Question:
COST CLASSIFICATION, ECOEFFICIENCY, STRATEGIC ENVIRONMENTAL OBJECTIVES
The following items are listed in an environmental financial statement (issued as part of an environmental progress report):
Environmental benefits (savings, income, and cost avoidance):
• Ozone-depleting substances cost reductions
• Hazardous waste disposal cost reductions
• Hazardous waste material cost reductions
• Nonhazardous waste disposal cost reductions
• Nonhazardous waste material cost reductions
• Recycling income
• Energy conservation cost savings
• Packaging cost reductions
• Environmental costs:
• Corporate-level administrative costs
• Auditor fees
• Environmental engineering
• Facility professionals and programs
• Packaging professionals and programs for packaging reductions
• Pollution controls: Operations and maintenance
• Pollution controls: Depreciation
• Attorney fees for cleanup claims, notices of violations (NOVs)
• Settlements of government claims
• Waste disposal
• Environmental taxes for packaging
• Remediation/Cleanup: On-site
• Remediation/Cleanup: Off-site
Required:
1. Classify each item in the statement as prevention, detection, internal failure, or external failure. In classifying the items listed in the environmental benefits category, first classify the underlying cost item (e.g., the cost of hazardous waste disposal). Next, think of how you would classify the cost of the activities that led to the cost reduction. That is, how would you classify the macro activity: reducing hazardous waste cost disposal?
2. For each item in the environmental benefits category, indicate a possible measure or measures (i.e., pounds, tons, kilowatt-hours, etc.) and the core strategic environmental objective that would be associated with the measure. Is it possible that a measure may be associated with more than one objective? Explain.
3. Assuming ecoefficiency, what relationship over time would you expect to observe between the environmental benefits category and the environmental cost category?