How Can Accounting Reformulate the Debate on Natural Capital and Help Implement Its Ecological Approach?

Abstract

This study resituates the notion of Natural Capital (NC) in a cosmological perspective and mobilizes accounting theory to propose a fresh approach to the concept. Thus, we firstly offer a critical analysis of NC to clarify the differences between its (capitalist) economic and ecological approaches. To do this, we perform a “Latourian” anthropological analysis of the mainstream notion of capital, repositioned in the Modern cosmology, as well as the notion of “Ecology.” We show that the mainstream use of NC is incompatible with an ecological perspective, even in the case of Economic “Strong Sustainability.” As an outcome, this study renews the critical analysis of Strong versus Weak sustainability. We then connect this debate with the concept of capital in “Traditional” Accounting (TA). We argue that TA theory provides a relevant framework to structure the debate on NC and to implement an ecological conceptualization of this notion. At the corporate level, in particular, the difference between a capitalist and an ecological NC relies on the difference between a debit (economic) and a credit (accounting) concept of capital. This study so proposes an extension of the “classical” accounting practices in historical costs to a more ecological vision of NC, linking accounting practices understood by current corporate stakeholders to ecological requirements. By doing this, we want to open a potential path of research in ecological economics and accounting based on an alternative perspective on NC.