A Study of Environmental Law & Accounting Frameworks: The Case of BRICS Economies

Environmental degradation and the risks associated with it has cornered the countries and their complex governance systems. It has motivated them to enforce and execute stricter environmental regulations. The BRICS nations before the expansion, which are Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa and the nations after the expansion, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates- have some of the diverse legal systems and representations along with the challenges and obstacles in implementing those systems in their respective nations to curb out climate related risks like emissions production, fossil fuel consumption, wastage of natural resources, etc. Overall, a major chunk of these problems generates in these countries. Due to this specific reason, it becomes important for the legal and accounting frameworks to align themselves with the changing environment. It is also essential for the stakeholders in such countries to understand these frameworks and policies for maintaining sustainability in their institutions. This research paper helps in the examination of various acts and policies associated with sustainability in the above-mentioned countries. This paper also focuses on the interaction between the legal mandates, judicial cases and their interpretations as well as the corporate standards that focus on sustainability reporting. Various constitutional and statutory provisions have been explored in this study which includes Brazil’s Environmental Crimes Law, India’s Environment (Protection) Act, 1986, etc. To conduct a deep-analysis of the provisions made in the countries before the expansion, few of the landmark cases have also been studied. The research also investigates the corporate sustainability frameworks of these nations in synchronization with the legal aspect which is to be studied before. The findings suggest that there has been a lot of differences in the legal dimension but when it comes to the accounting dimensions, countries have tried to learn from each other & evolve accordingly but still it is suggested that there’s a constant to have an integrated approach towards advancing environmental issues & challenges.