Friday, March 28, 2014

The Need For Environmental Accounting Standards

Firms like Exxon are beginning to provide information to investors about material risks to their business from the effects of global warming.  This article reports on other efforts by investors to demand more clarity on the risks to their business as well as information of their efforts to reduce carbon emissions.  The quality of the information that is being reported varies a great deal.  This suggests a need for standard accounting principles that will provide the information needed by investors.

Thus far, more pressure is being put on public corporations by investors.  One the firms that provides information to investors on environmental risks is Arjuna Capital.  The person heading up this effort at Arjuna is graduate of an MBA program that specializes in sustainable business development (Bainbridge Graduate Institute).  The movement of more MBA programs into sustainable development is bound to have an impact on how businesses report on the environmental risks that they face and the programs that they have to reduce carbon emissions.

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