Influence of environmental management accounting practices on the environmental sustainability of South African cement and mining companies

Abstract

Most companies in emerging economies need to be more conscious of environmental initiatives such as environmental management accounting practices (EMAP) that can effectively improve environmental sustainability. Therefore, this study investigates the effect of EMAP on the environmental sustainability of listed South African cement and mining companies. To achieve the aim of the study, 45 Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed cement and mining companies were sampled based on data extracted from the annual integrated reports, financial statements, environmental and sustainability reports from 2012 to 2021. IBM SPSS Statistics 24 was used to analyze the relationship between EMAP and environmental sustainability. The results show that two environmental sustainability proxies, water consumption and recycled water, are significantly and positively related to EMAP. However, carbon emissions (p < .061) insignificantly influence environmental sustainability. This suggests that some EMAP used by the sampled companies are inadequate to amplify environmental sustainability. The paper is essential to provide empirical evidence that managers of the cement and mining companies in South Africa need to devise better and new EMAP to reduce carbon emissions.