The concept of a Green National Accounting (GNA) System is crucial for understanding a nation's true wealth by integrating environmental assets and their degradation into economic calculations. In 2015, India took a significant step towards this by setting up an expert committee to formulate a robust Green National Accounting System.

Green National Accounting (GNA) System Committee 2015

To advance the integration of environmental considerations into national economic statistics, an expert committee was established in India in 2015. This committee was tasked with the critical responsibility of formulating a framework for a Green National Accounting (GNA) System. The objective was to move beyond conventional measures like Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and include the value of natural capital and the costs of environmental degradation in national accounts, thereby providing a more comprehensive picture of economic sustainability and well-being.

Chairperson of the Expert Committee

The expert Committee constituted in 2015 for formulating a Green National Accounting (GNA) System was headed by a distinguished economist. The Chairperson of this pivotal committee was Professor Partha Dasgupta.

• Professor Partha Dasgupta is a highly respected economist known for his extensive work in environmental economics, development economics, and welfare economics.
• His expertise in evaluating natural capital and its role in sustainable development made him an ideal choice to lead the committee responsible for designing India's GNA system.

Partha Dasgupta's Contribution to Environmental Economics

Professor Partha Dasgupta has made significant contributions to the field of environmental economics. His work emphasizes the importance of accounting for natural capital alongside physical and human capital in assessing a nation's wealth. He argues that traditional economic indicators often fail to capture the depreciation of natural resources, leading to an incomplete and potentially misleading view of economic progress.

His appointment as the Chairperson of the committee for the Green National Accounting System underscores the importance placed on bringing environmental considerations to the forefront of economic policy in India.

Understanding Green National Accounting

Green National Accounting (GNA), also known as environmental accounting, is an accounting framework that attempts to integrate environmental assets and the costs of environmental degradation into traditional national accounts. Unlike conventional GDP, which only measures the market value of goods and services produced, GNA seeks to:

• Provide a more accurate measure of economic welfare by factoring in the depletion and degradation of natural resources.
• Highlight the contribution of natural resources to economic development.
• Inform policy-making towards sustainable development by showing the true costs and benefits of economic activities.

The initiative to form an expert committee under Professor Partha Dasgupta for developing such a system in 2015 was a forward-looking step towards more holistic economic planning in India.