Climate Change and You, the CPA

The U.S. hasn't signed the Kyoto accords, but it's a reasonable bet that we'll begin paying more attention to climate change sometime after, say, Jan. 20, 2009. In other countries, accountants are mulling the impact climate accords may have on business. This from the CEO Forum in Australia:

Aligning fiscal policy, accounting and corporate reporting - the traditional pillars supporting the operation of global capital markets - will be critical for the effective operation of a carbon-constrained economy. Until the accounting treatment of the AETS (Australian emissions trading scheme) is clarified, the challenge for corporate Australia is how best to communicate to the capital markets the implications for shareholder value of a carbon-priced environment.

I'm sure we're not the first to make this observation, but a new specialty is taking shape.

Climate change: accounting and tax implications [CEO Forum]