Environmental Accounting and Reporting Practices among Indian Corporates

Responsibility towards environment has become one of the most crucial areas of social responsibility. Recent years have witnessed rising concern for environmental degradation, which is taking place mainly in the form of pollution of various types, viz. air, water, sound, soil erosion, deforestation, etc. Even though Indian corporates comply with the rules and regulations with regard to environmental protection, till now no clear cut policies are framed and formulated at the National, State or even at the company level, for ensuring the level of compliance to environmental norms. This study was intended to find out the major environmental parameters reported by Indian Corporates as part of their Environmental reporting practice. The study also focused on the extent to which Indian Corporates practice, voluntary environmental reporting with regard to the environmental parameters identified. The study developed a model which specifies six aspects to be covered in environmental accounting in order to measure the ultimate environmental performance of the organisation. The aim of this model is to present a novel view of the different activities to be undertaken by organizations to facilitate environmental accounting and reporting.