Globalization and the Environment


Due to free trade and open markets globalization has caused an international upsurge in production and consumption which has had a negative impact on our environment. Moreover, globalization is making it harder to pass environmental policies. Institutions like the World Trade Organization, for example, make it difficult to implement environmental regulations because they fear such policy might threaten trade agreements and economic competitiveness. According to Copeland, there are three reasons why environmental policy is harder to implement in a more open economy.
  1. Governments may yield to pressure to be less aggressive on environmental policy because of concerns about international competitiveness
  2. International trade agreements have constrained the flexibility of governments to implement environmental policy
  3. Environmental policies will me less effective in open economies because firms can avoid them by shifting productions to countries with weaker policy regimes
In most cases “tighter environmental regulations shifted polluting away from high regulation counties. (Copeland 582)”
Nations may maintain their own systems of regulation, laws and values, but no actor can avoid globalization’s influence.  This is especially true for developing countries who wish to compete economically with the industrialized nations and are becoming more economically savvy and aggressive such as India and China. This is causing some countries to shift from agricultural to industrial states, and allowing foreign companies to establish their factories in their backyards,  causing stress on the environment and promoting the shift of businesses to regions with weaker environmental laws. In order to encourage less developed countries to be environmentally friendly a rethinking of our world systems must be developed. This means creating a global institution (ie. The World Ministry of Environment) that will act form of check and balances challenging the policies of institutions like the WTO. Instead of focusing on trade and investment, however, it will address environmental issues and ensure companies respect green space.

References
Copeland, Brian R. "2009 – Globalization and the Environment." Australias Economy in Its International Context: The Joseph Fisher Lectures, Volume 2, 2012, 575-98. doi:10.20851/fisher-53.

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