Desenvolvimento de um método para elaboração da demonstração do resultado econômico-ambiental: aplicação em uma empresa do setor petroquímico

Abstract

Business and nature are closely connected and human development depends on a harmonious relationship between them. While the availability of natural resources is pressed by population growth, by increasing levels of pollution and inadequate consumption patterns, organizations seek drivers to grow sustainably. Given the dependence that businesses have of nature, the search for lower environmental impact solutions is, besides a good practice, a sine qua non condition for maintaining competitiveness. The current format for evaluating economic results in companies is inconsistent with the measurement of the real value generated. Besides stimulating short-term actions, which often cause environmental impact in the long term, the traditional Income Statement disregards a series of external environmental effects generated by organizations, which affect the society without a compatible reward. These impacts are known as environmental externalities, which can be positive, although they are mostly negative. In Brazil, the petrochemical industry is tightly controlled by the environmental legislation and by the action of the communities with which it interacts. Even so, it is an industry subject to the generation of externalities. In this sense, this research aimed to develop a method for the preparation of the Economic and Environmental Income Statement (EEIS), which internalize environmental externalities, and test this method in a petrochemical company. To support this study, the research method used was the Design Science Research (DSR). The results of this research indicate that environmental externalities present in the assessed petrochemical plant are predominantly negative. The internalization of the relative external costs would impact the consolidated economic results of the company in an amount equal to 12.5% of net profit for the year considered. In addition, it can be concluded that the developed method is suitable for the preparation of EEIS and sets up an important step in advancing the accounting.