Environmental accounting: accounting as instrumental or emancipatory discourse

Renée Palmer, Andrea Brunt and Glen Lehman

Chapter 16 in Handbook of Critical Environmental Accountability and Sustainability, 2026, pp 233-248 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Using social ecological theory, the chapter examines the ideas and values on which the original social and environmental accounting research (SEAR) was based. The central argument is that the EAR, SEA, and SEAR can be developed using broader definitions of Nature. Have the instrumental tendencies undermined the project's original aim of aligning communities and businesses with the natural environment? Using social ecology, new ideas evolve to create admirable values. This chapter revisits Marx's work on Nature to: (1) establish that accounting for Nature's value is integral to a good society; (2) argue that the environment involves dialectical relationships; and (3) argue that accounting can contribute towards developing a closer and what Milne and Gray refer to as a more transparent society.

Keywords: Marx; Nature; Environmental Accounting; Milne; Gray; Critical Accounting (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781802201765
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