IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/crpeac/v82y2022ics1045235421000393.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

An ecological critique of accounting: The circular economy and COVID-19

Author

Listed:
  • Larrinaga, Carlos
  • Garcia-Torea, Nicolas

Abstract

Given the increasing participation of accounting technologies in purported solutions to deal with the ecological crisis, we address two areas where a growing accounting literature is emerging, the circular economy and the COVID-19 pandemic, testing some ideas to inform an ecological critique of accounting that could help us ward off the “dreams of escaping” (Latour, 2018). We suggest that the conceptual separation between nature and society renders accounting for the circular economy and the COVID-19 pandemic problematic. A critical account of the circular economy might problematize things like the whole economic system’s physical scale, spatial and temporal system boundaries, consumer culture, and the inherent politics of the circular economy. We also suggest that a critical account of the COVID-19 pandemic needs to take on board the participation of accounting representations in the construction of particular narratives about the virus. In particular, calculations of the costs caused by COVID-19 need to be connected to the ecological value of viruses to illustrate how the social and the biological worlds are inextricably connected. In both cases, we suggest critical accounting researchers need to be actively involved in discussions about how valuation constructs narratives about resource or waste, with significant implications on how we conceive the relationship between humanity and the environment.

Suggested Citation

  • 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).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:crpeac:v:82:y:2022:i:c:s1045235421000393
    DOI: 10.1016/j.cpa.2021.102320
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1045235421000393
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.cpa.2021.102320?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. van den Bergh, J.C.J.M. & Botzen, W.J.W., 2015. "Monetary valuation of the social cost of CO2 emissions: A critical survey," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 33-46.
    2. Menton, Mary & Milanez, Felipe & Souza, Jurema Machado de Andrade & Cruz, Felipe Sotto Maior, 2021. "The COVID-19 pandemic intensified resource conflicts and indigenous resistance in Brazil," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    3. Cooper, David J. & Sherer, Michael J., 1984. "The value of corporate accounting reports: Arguments for a political economy of accounting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 9(3-4), pages 207-232, October.
    4. Mauricio Marrone & Martina K. Linnenluecke & Grant Richardson & Tom Smith, 2020. "Trends in environmental accounting research within and outside of the accounting discipline," Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 33(8), pages 2167-2193, September.
    5. Cho, Charles H. & Laine, Matias & Roberts, Robin W. & Rodrigue, Michelle, 2015. "Organized hypocrisy, organizational façades, and sustainability reporting," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 78-94.
    6. Robin Naidoo & Brendan Fisher, 2020. "Reset Sustainable Development Goals for a pandemic world," Nature, Nature, vol. 583(7815), pages 198-201, July.
    7. Mark Anthony Camilleri, 2020. "European environment policy for the circular economy: Implications for business and industry stakeholders," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(6), pages 1804-1812, November.
    8. Corinne Le Quéré & Robert B. Jackson & Matthew W. Jones & Adam J. P. Smith & Sam Abernethy & Robbie M. Andrew & Anthony J. De-Gol & David R. Willis & Yuli Shan & Josep G. Canadell & Pierre Friedlingst, 2020. "Temporary reduction in daily global CO2 emissions during the COVID-19 forced confinement," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 10(7), pages 647-653, July.
    9. Bebbington, Jan & Russell, Shona & Thomson, Ian, 2017. "Accounting and sustainable development: Reflections and propositions," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 21-34.
    10. Jane Andrew, 2000. "The accounting craft and the environmental crisis: reconsidering environmental ethics," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 24(2), pages 197-222, June.
    11. 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).
    12. Johan Rockström & Will Steffen & Kevin Noone & Åsa Persson & F. Stuart Chapin & Eric F. Lambin & Timothy M. Lenton & Marten Scheffer & Carl Folke & Hans Joachim Schellnhuber & Björn Nykvist & Cynthia , 2009. "A safe operating space for humanity," Nature, Nature, vol. 461(7263), pages 472-475, September.
    13. Bebbington, Jan & Larrinaga, Carlos, 2014. "Accounting and sustainable development: An exploration," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 395-413.
    14. Korhonen, Jouni & Honkasalo, Antero & Seppälä, Jyri, 2018. "Circular Economy: The Concept and its Limitations," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 37-46.
    15. Steven J. Lade & Will Steffen & Wim Vries & Stephen R. Carpenter & Jonathan F. Donges & Dieter Gerten & Holger Hoff & Tim Newbold & Katherine Richardson & Johan Rockström, 2020. "Human impacts on planetary boundaries amplified by Earth system interactions," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 3(2), pages 119-128, February.
    16. Clube, Rebecca K.M. & Tennant, Mike, 2020. "The Circular Economy and human needs satisfaction: Promising the radical, delivering the familiar," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 177(C).
    17. Piotr Skórka & Beata Grzywacz & Dawid Moroń & Magdalena Lenda, 2020. "The macroecology of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Anthropocene," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 15(7), pages 1-17, July.
    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. Gómez-Villegas, Mauricio & Larrinaga, Carlos, 2023. "A critical accounting project for Latin America? Objects of knowledge or ways of knowing," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    2. Jill Atkins & Federica Doni & Andrea Gasperini & Sonia Artuso & Ilaria Torre & Lorena Sorrentino, 2023. "Exploring the Effectiveness of Sustainability Measurement: Which ESG Metrics Will Survive COVID-19?," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 185(3), pages 629-646, July.

    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. Rodrigue, Michelle & Romi, Andrea M., 2022. "Environmental escalations to social inequities: Some reflections on the tumultuous state of Gaia," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    2. Cho, Charles H. & Senn, Juliette & Sobkowiak, Madlen, 2022. "Sustainability at stake during COVID-19: Exploring the role of accounting in addressing environmental crises," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    3. Katja Beyer & Marlen Gabriele Arnold, 2022. "Social sustainability in an evolving circular fashion industry: identifying and triangulating concepts across different publication groups [Soziale Nachhaltigkeit in einer sich entwickelnden zirkul," NachhaltigkeitsManagementForum | Sustainability Management Forum, Springer, vol. 30(1), pages 29-54, December.
    4. D. D’Amato, 2021. "Sustainability Narratives as Transformative Solution Pathways: Zooming in on the Circular Economy," Circular Economy and Sustainability,, Springer.
    5. Björn Mestdagh & Olivier Sempiga & Luc Van Liedekerke, 2023. "The Impact of External Shocks on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): Linking the COVID-19 Pandemic to SDG Implementation at the Local Government Level," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-18, April.
    6. Gebara, C.H. & Laurent, A., 2023. "National SDG-7 performance assessment to support achieving sustainable energy for all within planetary limits," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    7. Zhang Yu & Muhammad Umar & S. Abdul Rehman, 2022. "Adoption of technological innovation and recycling practices in automobile sector: under the Covid-19 pandemic," Operations Management Research, Springer, vol. 15(1), pages 298-306, June.
    8. Buchs, Arnaud & Calvo-Mendieta, Iratxe & Petit, Olivier & Roman, Philippe, 2021. "Challenging the ecological economics of water: Social and political perspectives," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    9. Nicolas Garcia‐Torea & Belen Fernandez‐Feijoo & Marta De La Cuesta, 2020. "CSR reporting communication: Defective reporting models or misapplication?," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 27(2), pages 952-968, March.
    10. Rashieda Davids & Pauline Scheelbeek & Nafiisa Sobratee & Rosemary Green & Barbara Häesler & Tafadzwanashe Mabhaudhi & Suparna Chatterjee & Nikhil Srinivasapura Venkateshmurthy & Georgina Mace & Alan , 2021. "Towards the Three Dimensions of Sustainability for International Research Team Collaboration: Learnings from the Sustainable and Healthy Food Systems Research Programme," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-24, November.
    11. Lee Roberts & Monomita Nandy & Abeer Hassan & Suman Lodh & Ahmed A. Elamer, 2022. "Corporate Accountability Towards Species Extinction Protection: Insights from Ecologically Forward-Thinking Companies," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(3), pages 571-595, July.
    12. 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.
    13. Reilley, Jacob & Löhlein, Lukas, 2023. "Theorizing (and) the future of interdisciplinary accounting research," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 93(C).
    14. Vinnari, Eija & Laine, Matias, 2017. "The moral mechanism of counter accounts: The case of industrial animal production," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 1-17.
    15. Aresu, Simone & Monfardini, Patrizio, 2023. "Oppressed by consumerism: The emancipatory role of household accounting," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    16. Klarissa Lueg & Rainer Lueg, 2021. "Deconstructing corporate sustainability narratives: A taxonomy for critical assessment of integrated reporting types," Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 28(6), pages 1785-1800, November.
    17. Wenwu Zhao & Caichun Yin & Ting Hua & Michael E. Meadows & Yan Li & Yanxu Liu & Francesco Cherubini & Paulo Pereira & Bojie Fu, 2022. "Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in the post-pandemic era," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 9(1), pages 1-7, December.
    18. Ana de Jesus & Minna Lammi & Teresa Domenech & Fedra Vanhuyse & Sandro Mendonça, 2021. "Eco-Innovation Diversity in a Circular Economy: Towards Circular Innovation Studies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-22, October.
    19. Sourabh Jain & Jury Gualandris, 2023. "When does upcycling mitigate climate change? The case of wet spent grains and fruit and vegetable residues in Canada," Journal of Industrial Ecology, Yale University, vol. 27(2), pages 522-534, April.
    20. Pei‐Chi Kelly Hsiao & Charl de Villiers & Claire Horner & Hein Oosthuizen, 2022. "A review and synthesis of contemporary sustainability accounting research and the development of a research agenda," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 62(4), pages 4453-4483, December.

    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:82:y:2022:i:c:s1045235421000393. 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.