Strategic and Sustainability Accounting

Running head: STRATEGIC AND SUSTAINABILITY ACCOUNTING 1
Strategic and Sustainability Accounting
Name
Professor
Institution
Date
Question 1: Sustainability

STRATEGIC AND SUSTAINABILITY ACCOUNTING 2
Executive Summary
The A2 Milk Company operates in the dairy industry and significantly impacts the
environment in a variety of ways. However, there are certain initiatives that could be undertaken
by the firm in order to reduce or minimize these impacts. In addition to this, the firm impacts a
number of groups of stakeholders and there are various key social concerns which the firm’s
management must be cognizant of. Sustainability accounting measures are very essential in
helping the company minimize these environmental impacts as well as the social concern issues.
These are discussed further in this report.
Introduction
As highlighted above, the primary purpose of this report is to identify and summarize the
key environmental and social concerns that relate to the operations of The A2 Milk Company.
This discussion has considered a range of various environmental and social issues from across
the value chain f the firm. Furthermore, as part of this report, suggestions on three potential
environmental and social objectives that the firm could to achieve are given. Additionally, at
least two measures of measuring the progress of each of the firm’s objectives have been
suggested.
The Key Environmental and Social Concerns Relating To the Operations of the A2 Milk
Company
Greenhouse gases is one of the major environmental concerns relating to the operations
of The A2 Milk Company. The A2 Milk Company is engaged in rearing of dairy cattle for
production of its various milk products. These gases are produced by cows by doing what comes
to them naturally and enters the atmosphere (Brockett & Rezaee, 2013). This causes possible

STRATEGIC AND SUSTAINABILITY ACCOUNTING 3
harm of global warming in the near future. In addition to this, there is a supposedly a looming
threat or harm resulting from the synthetic milk produced by the company. The synthetic milk
and the greenhouse gas effects are big environmental concerns which must be dealt with
accordingly by the firm and the regulating agencies (Lasserre, 2012).
Furthermore, The A2 Milk Company has partnered with farmers across Australia, who
are mainly focused on rearing cattle. The company buys from these farmers in order to
supplement their supply, for purposes of dairy product production. However, there are a number
of environmental issues and concerns which are related to the farming activities of these farmers,
with regard to cattle rearing. For instance, this is believed to cause soil erosion and reduced
biodiversity (Khalili, 2011).
In addition to this, there is a social concern facing The A2 Milk Company with regard to
the health safety of some of its dairy products. For instance, most customers have complained
that consumption of the company’s milk has caused them health problems such as bloating,
stomach ache and swollen tongue. A research conducted by scientists has indicated that there are
genetic mutations which took place in North European cows and the A1 protein consequentially
started showing up in milk products that were then containing only the A2 protein. It has been
discussed that A1 is involved in basically forming a fragment that has the ability of triggering
inflammation in the body when digested (Hitchcock & Willard, 2015). This has the potential
impact of causing ailments such as irritable bowel syndrome, autism, eczema and schizophrenia.
However, in response to this, The A2 Milk Company has considered championing a research into
the deleterious impacts purported to A1 protein. It has emphasized on the idea that individuals
who drink the milk of the company experience a good feeling. It is acknowledged that 25% of
consumers in the western countries have reported some kind of health problems and discomforts

STRATEGIC AND SUSTAINABILITY ACCOUNTING 4
after consumption of the company’s milk products. Therefore, this is a great social concern for
The A2 Milk Company Limited (Hussey, 2012).
Additionally, there is a social concern that The A2 Milk Company Limited is potentially
threatened by the fact that it fails to get on with the long process which is required for converting
and producing A2 milk which is free from A1 beta casein. Although most of the large farmers
supplying raw materials to the company have adopted this conversion process, there are small
farmers who have poor sources of information and are therefore at a great risk of getting
blindsided. This is potentially extended to the consumers of the dairy products, such as the milk
produced by the company (Bamford & West, 2010).
Potential Environmental and Social Objectives That the Firm Could Strive To
Achieve
There are a number of potential environmental and social objectives which the firm could
strive to achieve and measures which could be used in measuring the objectives (Hitchcock &
Willard, 2015). These have been summarized in the table below.
Environmental Objectives
Dimension Objective Possible Measures of Performance
1. Promotion and expansion of products
which are environmentally friendly.
a. Identification of the company’s
environmentally friendly products and
comparing them with the various
environmental regulation provisions.