Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)

MISSION

The Expert Group on Energy Data and Analysis (EGEDA) is responsible for providing policy relevant energy information to APEC bodies and the wider community, through collecting energy data of the APEC region, managing the operation of the APEC Energy Data Base through the Coordinating Agency, collecting policy relevant information from member economies, and examining and advising on the research activities of the Asia Pacific Energy Research Centre (APERC).

BACKGROUND and CONTEXT

Energy demand in the APEC region accounts for almost half of the world total energy demand and is expected to grow faster than other regions. Energy supply, however, has remained below the demand and dependency on supply from other regions has increased rapidly and this trend is expected to continue. In addition, greenhouse gas emission has become a serious issue reflecting high dependency on fossil fuel, specifically coal. As a result, energy security and environmental sustainability are serious issues in this region. Given the situation, importance of cooperation in the energy policy making among APEC member economies was recognized and the exchange of information and energy statistics and wider dissemination of the information was stressed as prerequisite for this cooperation. The wider dissemination of this information would also contribute to increasing the efficiency of the regional energy market.

Recognizing the importance of this issue, the 2nd APEC EWG Meeting in March 1991 in Jakarta agreed to establish an Expert Group within APEC responsible for managing and reviewing the operation of the APEC Energy Data Base. It also agreed that the central data collection point would be set up in the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan. Pursuant to this decision, the Energy Data Expert Group was established in 1991. The Group set up a Coordinating Agency as the central data collection point at the Energy Data and Modelling Center, the Institute of Energy Economics, Japan.

The Expert Group developed the APEC Energy Data Base through constructing an energy data collection network among member economies. The Expert Group has published"APEC Energy Statistics" annually since 1993 and in 1995 it published"Historical APEC Energy Statistics 1980-92". The Expert Group has also developed an on-line data collection and dissemination system.

Following the 12th EWG Meeting in Hong Kong in May 1996, the name of the Expert Group was changed to the "Energy Data and Outlook Expert Group"reflecting its new role of advising the Asia Pacific Energy Research Centre in the execution of its outlook and research activities. It was further approved at the 18th EWG Meeting in Wellington, New Zealand, to change the name of the Group to the current "Expert Group on Energy Data and Analysis". This is to reflect the expanded research activities of APERC and the Group"s role in overseeing these activities of the APERC as well as responding to the EWG's increasing need for information and analysis in its policy oriented discussions.

[ Visit www.ieej.or.jp/egeda ]