The research project INTUS – Operationalisation of Environmental Accounting Instruments through the effective use of Environmental Management Information Systems focused on three essential questions that companies encounter if they want to optimise the internal information supply for an environmentally sound management within an environmental accounting. These are (i) the suitability of different Environmental Accounting Instruments, (ii) the support of the instruments with information technology and (iii) the organisational implementation of introduction and continuous application of the instruments. Within this project, the Environmental Accounting Instruments Input-Output Balance, Environmental Performance Indicators (EPI) and Flow Cost Accounting were considered.
The development of concepts that answer the questions posed above was conducted within the scientific frame project (project part 1), and also in the application projects together with the four pilot companies SCHOTT Glas, Continental Teves/Temic, Göhring und Ensinger Mineral-Heilquellen statt (project part 2-5).
Essential results of the research project were (i) a concept to combine the different Environmental Accounting Instruments that shows potentials and limitations of combining Environmental Accounting Instruments, (ii) a concept for the information technology (IT) support of Environmental Accounting Instruments, where the application of Environmental Management Information Systems (EMIS) and traditional corporate information systems such as ERP-Systems, intranet or spreadsheet software was analysed, and (iii) a comprehensive phase concept to implement and institutionalise combined Environmental Accounting Instruments for a continuous anchoring in the business processes of an enterprise. The developed concepts were tested in practical applications within the four pilot companies. Findings and experiences lead to the optimisation of the developed concepts, which were all published.