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Making the invisibles visible: Including animals in sustainability (and) accounting

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  • Vinnari, Eija
  • Vinnari, Markus

Abstract

In this essay we draw attention to a crisis that touches upon a great number of individuals: the plight of non-human animals. Billions of farmed animals are slaughtered each year to produce for instance food and clothes, while wild animals experience various degrees of human-induced harms. Yet, non-human animals are largely invisible in discussions of sustainability and associated accounting efforts. This is due to a problematic ontology that leaves domesticated animals hovering between society and nature while grouping wild animals with their habitats and inanimate things. Our purpose is to consider how to make animals visible in sustainability (and) accounting. To that end, we first illustrate how sociology and philosophy, among other disciplines, have begun to shift towards the view that non-human animals are worthy of our moral, political and legal consideration. We then develop a view of sustainability that explicitly includes animals and introduce an accounting framework with examples of indicators to track progress from no rights to fundamental rights for non-human animals.

Suggested Citation

  • Vinnari, Eija & Vinnari, Markus, 2022. "Making the invisibles visible: Including animals in sustainability (and) accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:82:y:2022:i:c:s1045235421000435
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2021.102324
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Vinnari, Eija & Laine, Matias, 2017. "The moral mechanism of counter accounts: The case of industrial animal production," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 1-17.
    2. Bob Giddings & Bill Hopwood & Geoff O'Brien, 2002. "Environment, economy and society: fitting them together into sustainable development," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(4), pages 187-196.
    3. Dillard, Jesse & Vinnari, Eija, 2019. "Critical dialogical accountability: From accounting-based accountability to accountability-based accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 16-38.
    4. Johan Rockström & Will Steffen & Kevin Noone & Åsa Persson & F. Stuart Chapin & Eric F. Lambin & Timothy M. Lenton & Marten Scheffer & Carl Folke & Hans Joachim Schellnhuber & Björn Nykvist & Cynthia , 2009. "A safe operating space for humanity," Nature, Nature, vol. 461(7263), pages 472-475, September.
    5. Peter Miller, 1998. "The margins of accounting," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 7(4), pages 605-621.
    6. 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.
    7. Matias Laine & Eija Vinnari, 2017. "The transformative potential of counter accounts: a case study of animal rights activism," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(7), pages 1481-1510, September.
    8. Ian Thomson & Colin Dey & Shona Russell, 2015. "Activism, arenas and accounts in conflicts over tobacco control," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 28(5), pages 809-845, June.
    9. Dillard, Jesse & Vinnari, Eija, 2017. "A case study of critique: Critical perspectives on critical accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 88-109.
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    Cited by:

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    3. Kuokkanen, Niina, 2024. "A problematizing review of the financialization of living beings," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    4. Apostol, Oana & Mäkelä, Hannele & Vinnari, Eija, 2023. "Cultural sustainability and the construction of (in)commensurability: cultural heritage at the Roşia Montană mining site," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).

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