ABSTRACT
A literature is emerging that links concerns from the science and policy world with respect to concentrations of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere with management and accounting practices. While scientifi c concerns about global climate change (hereafter GCC) have been in play for some decades, 1 more recently there has been sustained engagement with these concerns by many nation states as well as supra-national bodies (such as the United Nations and the European Union). This has led to a variety of governance mechanisms (of varying levels of formality) aimed at mitigating GHG emissions 2 as well as providing support for adapting to changes that are likely to be forthcoming due to past emissions. Many of these governance mechanisms have salience for organizations, for management activities as well as reporting routines and are hence of interest to accounting researchers. It is these areas that the chapter will focus on as it maps the terrain on which the accounting literature has focused as a way to orientate readers of this book to this rapidly emerging fi eld. The chapter is not a full review of each paper and all the various issues discussed. Rather, the chapter seeks to map the fi eld to allow existing and new literature to be placed in a context. It is also the case that any ‘conclusions’ from the existing literature would be premature given the scope of the subject area and the amount of research conducted to date – much of which has only recently emerged. The chapter also suggests some underlying conceptual themes that emerge in this area and which are intimately related to our broader understanding of accounting technologies. In this way, accounting for carbon 3 might provide a new context in which to better understand accounting and reporting and their roles in regimes of governance.
