Literature review on standards for the measurement of the environmental impact

  • Typ:Bachelorarbeit
  • Betreuung:

    Niklas Letmathe

  • Zusatzfeld:

    intern

  • Management accounting and the pathway to a sustainable economy are intertwined, both on an individual company level and for the economy as a whole. For a company to lead the shift to more sustainable practices, it needs to identify, assess, and implement opportunities for more sustainable processes and products. This is where management accounting can help! Against this background we propose the following final thesis project:
    Literature review on standards for the measurement of the environmental impact – You will explore the current state of the literature related to the measurement of the environmental impact of products, processes, and products through a structured and systematic literature review. The sources for this review also include documents on standards. This is relevant because as more focus is placed on the environmental impact and CO2 footprint of companies and products, specific techniques to measure this impact comprehensively become crucial as tools to help facilitate improvements. For the implementation of these techniques, standards for measuring the impact (such as ISO 14051 for MFCA) and methods under development are necessary. Over the course of this project, you will learn about methods and standards to measure environmental impact, how this measurement can help to reduce this impact, how to help companies implement accurate measurements of their emissions, and about the current advancements and future research opportunities in this field.


    The following literature can give you a good starting point to begin your research:


    - Christ, K. L., & Burritt, R. L. (2015). Material flow cost accounting: a review and agenda for future research. Journal of Cleaner Production, 108, 1378-1389.


    - Christ, K. L., & Burritt, R. L. (2016). ISO 14051: A new era for MFCA implementation and research. Revista de contabilidad, 19(1), 1-9. Finnveden, G., Hauschild, M. Z., Ekvall, T., Guinée, J., Heijungs, R.,


    - Freiberg, D., Park, D. G., Serafeim, G., & Zochowski, R. (2021). Corporate environmental impact: measurement, data and information. Harvard Business School Accounting & Management Unit Working Paper, (20-098).