A Strategic Governance Perspective on Carbon Accounting Enablers: An In-Depth Qualitative Examination of Business Strategies

This study advances a governance perspective on how firms implement, adopt, and routinize carbon accounting. Although prior research has identified several carbon accounting drivers and enablers, less is known about how these elements interact at the firm level to support the organizational embedding of carbon accounting. Drawing on a qualitative analysis of essay-based responses from 44 industry experts, this study identifies four interconnected dimensions of carbon accounting enablement, specifically carbon governance, structural sustenance, technological and operational transformation, and external persuasion. This study argues that external institutional pressures are important but insufficient to explain the organizational uptake of carbon accounting. Rather, these pressures become consequential when governance arrangements translate them into capabilities, routines, data infrastructures, and accountability mechanisms. The findings reveal that carbon accounting should not be treated just as a measurement or reporting practice but should be understood as a socio-technical accountability infrastructure connecting emissions measurement, governance oversight, operational decision-making, and stakeholder-oriented legitimacy. The originality of this study lies in shifting attention from isolated enablers to the relational and iterative mechanisms through which carbon accounting is perceived to become embedded at the firm level under conditions of technological friction, supplier dependence, Scope 3 data uncertainty, and assurance pressure. This study contributes to theory by developing an interpretive framework of carbon accounting enablement, to practice by clarifying the governance and capability conditions required for routinization, and to policy by highlighting why regulatory pressure needs to be supported by organizational and assurance infrastructures.