IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/bstrat/v15y2006i4p258-274.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Waste management, the challenges of the PFI and ‘sustainability reporting’

Author

Listed:
  • Amanda Ball
  • Jane Broadbent
  • Tony Jarvis

Abstract

This paper examines the potential for ‘sustainability reporting’ in the context of waste management contracts let under the Private Finance Initiative (PFI). Whilst issues relating to the use of the PFI as a source of funding have been discussed at length, this paper takes the PFI as a ‘given’ in the context of the funding of waste management. The paper concentrates instead on the implications of using PFI and how, if it is to be used, it might be used constructively. There are two somewhat contradictory implications. The first is that the impetus to the funding of the creation of infrastructure assets has been a factor in driving the agenda towards chemico‐energy modernization, which may not be the ideal long‐term solution to creating sustainability. The second, however, is that PFI contracts create an opportunity to ensure that ‘sustainability reporting’ must be undertaken as a condition. Based on empirical work in the field, we argue this can provide the foundation for a discourse that might eventually lead to the promotion of a more embedded attitude to sustainability. Drawing on our fieldwork, we also identify possible sustainability reporting models and identify reasons why such approaches may be worthwhile in the context of waste management and other PFI contracts with significant environmental impact. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.

Suggested Citation

  • Amanda Ball & Jane Broadbent & Tony Jarvis, 2006. "Waste management, the challenges of the PFI and ‘sustainability reporting’," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 15(4), pages 258-274, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:15:y:2006:i:4:p:258-274
    DOI: 10.1002/bse.532
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/bse.532
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/bse.532?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Neu, D. & Warsame, H. & Pedwell, K., 1998. "Managing public impressions: environmental disclosures in annual reports," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 265-282, April.
    2. Jan Bebbington, 2001. "Sustainable development: a review of the international development, business and accounting literature," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(2), pages 128-157, June.
    3. Linda Lewis, 2000. "Environmental audits in local government: a useful means to progress in sustainable development," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(3), pages 296-318, September.
    4. Gray, Rob, 1992. "Accounting and environmentalism: An exploration of the challenge of gently accounting for accountability, transparency and sustainability," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 399-425, July.
    5. Gray, Rob, 2002. "The social accounting project and Accounting Organizations and Society Privileging engagement, imaginings, new accountings and pragmatism over critique?," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 27(7), pages 687-708, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Graham Hubbard, 2009. "Measuring organizational performance: beyond the triple bottom line," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(3), pages 177-191, March.
    2. Maria del Mar Miralles‐Quiros & Jose Luis Miralles‐Quiros & Irene Guia Arraiano, 2017. "Sustainable Development, Sustainability Leadership and Firm Valuation: Differences across Europe," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(7), pages 1014-1028, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ball, Amanda & Craig, Russell, 2010. "Using neo-institutionalism to advance social and environmental accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(4), pages 283-293.
    2. Gray, Rob, 2010. "Is accounting for sustainability actually accounting for sustainability...and how would we know? An exploration of narratives of organisations and the planet," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 47-62, January.
    3. Burnett, Royce D. & Hansen, Don R., 2008. "Ecoefficiency: Defining a role for environmental cost management," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(6), pages 551-581, August.
    4. Mark Shenkin & Andrea B. Coulson, 2007. "Accountability through activism: learning from Bourdieu," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(2), pages 297-317, April.
    5. Ván, Hajnalka, 2012. "Environmental Accounting – A New Challenge for the Accounting System," Public Finance Quarterly, Corvinus University of Budapest, vol. 57(4), pages 437-452.
    6. Crawford Spence, 2007. "Social and environmental reporting and hegemonic discourse," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 20(6), pages 855-882, October.
    7. Grisard, Claudine & Annisette, Marcia & Graham, Cameron, 2020. "Performative agency and incremental change in a CSR context," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    8. Ioannis E. Nikolaou & Konstantinos I. Evangelinos, 2010. "Classifying current social responsibility accounting methods for assisting a dialogue between business and society," Social Responsibility Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 6(4), pages 562-580, October.
    9. Monfardini, Patrizio & Barretta, Antonio D. & Ruggiero, Pasquale, 2013. "Seeking legitimacy: Social reporting in the healthcare sector," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 54-66.
    10. Jan Bebbington & Carlos Larrinaga & Jose M. Moneva, 2008. "Corporate social reporting and reputation risk management," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 21(3), pages 337-361, March.
    11. O'Dwyer, Brendan & Unerman, Jeffrey, 2016. "Fostering rigour in accounting for social sustainability," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 49(C), pages 32-40.
    12. Rodrigue, Michelle & Romi, Andrea M., 2022. "Environmental escalations to social inequities: Some reflections on the tumultuous state of Gaia," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    13. Brown, Judy & Dillard, Jesse, 2013. "Agonizing over engagement: SEA and the “death of environmentalism” debates," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 24(1), pages 1-18.
    14. Azlan Amran & Say Keat Ooi & Riduan Toani Mydin & S. Susela Devi, 2015. "The Impact of Business Strategies on Online Sustainability Disclosures," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(6), pages 551-564, September.
    15. Spence, Crawford & Husillos, Javier & Correa-Ruiz, Carmen, 2010. "Cargo cult science and the death of politics: A critical review of social and environmental accounting research," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 21(1), pages 76-89.
    16. Carlos Larrinaga & Francisco Carrasco & Carmen Correa & Fernando Llena & Jose Moneva, 2002. "Accountability and accounting regulation: the case of the Spanish environmental disclosure standard," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 11(4), pages 723-740.
    17. Ozgur Isil & Michael T. Hernke, 2017. "The Triple Bottom Line: A Critical Review from a Transdisciplinary Perspective," Business Strategy and the Environment, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(8), pages 1235-1251, December.
    18. Higgins, Colin & Walker, Robyn, 2012. "Ethos, logos, pathos: Strategies of persuasion in social/environmental reports," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 36(3), pages 194-208.
    19. Bouten, Lies & Everaert, Patricia, 2015. "Social and environmental reporting in Belgium: ‘Pour vivre heureux, vivons cachés’," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 24-43.
    20. Michaela Rankin & Carolyn Windsor & Dina Wahyuni, 2011. "An investigation of voluntary corporate greenhouse gas emissions reporting in a market governance system," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(8), pages 1037-1070, October.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:bstrat:v:15:y:2006:i:4:p:258-274. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1099-0836 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.