Carbon accounting: a systematic literature review

The term carbon accounting is widely used by scientists in various disciplines and is found particularly often in discussions of the integration of aspects of climate into accounting. However, no consistent definition of carbon accounting exists. Thus, the objective of this paper is to derive a definition of carbon accounting by means of a systematic literature review that includes different perspectives and research streams. Based on this review and the use of computer-assisted qualitative data analysis software, the 129 identified and investigated literature sources were divided into four sections: carbon accounting at the national scale, at the project scale, at the organizational scale and at the product scale. Additionally, at each scale, we differentiated between non-monetary and monetary aspects and explained the purpose of the study. Based on these findings, a definition of carbon accounting is proposed that can be used by academics to operationalize their research questions, by legislators to delimit obligatory and voluntary accounting and by practitioners to establish carbon accounting in companies.