David M. Herold

Carbon management in the logistics and transportation sector: an overview and new research directions

ABSTRACT While many studies have addressed the issue of environmental sustainability within the supply chain as a whole, so far no attempt has been made to specifically investigate the current status of carbon management issues in the logistics and freight transportation sector. This paper aims to fill this gap by providing a systematic literature review of publications in the area of carbon management in the logistics and transportation sector between the years 2000 and 2015. The review provides insight into the critical themes and challenges of carbon management in the logistics and transportation sector according to five identified key topics: carbon strategy, carbon risk assessments, carbon target setting, carbon reduction initiatives, and carbon performance and reporting. The results show that, although an increase in carbon management practices in logistics and transportation can be observed, only carbon reduction initiatives have been extensively discussed in the literature. In particular, carbon performance and carbon reporting are highly under researched and provide an opportunity for further study. As such, this paper highlights and discusses the identified gaps in the literature and proposes specific recommendations for future research into the logistics and transportation sector.

Carbon Disclosure Strategies in the Global Logistics Industry: Similarities and Differences in Carbon Measurement and Reporting

The transportation industry can be regarded as a significant contributor to greenhouse gases, which puts pressure on global logistics companies to disclose their carbon emissions in the form of carbon reports. However, the majority of these reports show differences in the measurement and reporting of carbon information. Through an institutional theory lens, this chapter discusses the emergence and institutionalisation of carbon disclosure and their influence on carbon reporting, using the cases of FedEx and UPS. In particular, the chapter examines whether the carbon reports follow a symbolic or substantial approach and which institutional logic dominates the rationale behind each company’s carbon disclosure. We uncover significant variances in the measurement and reporting of carbon performance information between those companies that provide insights into the different dominant logics and their influence on carbon reporting. Our results show that both companies adopt different dominant logics due to heterogeneous carbon reporting practices. In a quest for market-controlled sustainability initiatives, this research is important (a) for understanding the ways in which major carbon contributors operate between market and sustainability logics, and (b) for policymakers to provide an understanding of how to encourage investments in carbon performance without reducing the ability to compete in the marketplace, thus initiating a shift to more environmentally friendly activities.

Cultural Relevance in Environmental and Sustainability Management Accounting (EMA) in the Asia-Pacific Region: A Link Between Cultural Values and Accounting Values Towards EMA Values

Despite the increasing popularity of environmental and sustainability management accounting (EMA) in corporate sustainability management, researchers in the sustainability accounting and sustainability management field neglect the importance and the relevance of national culture and its effect on the level of implementation of sustainability accounting and management practices. Yet, to our knowledge, there is no recent study of how national culture affects corporate environmental and sustainability management accounting practices in the different nations where they operate. In order to provide new insights into the link between national culture and EMA practice, we adopt Gray’s (1988) Abacus 24(1):1–15 theory of cultural relevance in national accounting systems. In brief, Gray proposed a framework to explain how national culture affects national accounting system using Hofstede’s (1986) The cultural context of accounting: accounting and culture. Paper presented to annual conference of the American Accounting Association, New York culture dimensions. An understanding of the national culture and its effect on the adoption and implementation of EMA can help us to improve the relevance of EMA practice and implementation in different countries. Based on Gray’s (1988) Abacus 24(1):1–15 framework, we develop the link between national cultural values and EMA values. As original contributions to sustainability accounting, we propose four EMA value dimensions (symbolic versus action, reactionary versus responsible, voluntary versus transparent, and integration versus differentiation).

The influence of internal and external pressures on carbon management practices and disclosure strategies

ABSTRACT As a result of institutional and stakeholder pressures, companies have increasingly implemented various internal and external carbon management practices, reflecting different carbon disclosure strategies. Existing research, however, is limited to distinguish between different types of carbon disclosure strategy and to explain the dynamic interaction between internal and external pressures. In response, drawing from institutional and stakeholder theory, this study (1) proposes a framework that depicts different carbon disclosure strategies based on internal and external pressures, and (2) using a sample of 40 leading global logistics companies, subsequently categorises the companies based on the extent of applied internal and external carbon management practices. Using data from Bloomberg ESG and the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP) reports, the analysis and the categorisation is based 26 specific carbon management practices during the timeframe from 2012 to 2014. The findings show that the majority of companies align internal and external carbon management practices, reflecting a consistent strategic approach towards carbon disclosure. However, most companies follow either a transparent or a symbolic approach, indicating these companies either are engaged in both internal and external practices or in neither. We found that the key internal drivers are the companies’ policies and procedures, while key external drivers include high engagement with policy makers and NGOs.

Corporate environmental responsibility: focus, orientation and salience in the natural resources sector

This article investigates the current status of studies into corporate environmental responsibility in the natural resources sector within the academic literature on management. In particular, we examine studies with a focus on industry and geography, the orientation of research methods and the salience of corporate environmental responsibility. We present empirical evidence based on publication and citation analyses of research published from 1995 to 2014. Our findings show that for the natural resources sector, the degree of salience in leading management journals seems rather weak, and that most of the corporate environmental responsibility articles are dominated geographically by developed countries. Our study also shows that the majority of research methods are qualitative and are based on secondary data. The only theory which is seen to be consistently used as a theoretical framework is stakeholder theory. The significance of the findings is important as they present clear guidance for future research into corporate environmental responsibility in the natural resources sector.