“Old” financial instruments in “new” circular models: Applied environmental accounting in the banking sector for reporting in a circular economy

Abstract

The role of commercial banks and financial institutions has been described as crucial for the circular economy since they are key actors in financing companies and projects. The facilitating potential of some financial instruments managed by the financial sector has not been studied in connection to extending the circular economy in the environmental accounting framework. Particularly, the renting contracts service, which has been associated with more sustainable performance, shows interesting circular characteristics for servitization and the sharing economy. By studying the details of renting contracts of a financial institution over 18 years as a case study in Spain, this research demonstrates how this type of service, applied to vehicles, can render important benefits in terms of use of resources, environmental impact, energy efficiency and reduced carbon emissions. Measuring these quantitative impacts and reporting about them is important from an environmental accounting basis and in the framework of the European Union taxonomy for sustainable finance. The results obtained from the stakeholders’ perspective highlight the pivotal role of existing financial instruments and the need for new metrics for reporting linked to the servitization of the economy as a specific circular issue. This paper contributes to the academic literature by bringing empirical results to a still recent line of research. For practitioners, we provide innovative metrics for circular economy in the financial sector, and for policymakers, this research highlights the wider role of financial institutions in promoting circular economy within the sustainability framework.

Keywords

• Environmental accounting; Circular economy; Reporting; Renting; Sustainable finance taxonomy; Financial sector