Corporate carbon emission statements

Stefan Reichelstein

No 22-052, ZEW Discussion Papers from ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research

Abstract: Current corporate disclosures regarding carbon emissions lack commonly accepted accounting rules. The accrual accounting system for carbon emissions described here is grounded in the rules of historical cost accounting for operating assets, enabling the preparation of balance sheets and flow statements. The asset side of the 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 cradle-to-gate carbon footprint of goods sold during the current period. Taken together, balance sheets and flow statements generate multiple indicators of a company's past, current and future performance with regard to carbon emissions.

JEL-codes: M41 M48 Q53 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-acc, nep-ene and nep-env
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:zewdip:22052

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