Chaire Comptabilité Ecologique

Pour que la nature et les humains comptent.

How to define us?

What is not ecological accounting in strong sustainability according to the chair:

  • Putting a price on nature, corresponding to the services and productivity for human beings that nature would provide;
  • Taking into account only the positive (opportunities) or negative (risks) impacts that the environment has on society or business ("outside-in" vision);
  • To represent the environment as natural capital - if one subscribes to the use of this term - composed of assets - whether substitutable or non-substitutable;
  • To propose a new way of creating simple financial opportunities.

What is ecological accounting in strong sustainability according to the Chair:

  • Evaluating the costs of actions needed to achieve potentially dynamic and evolving ecological objectives;
    • These objectives of good ecological or conservation status are defined on the basis of scientific and political conventions;
    • This good ecological status allows for potential compensation, based solely on a principle of non-anthropocentric biophysical equivalence and justified in the light of scientific ecological standards.
  • Understanding natural capital - or rather natural capitals - as the recognition of the capital character of the natural entities to be preserved and an obligation to preserve them;
  • Taking into account the negative or positive impacts that society or business has on the environment ("inside-out" vision);
  • To design a common language to initiate a new dialogue between the actors of the society concerning: the relation to the environment, the costs associated with it and the potential new individual and collective consents to be paid;
  • To bring out a way of creating new sources of income, based on this new dialogue, by rethinking the relationship between society and business and nature.

Harold Levrel and Alexandre Rambaud
Co-responsible for the Chair

Main objectives

Develop

New accounting methods for an ecological transition

Accompany

By means of accounting systems, all forms of organisations in their development strategies aiming at a strong sustainability objective

Raising awareness and convincing

Of the importance of accounting in the ecological transition and its ability to integrate strong sustainability

Being a platform

For exchanges, animation and communication for the actors interested in research on these issues

3 levels of accounting will be studied and articulated

  • Organization accounting
  • Ecosystems accounting
  • National accounting