recognized statistical framework adopted by the United Nations to measure interactions between the economy and the environment.
Energy accounts are a modern statistical tool that links data on energy extraction, production, transformation, consumption, and trade to the country’s economic activities and residual environmental emissions. This integrated approach provides a comprehensive view of the relationships between energy, the economy, and the environment.
At a practical level, energy accounting helps answer critical policy questions: How much energy is produced? Which sectors consume the most energy? How is energy transformed and utilized? What is its contribution to wealth creation? How can policymakers measure the impact of energy policies on economic growth, employment, and greenhouse gas emissions? Beyond that, it guides decisions on investments needed for the country’s energy transition.
As demand for energy rises and the country faces challenges in energy security and climate change, reliable, integrated statistics are becoming indispensable for evidence-based policymaking and investment planning.
Developing these energy accounts is fully consistent with Cameroon’s Vision 2035 and the National Development Strategy 2020–2030 (SND30), which prioritize structural transformation, sustainable industrialization, and energy transition as core development goals.
These accounts will also support tracking progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly those related to affordable and clean energy, climate action, and sustainable management of natural resources.
Beyond their statistical value, energy accounts will give Cameroon a robust framework to evaluate the effectiveness of energy policies, align economic planning with natural resource management, and better integrate environmental considerations into public decision-making.
The Douala workshop marked a decisive step in this process. It focused on identifying user needs, assessing available data, highlighting gaps, and drafting an operational roadmap for future compilation of energy accounts.
This initiative is part of the National Plan for Environmental and Economic Accounting (PNDEAE), adopted by the Cameroonian government in 2023 to serve as a reference framework for implementing environmental and economic accounting. The PNDEAE identifies energy accounting as a priority area for operational deployment of this accounting system in Cameroon.
Through this effort, the UNECA continues to support Cameroon in strengthening its national statistical capacity and advancing environmental and economic accounting. The support includes guidance aligned with international standards, access to specialized expertise—including from the UK’s Office for National Statistics—and continuous technical assistance throughout the process of compiling Cameroon’s energy accounts.