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Intergenerational accountability in the times of just transitions

Matthew Scobie, Ellie Norris, Holly Willson

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal

ISSN: 0951-3574

Article publication date: 20 November 2024

106

Abstract

Purpose

This study explores the concept of intergenerational accountability to address the grand challenge of a just transition. Intergenerational accountability extends the notion of accountability for the other to include future generations in ways that avoid the trap of long-termism and delayed action.

Design/methodology/approach

We follow a critical qualitative case study approach with an Indigenous community in a settler colony. Sources of empirical materials include semi-structured interviews and documentary reviews, analysed abductively through thematic analysis.

Findings

Intergenerational accountability extends the notion of accountability for the other temporally by including future generations. Indigenous temporalities offer a way to address concerns that accountability to distant future generations could delay the urgency to act now. Findings suggest that the “eternal present”, where aspirations of ancestors and obligations to descendants coalesce into a contemporary obligation, has the potential to help confront the climate crisis. However, the ability to actively practice these understandings is constrained by commercial “best practice” and the colonial state. These constraints necessitate struggles for Indigenous self-determination that also exist in the eternal present.

Originality/value

We extend the concept of accountability for the other to include future generations, but avoid the trap of long-termism delaying action through the eternal present of Indigenous temporalities. However, these temporalities are constrained, so struggles for Indigenous self-determination become closely intertwined with struggles for a just transition.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

This study would not have been possible without the generous contributions of Ngāi Tahu and associated participants. Thank you to Frida Buhre and the anonymous reviewers for their constructive feedback on the paper. The fieldwork from this study was part of a doctoral project that was funded by the Sheffield University Management School and supervised by Stewart Smyth and Bill Lee. Finally, recent work on the study has been supported by the British Academy through the Times of a Just Transition global convening programme: GCPS2\100005.

Citation

Scobie, M., Norris, E. and Willson, H. (2024), "Intergenerational accountability in the times of just transitions", Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, Vol. ahead-of-print No. ahead-of-print. https://doi.org/10.1108/AAAJ-04-2024-7046

Publisher

:

Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2024, Emerald Publishing Limited

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