Accounting & decision making for ‘carbon’

Jan Bebbington

(Prof. of Accountancy and Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews & Vice-Chair Scotland,

Sustainable Development Commission)

Outline of talk

• Top down versus bottom up

• From modelling impacts to making decisions

• Questions/observations/discussion

Three generic decision making approaches

• Indicators– List of ‘things’ of relevance

• Indicators with an evaluation framework– List with some rule about summing these

aspects together/relative weight attached to each aspect

• Monetized models– Aspects converted into money and mapped

together

Indicators

• Eg: Scottish Government national indicators and targets (within performance framework)

• Can be systematic/organised– Drivers, pressures, states, impacts,

responses

• Provides glimpses … ‘easy’ … but not sophisticated (assumes everything matters equally or does not specify relative weights)

Indicators with rules

TRANSPORT MODEL SCORING SYSTEMAccess to/around regionCommuting time savingsQuality of travelling experienceWork & freight travel time savingsDevelopment of social infrastructureAir quality outcomesProject efficiencyRegional economic growthCommunity identity and belongingNoise outcomesVehicle operating cost savingsWater quality outcomesVisual and landscape outcomesSense of safetyTransport safetyAwareness of conservation

STORMWATER MODEL SCORING SYSTEMWater quality outcomesPublic health consequences of water based recreationRegional economic growthVisual and landscape outcomesCommunity identity and belongingAwareness of conservationOpportunities for water based recreationOpportunities for land based recreationProject efficiencySense of safety

Weighting9.89.89.27.87.06.66.26.25.85.35.14.54.44.44.23.6

50866666444

A monetized model

SOCIAL ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCE ECONOMIC

capitals

+ve

-ve

All figures are in monetary units

All figures are in monetary units

Summary

• Approaches– Relative strengths & weaknesses– Not mutually exclusive

• Modelling versus assessment– Here is a range of impacts versus this is

‘carbon responsible’/sustainable development decision making (or not)

Questions, observations, conversation?