During the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol, many developed countries were forced to restrict carbon emissions. Flexible mechanisms were initiated to reduce carbon emissions and support clean energy projects. Regulated carbon markets were established to trade carbon premiums produced by these projects by signatory countries, while carbon premiums produced by nonsignatory countries were traded in voluntary markets. Following limited participation in the Kyoto Protocol, by the leadership of European Union, 195 countries presented contributive ideas in Paris Agreement, which is the first-ever universal, legally binding global climate deal. Kyoto Protocol sets commitment targets that have legal force, while the Paris Agreement emphases on consensus building and allows for voluntary and nationally determined targets. Another key difference between Paris Agreement and the Kyoto Protocol is its scope. It does not provide a specific division between developed and developing nations. By means of these changes, trading in voluntary carbon markets is expected to increase due to the higher demand to offset unavoidable carbon emissions. There has been no authoritative guidance published on carbon accounting by the International Accounting Standards Board or the Financial Accounting Standards Board. This study proposes how to measure and report the carbon allowances and carbon credits.
Part of the book: Accounting and Corporate Reporting
Integrated reporting (IR) is an accelerated corporate reporting approach over the last few years. The idea underlying integrated reporting is to report not only on the company’s strategy, management, and financial performance, but also on its social, environmental, and economic impacts. Integrated reporting can also be defined as a holistic report aiming to present annual reports and sustainability reports in a single report, as well as short-, medium-, and long-term goals and strategies of the institution. In the integrated reporting framework prepared by the International Integrated Reporting Council (IIRC), companies aim to make company value measurable and therefore more understandable and comparable by quantifying the environmental and social implications, as well as the financial statements. In this study, firstly the conceptual framework of integrated reporting and the process of extending to integrated reporting, and then the work done in this area in Turkey were given. In the last part of this study, energy companies which are very important in the world trade and which are coming to the agenda due to environmental problems are considered. In this section, integrated reports of seven companies operating in the energy sector and publishing integrated reports are examined. Lastly, it proposes an integrated report template for the Turkish energy sector to contribute to future work.
Part of the book: Accounting and Corporate Reporting