IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/crpeac/v66y2020ics1045235418300467.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Fossil fuel reserves and resources reporting and unburnable carbon: Investigating conflicting accounts

Author

Listed:
  • Bebbington, Jan
  • Schneider, Thomas
  • Stevenson, Lorna
  • Fox, Alison

Abstract

This paper investigates fossil fuel reserves and resources disclosures and how they might change in response to global climate change agreements that seek to limit greenhouse gas emissions. On the one hand, it might be expected that fossil fuel firms will be less valuable if their reserves become ‘unburnable’. On the other hand, capital markets currently assign a positive value to fossil fuel reserves and resources. A conundrum, therefore, exists. Given that accounting disclosure rules underpin capital market valuation processes, this setting provides an opportunity to interrogate the functionality of accounting during a time of change. To achieve this goal, a multi-methods investigation has been undertaken; combining a survey of accounting disclosure rules for reserves, identification of accounting disclosures made by fuel firms in several country stock markets, and stock market participants’ views on the extent to which unburnable carbon exists. Using Miller and Power (2013) we identify when and how unburnable carbon could be recognized in corporate reporting.

Suggested Citation

  • Bebbington, Jan & Schneider, Thomas & Stevenson, Lorna & Fox, Alison, 2020. "Fossil fuel reserves and resources reporting and unburnable carbon: Investigating conflicting accounts," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:66:y:2020:i:c:s1045235418300467
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2019.04.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1045235418300467
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.cpa.2019.04.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nasser A. Spear, 1994. "The Stock Market Reaction to the Reserve Quantity Disclosures of U.S. Oil and Gas Producers," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 11(1), pages 381-404, June.
    2. Miller, Peter & Kurunmäki, Liisa & O'Leary, Ted, 2008. "Accounting, hybrids and the management of risk," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 33(7-8), pages 942-967.
    3. Vince Daly & Farid Ullah & Abdur Rauf & Ghulam Yahya Khan, 2017. "Globalization and Unemployment in Pakistan," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 7(7), pages 634-643, July.
    4. Markus Milne & Rob Gray, 2013. "W(h)ither Ecology? The Triple Bottom Line, the Global Reporting Initiative, and Corporate Sustainability Reporting," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 118(1), pages 13-29, November.
    5. Martina K. Linnenluecke & Jac Birt & John Lyon & Baljit K. Sidhu & Kathy Walsh, 2015. "Planetary boundaries: implications for asset impairment," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 55(4), pages 911-929, December.
    6. Busch, Timo & Hoffmann, Volker H., 2007. "Emerging carbon constraints for corporate risk management," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 62(3-4), pages 518-528, May.
    7. Rohaty Mohd Majzub & Azhar Md. Adnan & Sopia Mohd Yassin, 2017. "Global Readiness among Preschools Children in Malaysia," International Journal of Education and Practice, Conscientia Beam, vol. 5(8), pages 118-126.
    8. Howard D. Teall, 1992. "Information content of Canadian oil and gas companies' historic cost earnings and reserves disclosures," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 8(2), pages 561-579, March.
    9. Kjärstad, Jan & Johnsson, Filip, 2009. "Resources and future supply of oil," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(2), pages 441-464, February.
    10. Frederick van der Ploeg, 2016. "Fossil fuel producers under threat," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 32(2), pages 206-222.
    11. Njowa, G. & Clay, A.N. & Musingwini, C., 2014. "A perspective on global harmonisation of major national mineral asset valuation codes," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 1-14.
    12. Faia, Ester & Ottaviano, Gianmarco I. P., 2017. "Global banking: Risk taking and competition," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 83601, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    13. Jan Bebbington & Jason Harrison, 2017. "Global Climate Change Responsiveness in the USA: An Estimation of Population Coverage and Implications for Environmental Accountants," Social and Environmental Accountability Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(2), pages 137-143, May.
    14. Edward Arrington, C. & Francis, Jere R., 1993. "Giving economic accounts: Accounting as cultural practice," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 18(2-3), pages 107-124, April.
    15. Fox, Kenneth A., 2017. "The usefulness of NI 43-101 technical reports for financial analysts," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 225-233.
    16. Grubert, Emily, 2012. "Reserve reporting in the United States coal industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(C), pages 174-184.
    17. Cortese, Corinne L. & Irvine, Helen J. & Kaidonis, Mary A., 2009. "Extractive industries accounting and economic consequences: Past, present and future," Accounting forum, Elsevier, vol. 33(1), pages 27-37.
    18. Robson, Keith, 1991. "On the arenas of accounting change: The process of translation," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 16(5-6), pages 547-570.
    19. Myles R. Allen & David J. Frame & Chris Huntingford & Chris D. Jones & Jason A. Lowe & Malte Meinshausen & Nicolai Meinshausen, 2009. "Warming caused by cumulative carbon emissions towards the trillionth tonne," Nature, Nature, vol. 458(7242), pages 1163-1166, April.
    20. Michael Jakob & Jérôme Hilaire, 2015. "Unburnable fossil-fuel reserves," Nature, Nature, vol. 517(7533), pages 150-151, January.
    21. Griffin, Paul A. & Jaffe, Amy Myers & Lont, David H. & Dominguez-Faus, Rosa, 2015. "Science and the stock market: Investors' recognition of unburnable carbon," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(PA), pages 1-12.
    22. Burchell, Stuart & Clubb, Colin & Hopwood, Anthony G., 1985. "Accounting in its social context: Towards a history of value added in the United Kingdom," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 381-413, October.
    23. Li, Leon, 2017. "Dynamic correlations and domestic-global diversification," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 39(PA), pages 280-290.
    24. Andreas P. J. Schotter & Ram Mudambi & Yves L. Doz & Ajai Gaur, 2017. "Boundary Spanning in Global Organizations," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 54(4), pages 403-421, June.
    25. Luther, Robert, 1996. "The development of accounting regulation in the extractive industries: An international review," The International Journal of Accounting, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 67-93.
    26. Mitchell, John V. & Mitchell, Beth, 2014. "Structural crisis in the oil and gas industry," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 36-42.
    27. Barreiros, Lídia., 1985. "Towards social accounting," ILO Working Papers 992431063402676, International Labour Organization.
    28. Canning, Mary & O’Dwyer, Brendan, 2013. "The dynamics of a regulatory space realignment: Strategic responses in a local context," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 169-194.
    29. Keying Liu & Peng Li & Weizhou Zhong, 2017. "Global Dynamics of Rational Difference Equations and," Discrete Dynamics in Nature and Society, Hindawi, vol. 2017, pages 1-8, May.
    30. Bebbington, Jan & Larrinaga, Carlos, 2014. "Accounting and sustainable development: An exploration," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 395-413.
    31. Vince Daly & Farid Ullah & Abdur Rauf & Ghulam Yahya Khan, 2017. "Globalization and Unemployment in Pakistan," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 7(7), pages 634-643.
    32. Williams, Michael A. & Baek, Grace & Li, Yiyang & Park, Leslie Y. & Zhao, Wei, 2017. "Global evidence on the distribution of GDP growth rates," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 468(C), pages 750-758.
    33. Justin Ritchie & Hadi Dowlatabadi, 2015. "Divest from the Carbon Bubble? Reviewing the Implications and Limitations of Fossil Fuel Divestment for Institutional Investors," Review of Economics & Finance, Better Advances Press, Canada, vol. 5, pages 59-80, May.
    34. Amy Myers Jaffe, 2016. "The role of the US in the geopolitics of climate policy and stranded oil reserves," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 1(10), pages 1-4, October.
    35. Gregory Waymire & Sudipta Basu, 2011. "Economic crisis and accounting evolution," Accounting and Business Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(3), pages 207-232, August.
    36. Owen, Nick A. & Inderwildi, Oliver R. & King, David A., 2010. "The status of conventional world oil reserves--Hype or cause for concern?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(8), pages 4743-4749, August.
    37. Julie Ayling & Neil Gunningham, 2017. "Non-state governance and climate policy: the fossil fuel divestment movement," Climate Policy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 131-149, February.
    38. Thomas Schneider & Giovanna Michelon & Michael Maier, 2017. "Environmental liabilities and diversity in practice under international financial reporting standards," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 30(2), pages 378-403, February.
    39. Batten,, Sandra & Sowerbutts, Rhiannon & Tanaka, Misa, 2016. "Let’s talk about the weather: the impact of climate change on central banks," Bank of England working papers 603, Bank of England.
    40. Corinne L. Cortese & Helen J. Irvine & Mary A. Kaidonis, 2009. "Extractive industries accounting and economic consequences: Past, present and future," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 33(1), pages 27-37, March.
    41. Robson, Keith, 1992. "Accounting numbers as "inscription": Action at a distance and the development of accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 17(7), pages 685-708, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chris A. Kelsall, 2020. "Ecological Management Accounting—Taking into Account Sustainability, Does Accounting Have Far to Travel?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-20, October.
    2. Delphine Gibassier & Giovanna Michelon & Mélodie Cartel, 2020. "The future of carbon accounting research: “we’ve pissed mother nature off, big time”," Post-Print hal-02810507, HAL.
    3. Murat Danisman & Erkut Akkartal, 2023. "Defining a New Business Model for Sustainable Biomass Production from Forestry Residues in T rkiye by Using TRIZ," International Journal of Energy Economics and Policy, Econjournals, vol. 13(3), pages 243-253, May.
    4. Ali Uyar & Simone Pizzi & Fabio Caputo & Cemil Kuzey & Abdullah S. Karaman, 2022. "Do shareholders reward or punish risky firms due to CSR reporting and assurance?," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(5), pages 1596-1620, July.
    5. Martínez-Martínez, Domingo & Rodríguez Castro, Paula Isabel & Andrades Peña, Francisco Javier & Sierra Blanco, Jesús, 2024. "The Sustainable Development Goals and Large Spanish Companies: An analysis of their commitment based on their Non-Financial Reporting," Cuadernos de Gestión, Universidad del País Vasco - Instituto de Economía Aplicada a la Empresa (IEAE).
    6. Diaz-Rainey, Ivan & Gehricke, Sebastian A. & Roberts, Helen & Zhang, Renzhu, 2021. "Trump vs. Paris: The impact of climate policy on U.S. listed oil and gas firm returns and volatility," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 76(C).
    7. Fox, Kenneth A. & Lefsrud, Lianne M., 2021. "The ecology of regulatory change: The security and exchange commission’s modernization of oil and gas reserves reporting," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    8. Andrew, Jane & Baker, Max & Huang, Casey, 2023. "Data breaches in the age of surveillance capitalism: Do disclosures have a new role to play?," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    9. Aresu, Simone & Monfardini, Patrizio, 2023. "Oppressed by consumerism: The emancipatory role of household accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    10. Vicknair, David & Tansey, Michael & O'Brien, Thomas E., 2022. "Measuring fossil fuel reserves: A simulation and review of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approach," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    11. Larrinaga, Carlos & Garcia-Torea, Nicolas, 2022. "An ecological critique of accounting: The circular economy and COVID-19," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sidney J. Gray & Niclas Hellman & Mariya N. Ivanova, 2019. "Extractive Industries Reporting: A Review of Accounting Challenges and the Research Literature," Abacus, Accounting Foundation, University of Sydney, vol. 55(1), pages 42-91, March.
    2. Tega Anighoro, 2020. "Value relevance of the components of oil and gas reserve quantity change disclosures of upstream oil and gas companies in the london stock exchange," Papers 2005.14659, arXiv.org.
    3. Power, Sean Bradley & Cleary, Peter & Donnelly, Ray, 2017. "Accounting in the London Stock Exchange's extractive industry: The effect of policy diversity on the value relevance of exploration-related disclosures," The British Accounting Review, Elsevier, vol. 49(6), pages 545-559.
    4. Power, Michael, 2015. "How accounting begins: Object formation and the accretion of infrastructure," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 47(C), pages 43-55.
    5. Nhu Tuyên Le, 2009. "Liens Entre Comptabilite Et Systeme Economique : La Transition Vietnamienne," Grenoble Ecole de Management (Post-Print) halshs-00460227, HAL.
    6. Llewellyn, Sue & Northcott, Deryl, 2005. "The average hospital," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 30(6), pages 555-583, August.
    7. Shimbar, A., 2021. "Environment-related stranded assets: An agenda for research into value destruction within carbon-intensive sectors in response to environmental concerns," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    8. C. Richard Baker, 1999. "L'Influence Des Savants Français Sur La Recherche Comptable Anglo-Saxonne," Post-Print halshs-00587746, HAL.
    9. Nhu Tuyên Le, 2009. "Liens Entre Comptabilite Et Systeme Economique : La Transition Vietnamienne," Post-Print halshs-00460227, HAL.
    10. Napier, Christopher J., 2006. "Accounts of change: 30 years of historical accounting research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 31(4-5), pages 445-507.
    11. Dorthe Windeck & Jürgen Weber & Erik Strauss, 2015. "Enrolling managers to accept the business partner: the role of boundary objects," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 19(3), pages 617-653, August.
    12. Robson, Keith & Bottausci, Chiara, 2018. "The sociology of translation and accounting inscriptions: Reflections on Latour and Accounting Research," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 60-75.
    13. Massimo Sargiacomo & Luca Ianni & Antonio D'Andreamatteo, 2014. "Contabilit? e Governo dell?Economia Agricola della Nazione: Arrigo Serpieri e la Riforma dei Consorzi di Bonifica," CONTABILIT? E CULTURA AZIENDALE, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2014(1), pages 85-111.
    14. Trinks, Arjan & Scholtens, Bert & Mulder, Machiel & Dam, Lammertjan, 2017. "Divesting Fossil Fuels: The Implications for Investment Portfolios," MPRA Paper 76383, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Lise Justesen & Jan Mouritsen, 2011. "Effects of actor‐network theory in accounting research," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 24(2), pages 161-193, February.
    16. Bigoni, Michele & Funnell, Warwick, 2015. "Ancestors of governmentality: Accounting and pastoral power in the 15th century," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 27(C), pages 160-176.
    17. Matias Laine, 2009. "Ensuring legitimacy through rhetorical changes?," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 22(7), pages 1029-1054, September.
    18. Hayoun, Shaul, 2019. "How fair value is both market-based and entity-specific: The irreducibility of value constellations to market prices," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 68-82.
    19. Linnenluecke, Martina K. & Smith, Tom & McKnight, Brent, 2016. "Environmental finance: A research agenda for interdisciplinary finance research," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 124-130.
    20. Sen, Suphi & von Schickfus, Marie-Theres, 2020. "Climate policy, stranded assets, and investors’ expectations," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:66:y:2020:i:c:s1045235418300467. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.journals.elsevier.com/critical-perspectives-on-accounting/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.