Companies are increasingly aware of the environmental aspects of their businesses. More and more managers want to consider the beneficial and adverse environmental implications of their business activities, products, and services. These 'implications' include impacts on environmental conditions, associated financial effects, corporate image consequences, and significance for business strategy. However, some companies have found it difficult to measure these implications, both because of the inherent uncertainties in measuring them, and because existing information, planning, and decision-making practices do not highlight those implications sufficiently. To address those obstacles, companies have begun to use environmental evaluation techniques such as life cycle analysis (LCA), environmental life cycle costing (ELCC), and total cost assessment (TCA). Environmental cost accounting techniques such as TCA and ELCC are used to demonstrate the potential for environmentally-beneficial investments to yield significant financial pay-offs. One such pay-off is the avoidance of environmental liabilities. If this benefit is overlooked, environmental investments may appear less attractive than they truly are.

"Prepared under: Contract no. 68-D2-0064 ... and Contract no. 68-W2-0008 ... Pollution Prevention Division, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics, Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxic Substances, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency." "December 1996." "EPA 742-R-96-003." Includes bibliographical references (p. 105-114).