Accounting and Assessment
Sustainability Accounting in Today's Business World: Valuation and Prospects View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Vera Arrebola Granes
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) and Sustainability Accounting (SA) are topics that have recently started to be in stakeholders’ minds. The main reason is because concerns about climate change, environmental issues and the role that companies are playing on it have increased worldwide. The main question is not if companies are part of the problem; we all have already assumed that everyone, including big and small companies contribute to the problem. The main question is if companies are willing to take action into trying to solve the problem and/or decrease the damage they are causing. In the last decade, more companies have been including sustainability reports and goals in their business plan. However, this is not enough since data is usually inaccurate, misleading and or inexistent. Here is where Sustainability Accounting must play an important role in fixing the problem related to reporting, contrasting and controlling that companies are actually being transparent about their sustainability performance. Currently, there is not an international body that has neither established nor enforced definitions, common practices, measurements and rules for Sustainability Accounting. The main purpose of this thesis is to find out the issues that are stopping Sustainability Accounting from being a huge part of reporting and the advantages both companies and their stakeholders would benefit from engaging in better Sustainability Accounting reporting. It is finally time we use all our resources and knowledge to improve the way we report and disclose sustainability performance.
Sustainable Business Model: Implementation and Challenges in Manufacturing Benefit Corporations
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Miriam Borchardt, Marcela Soares, Renata Bianchi, Giancarlo Pereira, Gabriel Sperandio Milan, Ronald Weber Kirst
An enterprise´s perspective centered primarily on profit is insufficient for surplus challenges related to climate change and social and income inequalities. Conscious of their role in the Sustainable Development Goals, some enterprises modify their business models to align them with sustainable principles. It means that a sustainable business model considers more than customers as the target of value exchange. The environment, society, suppliers, and other stakeholders are part of the value cycle and must be positively impacted by the value exchange. This study analyzes how enterprises have implemented a sustainable business model. A multiple case study was performed with 14 Brazil manufacturing B Corps (Benefit Corporations). A framework for a sustainable business model was proposed. This study contributes to the literature by indicating that long-term planning, commitment to sustainability expressed by the mission, technological innovation, redesign of the value chain, redefinition of each actor's role, and monitoring and improving the results are the main success factors. Also, it contributes by identifying that the studied enterprises need to compete by differentiation and face challenges in escalating the business due to this focus on specific groups of customers that value sustainable products and services. From the managerial perspective, it means that a sustainable business model requires resilience, amplifying the partnership and communication with all stakeholders to reinforce the role of each one in the value chain.
Climate Change Vulnerability Indicators for Small Island Developing States : Selection Through the Fuzzy Delphi Method Using the Case of Mauritius View Digital Media
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Emilie Davantin, Roshan Unmar, Satyadev Rosunee
Explicit demands from the UN and growing policy interests have recently boasted the development of vulnerability indices for Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Selection of indicators varies across vulnerability assessments and rarely includes the stakeholders of interest, the small island dwellers. Moreover, few studies have focused on climate change, a fundamental battle for SIDS in the international arena. Thus, this study establishes a set of indicators to assess the vulnerability of SIDS to climate change by investigating the case of Mauritius. An adapted framework is adopted to express vulnerability in terms of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity, as mentioned in IPCC reports. Relevance of available indicators was evaluated by local experts and stakeholders through the Fuzzy Delphi Method. Combined statistical criteria were employed to select indicators. Out of 74 pre-selected indicators identified in literature, 31 were marked as relevant to the topic as they satisfied all criteria. The results reveal that most climate change and hazards and extreme events indicators were naturally retained. Economic indicators, generally, weighted strongly a contrario of international politics indicators. Finally, physical smallness as an inherent factor of vulnerability was confirmed. The findings suggest a lack of consensus on socio-economic and environmental indicators among stakeholders as the selection was sparser in these fields. The proposed approach captured the expertise of stakeholders while reducing uncertainty of their judgements and providing traceability. Although many indicators are useful, the number of indicators can be reduced or increased through this method upon the context of decision-makers and SIDS of interest.
