To meet the needs of environmental protection and sustainable development, both government agencies and industry need environment-related information for decision making. Environmental accounting is one of the tools that has been developed to meet this need. In 2000, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) began for the adoption of environmental accounting systems on a trial basis. Today, most of the companies in Taiwan that have adopted environmental accounting are following the guidelines and framework established by the EPA. This framework is almost identical to the framework given in the Environmental Accounting Guidelines published by Japan's Environmental Agency. Some adjustments were made to individual environmental cost items, but there was no systematic revision of the framework to meet the needs of Taiwan's environmental policy and industrial structure, or the needs of Taiwanese business enterprises. Furthermore, the content relating to benefits and revenue from environmental protection activities was neglected. The present study follows up a number of companies that have adopted environmental accounting, with the aim of gaining a clearer picture of the strengths and weaknesses of the environmental accounting system that is currently in use in Taiwan. Information has also been collected on the environmental accounting systems adopted by Japan and by the United Nations. This information is used, in light of the current state of environmental protection in Taiwan and the special characteristics of Taiwanese industry, as the basis for formulating draft environmental accounting guidelines for Taiwan. Besides making adjustments to the existing environmental accounting framework to allow for the circumstances actually existing in Taiwan, the draft guidelines also include clear definitions and explanations of each individual environmental cost item. In addition, the draft guidelines incorporate content relating to environmental benefits and revenue, with the aim of making Taiwan's environmental accounting system more comprehensive. It is anticipated that these draft guidelines will provide a useful reference to business enterprises when introducing environmental accounting system. So as to promote the adoption of environmental accounting, the present research project included the provision of guidance to two companies to help them adopt environmental accounting systems, as well as a conference bringing together representatives of government, industry and academia, which provide a venue for building consensus on environmental accounting issues between different sectors. At the same time, the organization and content of the existing environmental accounting website were revamped to make the site easier to use.

environmental accounting、environmental cost、environmental revenue、environmental benefit、environmental disclosure