From the Brundtland Report to the Global Reporting Initiative

Renée Palmer, Gordon Boyce and Glen Lehman

Chapter 7 in Handbook of Critical Environmental Accountability and Sustainability, 2026, pp 104-118 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter critically examines humanity's fundamental understanding of the world and its impact on environmental accounting. It examines the dominant view that people's understanding and engagement with the world depend (solely) on human mental representations, thereby limiting humanity's accounting and accountability systems. The chapter argues that considerable benefits are due to engaging in more profound philosophies and analysing the type outlined in this chapter and the Handbook. It is argued that many benefits accrue from exploring the connections between humanity and Nature in a deeper environmental accountability framework. This involves examining how businesses have taken a stakeholder approach, preferring to side-step critical issues about the land's carrying capacity, relationships between nation-states, and whether limits to growth exist. Such an exploration will help society to avoid becoming disengaged and detached from Nature.

Keywords: Taylor; Environmentalism; Theism; Background; Ontological; Pictures; The World (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781802201765
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