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40 Changing environmental needsActually, many measures are already economically feasibleunder current conditions. However, to recognize and betterdetermine their environmental and economic effectiveness,special management instruments for environmental andcarbon accounting, that is, assessing the CO 2 emissions,are required.Fields of work in climate protection for which carbonaccounting is important can be identified throughout thesupply chain. Their individual process or production stepscan, however, have a different relevance for the climatedepending on the product or service. These have to besystematically identified, analyzed, and managed.“Especially in countries wherethere is still a lack of incentivesfor environmental programs,environmental accounting instrumentscan help local companiesreduce both environmental impactand costs through voluntarymeasures.”Environmental accounting is one of the focuses in yourwork. What is, in fact, exactly meant by this?Corporate environmental accounting provides a basis fordecision-making in corporate environmental protection.This means it collects environmental data and combines itwith economic information for decision-making within thecompany. Instruments that identify optimization potentialand help control environmental risks in the companyinclude, for example, energy and material flow analysis aswell as the evaluation of environmental costs or environmentalinvestments.Our case studies in South East Asia have shown that environmentalaccounting has a huge potential with suppliersthat use a large amount of material and are often notparticularly efficient. Especially in countries where there isstill a lack of incentives for environmental programs, environmentalaccounting instruments can help local companiesreduce both environmental impact and costs throughvoluntary measures. The resulting gains in efficiency andthe reduction of risk along the supply chain are, of course,also beneficial to customers.And where do you see the benefits of environmentalaccounting, for example, with regard to the centralHARTMANN issue of material efficiency?In environmental accounting, often also called environmentalmanagement accounting or EMA, material flow canbe systematically analyzed both at the product or servicelevel and across the company. In this way, it is possible toreliably identify environmentally and cost-relevant activitiesand process steps, and the cost reduction potential ofenvironmental measures can be determined in the entiresupply chain. This increases material efficiency and thereforecompetitiveness. Dependence on specific raw materialmarkets can thus also be reduced.What must a company do to implement EMA?What efforts have to be made?Above all, it is important to set up accounting and reportingprocesses based on indicators. This can be done by usingenergy and material flow accounting, CO 2 or water footprints,or more comprehensive environmental performanceand life cycle assessments of processes and products.In addition, the company must have data from supplyand disposal chains in partner companies to analyze thebehavior of suppliers and consumers, to include changeprocesses, and to evaluate discontinuities. The great challengein implementing EMA is to integrate environmentalor sustainability indicators into accounting and companymanagement to make them relevant for decisions.