Enablers and Barriers to Corporate Blue Accounting Disclosure Adoption: A Scoping Review

Blue accounting has emerged as a reporting approach to enhance corporate transparency and responsible stewardship of marine ecosystems. This aligns particularly with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14; however, its conceptual development and practical adoption remain uneven. This scoping review synthesises existing evidence on the enablers and barriers (determinants) influencing corporate blue accounting disclosure practices. Guided by Arksey and O’Malley’s five-stage framework, a structured search of Scopus, ScienceDirect, Wiley, and Google Scholar was conducted for peer-reviewed English-language studies published up to October 2025. Of 109 records identified, 19 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the thematic analysis. The findings indicate that corporate blue accounting disclosure practices are primarily driven by stakeholder and investor pressure, climate accountability commitments, reputational considerations, competitive positioning, and alignment with global sustainability agendas. Key barriers include the absence of standardised reporting frameworks, limited regulatory mandates, technical gaps, institutional capacity constraints, and the risk of symbolic disclosure (“blue-washing”). Together, these findings highlight that the adoption of blue accounting disclosure practices is shaped by a combination of enablers and barriers (determinants). Overall, the evidence suggests that blue accounting practices remain largely voluntary and lack consistency and comparability. Advancing uniform standards, clearer regulatory guidance, and organisational capacity development are necessary to strengthen the credibility and substantive contribution of corporate marine-related disclosures.