Corporate activities can only be adjusted and new products and services to fight climate change and other climate impacts of the company be developed successfully if managers have relevant information about carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases. This paper explores the notion of carbon
management accounting - the tools, structures and procedures for managing
carbon related information related to corporate activities.
To help investigate
practice a framework for carbon management accounting is proposed, and the results of interviews with managers in leading German companies about their
carbon accounting practices discussed. Forty interviews were conducted in ten listed German companies which have independently received acknowledgement of their good sustainability reporting and sound sustainability performance.
With their leading sustainability practices, these companies can also be expected to be leaders in the awareness, collection, measurement, reporting, assurance and use of carbon based information. The results from these exploratory case studies show that even in this selected group of leading German companies,
management activities vary considerably in terms of tracking, data keeping and
communication as well as volume, location, and organisation of carbon related information flows. The paper draws on the proposed carbon management accounting framework to support both researchers and practitioners in developing information management systems to meet the needs of corporate carbon management.