ACCOUNTING AND DISCLOSURE OF ENTITIES’ ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION COSTS

Abstract

Environment protection is one of the key aspects of sustainability, which entities from all sectors of the economy should include in their policies in order to observe the main regulations of European Union (EU) Directive on Corporate Sustainable Reporting (CSRD), adopted in 2022. The three aspects of sustainability (ESG) – environment, social and governance, are today’s key factors that influence entities’ business, financial position and financial performance, while the business and the adopted environmental, social and governance policies of entities influence those three aspects of sustainability. It is crucial for the society what the entities’ approved environmental policies for environment protection are, what the impact of their business on climate is, what measures they undertake to improve the environment and to protect it against the harmful greenhouse gases and other harmful polluters resulting from their manufacturing and other operations. Therefore, the entities’ environmental policies for environment protection need to address mechanisms for disclosure, identification and assessment of risks that occur in their business and cause disturbance of environmental equilibrium, air, water and soil pollution and have adverse impact on the living nature. Entities are required to present the systems for management of these risks and the specific measures undertaken to oppose and mitigate their impact in their environmental policies. To this end, there is a need of fair accounting, analyzing and disclosure of costs incurred and assets created for prevention of pollution and for protection of environment, for recovery and cleaning of areas and sites already polluted from the entities’ operations, for modified or discontinued production activities, which are harmful for the environmental equilibrium on our planet Earth.
The requirements of the applicable financial reporting framework (IFRS/ IAS or NAS) necessitate true and fair accounting of the costs incurred and the investments made by the entities in assets intended for environment protection and for recovery of already polluted areas in their accounting records, as well as their fair disclosure in all material aspects in their financial statements. In their sustainability reports, entities must report non-financial information about the environmental, social and governance policies adopted by them and about the measures implemented and strategies designed for the management of risks associated with the three aspects of sustainability, in order to make the public aware of the ways in which their activities would have favorable impact on the nature and would contribute to the improvement of future generations’ life.