Environmental accounting in the public sector: a systematic literature review

The study analyses the state of the art on environmental accounting in the public sector, highlighting the evolution of literature and providing ideas for future research advances on the topic. The article is based on a systematic literature review, developed according to the PRISMA protocol to ensure scientific rigour within the data search, selection, analysis, and interpretation process. The findings highlight that the research on environmental accounting in the public sector is still limited, albeit showing an increasing trend. Future research might deepen the link between the implementation of environmental accounting practices and the economic-financial performance of public companies. The limits of the study have a methodological nature, being linked to the adoption of the systematic literature review: brief time span, restrained number of evidence, inclusions of only journal articles, and absence of the risk of bias assessment. The article contributes to the enrichment and updating of the state of the art given that to date there are no studies that carry out a systematic literature review on the topic of environmental accounting in the public sector.