IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/reaccs/v29y2024i3d10.1007_s11142-024-09830-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Corporate carbon accounting: balance sheets and flow statements

Author

Listed:
  • Stefan Reichelstein

    (University of Mannheim ZEW-Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research
    Stanford University)

Abstract

Current corporate disclosures regarding carbon emissions lack generally accepted accounting rules. The transactional carbon accounting system described here takes the rules of historical cost accounting for operating assets as a template for generating carbon emissions (CE) statements comprising a balance sheet and a flow statement. The asset side of the CE balance sheet reports the carbon emissions embodied in operating assets. The liability side conveys the firm’s cumulative direct emissions into the atmosphere as well as the cumulative emissions embodied in goods acquired from suppliers less those sold to customers. Flow statements report the company’s annual corporate carbon footprint calculated as the cradle-to-gate carbon footprint of goods sold during the current period. Taken together, balance sheets and flow statements generate key performance indicators of a company’s past, current, and future performance in the domain of carbon emissions.

Suggested Citation

  • Stefan Reichelstein, 2024. "Corporate carbon accounting: balance sheets and flow statements," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 29(3), pages 2125-2156, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:reaccs:v:29:y:2024:i:3:d:10.1007_s11142-024-09830-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s11142-024-09830-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11142-024-09830-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11142-024-09830-y?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
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Benedikt Downar & Jürgen Ernstberger & Stefan Reichelstein & Sebastian Schwenen & Aleksandar Zaklan, 2021. "The impact of carbon disclosure mandates on emissions and financial operating performance," Review of Accounting Studies, Springer, vol. 26(3), pages 1137-1175, September.
    2. Sorabh Tomar, 2023. "Greenhouse Gas Disclosure and Emissions Benchmarking," Journal of Accounting Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 61(2), pages 451-492, May.
    3. Lena Klaaßen & Christian Stoll, 2021. "Harmonizing corporate carbon footprints," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-13, December.
    4. Comello, Stephen & Reichelstein, Julia & Reichelstein, Stefan, 2023. "Corporate carbon reporting: Improving transparency and accountability," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-026, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Zengkai Zhang & Jiaoyan Li & Dabo Guan, 2023. "Value chain carbon footprints of Chinese listed companies," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Liu, Yang Stephanie & Zhou, Xiaoyan & Yang, Jessica Hong & Hoepner, Andreas G.F. & Kakabadse, Nada, 2023. "Carbon emissions, carbon disclosure and organizational performance," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    3. Provaty, Sagira Sultana & Hasan, Mostafa Monzur & Luo, Le, 2024. "Organization capital and GHG emissions," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    4. Cohen, Shira & Kadach, Igor & Ormazabal, Gaizka, 2023. "Institutional investors, climate disclosure, and carbon emissions," Journal of Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 76(2).
    5. Comello, Stephen & Reichelstein, Julia & Reichelstein, Stefan, 2023. "Corporate carbon reporting: Improving transparency and accountability," ZEW Discussion Papers 23-026, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    6. Zhang, Dongyang, 2023. "Does green finance really inhibit extreme hypocritical ESG risk? A greenwashing perspective exploration," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    7. Homroy, Swarnodeep, 2023. "GHG emissions and firm performance: The role of CEO gender socialization," Journal of Banking & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 148(C).
    8. Driss, Hamdi & Drobetz, Wolfgang & El Ghoul, Sadok & Guedhami, Omrane, 2024. "The Sustainability committee and environmental disclosure: International evidence," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 602-625.
    9. Gouriéroux, C. & Monfort, A. & Renne, J.-P., 2022. "Required Capital for Long-Run Risks," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    10. Yan Zhao & Ehsan Elahi & Zainab Khalid & Xuegang Sun & Fang Sun, 2023. "Environmental, Social and Governance Performance: Analysis of CEO Power and Corporate Risk," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-18, January.
    11. Matterne, Ilias & Roggeman, Annelies & Verleyen, Isabelle, 2024. "The impact of environmental taxation on innovation: Evidence from Canada," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    12. Zhang, Qiyu & Ding, Rong & Chen, Ding & Zhang, Xiaoxiang, 2023. "The effects of mandatory ESG disclosure on price discovery efficiency around the world," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    13. Michel Coulmont & Sylvie Berthelot & Vincent Gagné, 2022. "Sustainability performance indicator trends: a Canadian industry-based analysis," International Journal of Corporate Social Responsibility, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 1-17, December.
    14. Loyson, Philipe & Luijendijk, Rianne & van Wijnbergen, Sweder, 2023. "The pricing of climate transition risk in Europe's equity market," CEPR Discussion Papers 18289, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    15. Tsang, Albert & Frost, Tracie & Cao, Huijuan, 2023. "Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) disclosure: A literature review," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 55(1).
    16. Martijn A. Boermans & Maurice Bun & Yasmine van der Straten, 2024. "Funding the Fittest? Pricing of Climate Transition Risk in the Corporate Bond Market," Working Papers 797, DNB.
    17. Philippe Loyson & Rianne Luijendijk & Sweder van Wijnbergen, 2023. "The pricing of climate transition risk in Europe’s equity market," Working Papers 788, DNB.
    18. Ion FRECAUTAN & Andreea NITA (DANILA), 2022. "Who Is Going To Win: The Eu Esg Regulation Or The Rest Of The World? €“ A Critical Review," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 2(2), pages 109-120, December.
    19. Azad Haider, 2024. "The Determinants of Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Empirical Evidence from Canadian Provinces," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(6), pages 1-21, March.
    20. Xiao, Deheng & Xu, Jinlong & Li, Qiyuan, 2024. "The “Double-Edged Sword” effect of air quality information disclosure policy—Empirical evidence based on the digital transformation of Chinese listed companies," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Net-zero pledges; Carbon emissions; Carbon accounting; Carbon reporting;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M41 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Accounting
    • M48 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Accounting - - - Government Policy and Regulation
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

    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:spr:reaccs:v:29:y:2024:i:3:d:10.1007_s11142-024-09830-y. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.