Ecological accounting

The ecological bookkeeping is an evaluation-oriented ecological information and control instrument developed by the Swiss environmental technician Ruedi Müller-Wenk (1934-2019) for the systematic recording and evaluation of all quantitative and value-related types of environmental pollution by a company. The aim is to sensitize the company to the effects of the product and the production process on the environment in order to reduce ecological pollution of all kinds.

Load types

The following types of load are taken into account:

Resource consumption: that go beyond the natural reproduction of these resources; which concern foreseeable scarce resources; the extraction of which affects the biosphere or its foundations.
Use of produced raw materials, consumables and supplies,: the production of which is associated with the consumption of resources; the production of which is associated with the emission or the risk of the emission of harmful substances .
Emissions of solid, liquid and gaseous pollutants to the natural environment: (Soil, water, air) in connection with the operational production process in normal cases and the risk of such emissions in the event of an accident
Supply and disposal aspect: Products and their packaging according to their environmental impact during their use and consumption
Investments: Investments and expenses of the company to reduce or eliminate the environmental pollution

All essential environmental influences are measured and assigned to the account classes with their respective physical units of measurement. There is a division into ecologically relevant pollution and relief of the environment. The following account classes are taken into account:

Burdens in the company: Material consumption; solid waste; gaseous and dusty waste; power consumption; sewage; Waste heat; Denaturalization of soil

Exposure to average use and disposal of finished products in households: solid waste; gaseous and dusty waste; power consumption; sewage; Waste heat

Reliefs: Material deliveries (only to be understood as a correction item in order not to record material consumption twice)

Measurement and calculation methods

These account classes can be further broken down into sub- accounts according to specifically named environmental impacts . In order to make the amounts booked on the individual accounts comparable, they are multiplied by so-called equivalence coefficients (AeK). These equivalence coefficients mark the degree of ecological scarcity of a raw material and are a central element of ecological accounting. However, there is no uniform calculation rule, as the basic approach of ecological scarcity can be expanded as required (e.g. geographical reference, temporal reference). By multiplying a measured amount with the corresponding calculated AeK, one obtains a key figure for ecological impacts expressed in units of account (RE) . The sum of all measurement figures across all types of pollution quantifies the company's overall impact on the natural environment during a period of observation. As with traditional bookkeeping, ecological bookkeeping can be done continuously.

criticism

In practice, the informative value of ecological accounting is characterized by serious problems. The main reason for this is that there are no generally recognized criteria for calculating the equivalence coefficients. The undifferentiated consideration of the ecological scarcity on which the equivalence coefficient is based is also criticized.

The complexity of data collection is considered problematic. In addition, some environmental effects such as noise or radiation have not yet been taken into account by this method. The concept of ecological accounting has no meaning in operational practice.

literature

Ruedi Müller-Wenk: The ecological bookkeeping - an information and control instrument for environmentally compatible company policy. Frankfurt a. M. 1978. DNB 780687302
Hans-Peter Grundert: The ecological bookkeeping according to Müller-Wenk as an approach of an environmentally related accounting. Marburg 1997. ISBN 3-82880004-1
Kentaro Azuma: Life cycle assessment and periodization . In it: ecological accounting according to Müller-Wenk. Pp. 68-90. Berlin 2007. ISBN 978-3-8305-1429-9 ( online )

Individual evidence

↑ Udo E. Simonis , Harmonization of Ecology and Economy - Squaring the Circle or Solvable Challenge ?, trade union monthly issues 12/1988, pp. 723–731
^ Piontek, J., Controlling. (2005), 3rd edition, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH
↑ Müller-Wenk, 1978. S.?
↑ Müller-Wenk 1978. S.?

[1] Udo E. Simonis , Harmonization of Ecology and Economy - Squaring the Circle or Solvable Challenge ?, trade union monthly issues 12/1988, pp. 723–731

[2] Piontek, J., Controlling. (2005), 3rd edition, Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag GmbH

[3] Müller-Wenk, 1978. S.?

[4] Müller-Wenk 1978. S.?