What Does Accounting Have to Do With Carbon

What Does Accounting Have to Do With Carbon?

On a crisp fall afternoon, with golden sunlight filtering through the trees, a short walk into Ithaca College's Natural Lands reveals an unexpected scene. Scattered across the forest floor, clipboards in hand and measuring tapes wrapped carefully around tree trunks, a group of graduate students works methodically, recording numbers and comparing notes. At first glance, it looks like a biology or environmental science field lab. It is not.

These students are enrolled in a graduate-level accounting course called Contemporary Issues in Accounting, taught by Associate Professor Margaret Shackell. Their task-measuring the diameter of trees-is part of a lesson on carbon sequestration, a concept that sits at the intersection of environmental sustainability and business performance. It is also a vivid illustration of how accounting, often stereotyped as little numbers in tiny boxes for tax filings, is in fact deeply connected to some of the most pressing challenges of our time.

Carbon sequestration-the process by which trees and plants absorb and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere-is a formidable term, but its implications are both practical and profound. The amount of carbon stored in a forest can be quantified, reported, and- increasingly-valued. For businesses, institutions, and governments navigating sustainability goals, regulatory expectations, and stakeholder scrutiny, these measurements matter. They influence strategy, investment, and long-term viability.

And at the center of that measurement work are accountants.

That idea bears unpacking. Accounting, at its core, is the discipline of counting, measuring, recording, and analyzing information to support decision-making. The field encompasses a wide range of roles: tax accountants who focus on compliance and planning; management accountants who guide internal strategy and performance or forensic accountants who investigate irregularities. While the public image of accounting often conjures images of dense spreadsheets and narrow columns of numbers, the reality is far broader-and far more consequential, if not a little exciting.

In her undergraduate course World of Business, Shackell introduces students to the "triple bottom line" framework, which evaluates organizational success across three equally important dimensions: people, planet, and profit. Rather than treating social and environmental considerations as secondary to financial performance, this approach views them as interdependent. Organizations that balance all three, research suggests, tend to be more resilient and more profitable over the long term.

Shackell has explored these ideas in her scholarship as well. In her paper "Teaching Sustainability to Profit-Driven Learners," co-authored with her husband, who holds a Ph.D. in strategy, she examines how environmental and financial goals are not in conflict but mutually reinforcing. Accountants, she argues, are uniquely positioned to demonstrate this alignment through data-showing, with evidence, that responsible practices can also be sound business decisions.

That perspective comes to life in the Natural Lands. Working alongside the graduate students is Jake Brenner, Ithaca College's Natural Lands reserve manager and a professor in the Department of the Environment. Brenner teaches the students how to determine the diameter of a tree and explains how that measurement, combined with species-specific data, can be used to calculate how much carbon the tree stores. Different species sequester carbon at different densities, making careful measurement essential.

Why does he enthusiastically spend time with accounting students? " Sustainability is an interdisciplinary domain. The biggest problems - and their solutions - exist in the in-between spaces. Collaboration is the best way to do sustainability work."

That lesson does not end in the forest. The following day, Scott Doyle, Ithaca College's director of energy management and sustainability, visits the class to explain how such data is used institutionally. Scientific measurements-whether of carbon sequestration, energy use, or emissions reductions-become tools for transparency and accountability. They allow organizations to demonstrate progress to stakeholders, comply with regulations, manage risk, and make informed strategic choices. In a corporate context, similar data can support claims related to emissions reduction, agricultural productivity, and environmental impact, all of which increasingly influence investor confidence and public trust.

Maggie Galewski MS '26 is a graduate student who was in the Natural Lands taking measurements that Fall day. When asked about the impact of the class, she points to understanding the bigger picture of where their work fits into larger systems. "Working with Scott and learning about IC's Climate Action Plan gave me hands-on experience tracking carbon emissions and learning how different activities contribute to a campus's environmental impact."