IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hal/journl/hal-04686904.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Field-configuring events and the failure to standardise accounting for carbon emissions

Author

Listed:
  • Sophie Giordano-Spring

    (MRM - Montpellier Research in Management - UM1 - Université Montpellier 1 - UPVM - Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 - UM2 - Université Montpellier 2 - Sciences et Techniques - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - Groupe Sup de Co Montpellier (GSCM) - Montpellier Business School)

  • Carlos Larrinaga

    (Universidad de Burgos)

  • Géraldine Rivière-Giordano

    (MRM - Montpellier Research in Management - UM1 - Université Montpellier 1 - UPVM - Université Paul-Valéry - Montpellier 3 - UM2 - Université Montpellier 2 - Sciences et Techniques - UPVD - Université de Perpignan Via Domitia - Groupe Sup de Co Montpellier (GSCM) - Montpellier Business School)

Abstract

Purpose Since the withdrawal of IFRIC 3 in 2005, there has been a regulatory freeze in accounting for emission rights that contrasts with the international momentum of climate-related financial disclosures. This paper explores how different narratives and institutional dynamics explain the failure to produce guidance on accounting for emission rights. Design/methodology/approach This paper mobilises the notion of field-configuring events to examine a sequence of six events between 2003 and 2016, including four public consultations and two dialogues between standard setters. The paper presents a qualitative analysis of documents produced in this space that investigates how different practices and narratives configured the field's positions, agenda, and meaning systems. Findings Accounting for emission rights was gradually decoupled from climate change and carbon markets, relegated to the research pipeline, and forgotten. The obstacles that the IASB and EFRAG found in presenting themselves as central in the recurring events, the excess of representations, and the increasingly technical and abstract debates eroded the 2003 momentum for regulation, making the different initiatives to revitalise the project vulnerable and open to scrutiny. Lukes (2021) refers to nondecision-making to express that some issues are suffocated before they are expressed. Originality/value The regulation of accounting for emission rights, an area that has received scant attention in the literature, provides some insights into the different narrative mechanisms that, materialising in specific times and spaces, draw regulatory attention to particular accounting issues, which are problematised and, eventually, forgotten. This study also illustrates that identifying interests is problematic as actors shift from alternative positions over a long period. The case examined also raises some doubts about the previous effectiveness of international standard setters in dealing with matters of connectivity between the environment and finance, as is the case for accounting for emissions rights.

Suggested Citation

  • Sophie Giordano-Spring & Carlos Larrinaga & Géraldine Rivière-Giordano, 2024. "Field-configuring events and the failure to standardise accounting for carbon emissions," Post-Print hal-04686904, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:journl:hal-04686904
    DOI: 10.1108/AAAJ-07-2022-5946
    Note: View the original document on HAL open archive server: https://hal.science/hal-04686904
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://hal.science/hal-04686904/document
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1108/AAAJ-07-2022-5946?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. Jan Bebbington & Carlos Larrinaga-Gonzalez, 2008. "Carbon Trading: Accounting and Reporting Issues," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(4), pages 697-717.
    2. Jean-Noël Chauvey & Sophie Giordano-Spring & Charles Cho & Dennis Patten, 2015. "The Normativity and Legitimacy of CSR Disclosure: Evidence from France," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 130(4), pages 789-803, September.
    3. Baudot, Lisa & Cooper, David J., 2022. "Regulatory mandates and responses to uncomfortable knowledge: The case of country-by-country reporting in the extractive sector," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    4. Canning, Mary & O’Dwyer, Brendan, 2013. "The dynamics of a regulatory space realignment: Strategic responses in a local context," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 169-194.
    5. Jessica Strefler & Elmar Kriegler & Nico Bauer & Gunnar Luderer & Robert C. Pietzcker & Anastasis Giannousakis & Ottmar Edenhofer, 2021. "Alternative carbon price trajectories can avoid excessive carbon removal," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-8, December.
    6. Himick, Darlene & Brivot, Marion, 2018. "Carriers of ideas in accounting standard-setting and financialization: The role of epistemic communities," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 66(C), pages 29-44.
    7. Young, Joni J., 1994. "Outlining regulatory space: Agenda issues and the FASB," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 83-109, January.
    8. Juliette Senn & Sophie Giordano-Spring, 2020. "The limits of environmental accounting disclosure: enforcement of regulations, standards and interpretative strategies," Post-Print hal-03138508, HAL.
    9. Stenka, Renata, 2022. "Beyond intentionality in accounting regulation: Habitual strategizing by the IASB," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    10. Brendan O'Dwyer & Jeffrey Unerman, 2020. "Shifting the focus of sustainability accounting from impacts to risks and dependencies: researching the transformative potential of TCFD reporting," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 33(5), pages 1113-1141, June.
    11. Hopwood, Anthony G., 2009. "Accounting and the environment," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(3-4), pages 433-439, April.
    12. repec:eme:aaaj00:aaaj-04-2018-3461 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. repec:eme:aaaj00:aaaj-02-2020-4445 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. Juliette Senn & Sophie Giordano-Spring, 2020. "The limits of environmental accounting disclosure: enforcement of regulations, standards and interpretative strategies," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 33(6), pages 1367-1393, June.
    15. repec:eme:aaaj00:aaaj-03-2017-2872 is not listed on IDEAS
    16. Aldrich Howard E, 2011. "Heroes, Villains, and Fools: Institutional Entrepreneurship, NOT Institutional Entrepreneurs," Entrepreneurship Research Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 1(2), pages 1-6, March.
    17. Begoña Giner & Miguel Arce, 2012. "Lobbying on Accounting Standards: Evidence from IFRS 2 on Share-Based Payments," European Accounting Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 21(4), pages 655-691, December.
    18. Robert Charnock & Ian Thomson, 2019. "A Pressing Need to Engage with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change: The Role of SEA Scholars in Syntheses of Social Science Climate Research," Social and Environmental Accountability Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 39(3), pages 192-199, September.
    19. Bernard Colasse & Christine Pochet, 2009. "The Genesis of the 2007 Conseil National de la Comptabilit é: A Case of Institutional Isomorphism?," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(1), pages 25-55, June.
    20. B. Malsch & Y. Gendron & F. Grazzini, 2011. "Investigating interdisciplinary translations: The influence of Pierre Bourdieu on accounting literature," Post-Print halshs-00586846, HAL.
    21. repec:dau:papers:123456789/7513 is not listed on IDEAS
    22. Francisco Ascui & Heather Lovell, 2011. "As frames collide: making sense of carbon accounting," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(8), pages 978-999, October.
    23. Tammar B. Zilber, 2011. "Institutional Multiplicity in Practice: A Tale of Two High-Tech Conferences in Israel," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 22(6), pages 1539-1559, December.
    24. MacKenzie, Donald, 2009. "Making things the same: Gases, emission rights and the politics of carbon markets," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 34(3-4), pages 440-455, April.
    25. Carlos Larrinaga & Jan Bebbington, 2021. "The pre-history of sustainability reporting: a constructivist reading," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 34(9), pages 162-181, May.
    26. Michael Bradbury, 2007. "An Anatomy of an IFRIC Interpretation," Accounting in Europe, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(2), pages 109-122, December.
    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. Durocher, Sylvain & Picard, Claire-France & Dugal, Léa, 2024. "Giving sense to and making sense of OCI: When each component makes sense, but the whole does not," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    2. Cho, Charles H. & Senn, Juliette & Sobkowiak, Madlen, 2022. "Sustainability at stake during COVID-19: Exploring the role of accounting in addressing environmental crises," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    3. Correa, Carmen & Laine, Matias & Larrinaga, Carlos, 2023. "Taking the world seriously: Autonomy, reflexivity and engagement research in social and environmental accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    4. Thereza RS de Aguiar, 2018. "Turning accounting for emissions rights inside out as well as upside down," Environment and Planning C, , vol. 36(1), pages 139-159, February.
    5. Ejiogu, Amanze & Ambituuni, Ambisisi & Ejiogu, Chibuzo, 2021. "Accounting for accounting’s role in the neoliberalization processes of social housing in England: A Bourdieusian perspective," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. Konstantinos Evangelinos & Ioannis Nikolaou & Walter Leal Filho, 2015. "The Effects of Climate Change Policy on the Business Community: A Corporate Environmental Accounting Perspective," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 22(5), pages 257-270, September.
    7. Moore, David R.J., 2011. "Structuration theory: The contribution of Norman Macintosh and its application to emissions trading," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 22(2), pages 212-227.
    8. Stenka, Renata & Jaworska, Sylvia, 2019. "The use of made-up users," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    9. Talbot, David & Boiral, Olivier, 2013. "Can we trust corporates GHG inventories? An investigation among Canada's large final emitters," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 63(C), pages 1075-1085.
    10. Rong He & Le Luo & Abul Shamsuddin & Qingliang Tang, 2022. "Corporate carbon accounting: a literature review of carbon accounting research from the Kyoto Protocol to the Paris Agreement," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(1), pages 261-298, March.
    11. Carmela Gulluscio & Pina Puntillo & Valerio Luciani & Donald Huisingh, 2020. "Climate Change Accounting and Reporting: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-31, July.
    12. Tae Hee Kim & Sun Hye Lee & Petros Vourvachis, 2023. "Accounting Standard-Setting for an Emission Trading Scheme: The Korean Case," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 182(4), pages 1003-1024, February.
    13. Bebbington, Jan & Larrinaga, Carlos, 2014. "Accounting and sustainable development: An exploration," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 395-413.
    14. Lauwo, Sarah & Kyriacou, Orthodoxia & Julius Otusanya, Olatunde, 2020. "When sorry is not an option: CSR reporting and ‘face work’ in a stigmatised industry – A case study of Barrick (Acacia) gold mine in Tanzania," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    15. Le Bot, Corentin & Perrigot, Rozenn & Déjean, Frédérique & Oxibar, Bruno, 2022. "Corporate Social Responsibility in franchise chains: Specificities, insights from French franchise chains’ CSD, and avenues for future research," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    16. Muhammad Azizul Islam & Chris J. Van Staden, 2022. "Modern Slavery Disclosure Regulation and Global Supply Chains: Insights from Stakeholder Narratives on the UK Modern Slavery Act," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 180(2), pages 455-479, October.
    17. Everett, Jeff & Shiraz Rahaman, Abu & Neu, Dean & Saxton, Gregory, 2024. "Letters to the editor, institutional experimentation, and the public accounting professional," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    18. Frank Hartmann & Paolo Perego & Anna Young, 2013. "Carbon Accounting: Challenges for Research in Management Control and Performance Measurement," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 49(4), pages 539-563, December.
    19. Kohler, Hervé & Pochet, Christine & Le Manh, Anne, 2021. "Auditors as intermediaries in the endogenization of an accounting standard: The case of IFRS 15 within the telecom industry," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 91(C).
    20. Binh Bui & Carolyn Fowler, 2022. "Carbon controls in a New Zealand electricity utility: An application of theoretical triangulation," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(4), pages 4423-4451, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Emission rights Accounting regulation IASB Field-configuring events Carbon Paper type Research; Emission rights; Accounting regulation; IASB; Field-configuring events; Carbon Paper type Research;
    All these keywords.

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:hal:journl:hal-04686904. 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: CCSD (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ .

    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.