Summary

There is a need to achieve sustainability through development of economies and companies that operate in the safe operating space of planetary boundaries and contribute to achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. This requires that decision makers are informed about the state of the natural environment, the environmental impacts being caused, and the effectiveness of improvement measures. Environmental accounting focuses on such environmental issues. It informs decision makers about combined environmental and economic matters and supports improvement processes. Environmental accounts at the national and regional macro level are mostly focused on the environmental condition and changes in condition over time. In contrast, company environmental accounting at the micro level either focuses on reporting on the overall impact in the past, providing detailed internal information for managers to address key problem areas, or identifying aspects for improvement. Transdisciplinary research helps to address the economic and management challenge of linking company-related micro level accounts and activities with macro level environmental objectives.