Integrating Management Accounting for Sustainable Performance: Environmental Costs and Green KPIs in the Coal Mining Industry of Kazakhstan
Beibit Korabayev
L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University
Astana, Kazakhstan
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0420-9517
ABSTRACT
This study develops an applied framework for integrating management accounting with environmental management in coal mining companies of Kazakhstan. It demonstrates how an expanded costing architecture-Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) combined with Activity-Based Costing/Budgeting (ABC/ABB) and Life-Cycle Costing (LCC)-alongside a system of green KPIs, can be used to manage sustainable performance. The proposed approach supports the reduction of unit environmental costs, improvement of environmental intensity indicators (tCO₂e per ton, m³ of water per ton, land reclamation rate), and the maintenance of profitability and investment attractiveness. Building on the concepts of dual-criteria optimization and a threshold environmental payment coefficient (EPC), the paper offers practical calculation tools for selecting Best Available Techniques (BAT) and for estimating the break-even point for environmental payments. Illustrative statistical examples (based on simulated data) are provided to demonstrate: (1) trends in environmental costs per ton, (2) an aggregated enterprise “green” score based on KPI sets, (3) the correlation between green KPIs and EBITDA margin, and (4) the estimation of the EPC threshold beyond which operations become economically unviable.The proposed framework can serve as a methodological basis for implementing green controlling and environmentally integrated budgeting systems in Kazakhstan’s coal mining sector.
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