TOPIC
Research on Environmental Management Accounting within the “Fabrik der Zukunft” Subprogram
In order to promote the restructuring process towards sustainable development, the Austrian Ministry of Transport, Innovation and Technology (bmvit) initiated, in 1999, the research and technology program “Nachhaltig Wirtschaften”. It has since supported numerous research and development projects as well as demonstration and diffusion measures implemented within the scope of several subprograms, which provide significant innovative impetus for Austria’s economy.
The subprogram “Fabrik der Zukunft” (“Factory of Tomorrow”) aims to initiate and realize innovative technology development in Austria, which should demonstrate, by means of concrete examples, the feasibility of a sustainable economy. Therefore, the program focuses especially on projects that, using a comprehensive strategy can be further developed to result in demonstration and model projects or to contribute to such a development. Suitable examples could be innovative manufacturing processes, trend-setting products, or model enterprises. The necessary innovative development should be achieved in the fields “sustainable technologies and innovation in production processes”, “use of renewable raw materials”, and “products and services”.
A great number of successful developments in this field have shown that the objectives of sustainability and the economic success of an enterprise do not contradict each other. Eco-efficiency is an important entrepreneurial concern that also benefits the enterprise and, in the long run, increases its value.
The concept of sustainable development requires managerial strategies that also take account of economic, social, and ecological aspects. For this purpose, an organization will need environmental management and environmental accounting systems that provide an integrated perspective of the monetary and material aspects of all environment-relevant activities of the organization. Conventional accounting and cost accounting systems do not yield a comprehensive picture of the performance of or the environmental costs accruing for an enterprise in the fields of health/safety. Today´s decision makers are rarely able to link environmental data and economic variables and therefore urgently need information on real safety and environmental costs attributable to the activities of an enterprise. The economic value of existing human or environmental resources and assets as well as the economic benefits of a first-rate safety and environmental performance for the enterprise have not yet been sufficiently understood in many organizations and, consequently, have not been integrated in the decision making process. For this reason, existing potentials for greater efficiency are not being sufficiently used. The projects below were supported by the bmvit and were concerned with “Environmental Accounting Systems” and “Integrated Management”; they may be considered models for the development of specifications used in tender documents within the scope of the “Fabrik der Zukunft” subprogram.
Workbook on Environmental Mangement Accounting
Metrics, Procedures and Principles
Christine Jasch, IÖW Institut für ökologische Wirtschaftsforschung, Wien 2001
This study was conducted by a working group on EMA-Environmental Management Accounting within the UN Commission for Sustainable Development (UN CSD). The study´s aim was to establish globally applicable definitions and principles as well as methods and approaches in the field of environmental cost accounting systems, in particular with a view to establishing annual environmental costs and expenditures.
EMA – Environmental Management Accounting
Pilottesting
Christine Jasch, IÖW und Hans Schnitzer, Institut für Verfahrenstechnik, TU Graz, Wien 2002
A number of case studies conducted within the scope of the bmvit “Fabrik der Zukunft” subprogram were to supplement the abovementioned international research project. These pilot projects did not aim to ascertain environmental costs in detail, but rather to critically analyze the need for development in existing information systems with the objective to provide an improved basis for decision making in material flow management.
Integriertes Management – Kosten-/Nutzencheck
eco4ward, H. Dimitroff-Regatschnig; Denkstatt, C. Plas; ÖAF/WIPÄD-KFU, D. Mandl, M. Trummer, Graz 2002
This project aimed to develop a tool (especially for small and medium-sized enterprises – SMEs) permitting to quickly ascertain costs, benefits, and saving potentials in the fields of safety/health, environment, and quality assurance. Researchers participating in the project used a holistic approach linked the managerial activities performed in these three fields to form one comprehensive system of integrated management.
