Pollution haven hypothesis
Topic: Environment and Sustainable Development · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The pollution haven hypothesis says that dirty industries move to countries with weaker environmental rules. Firms move because cleaning up costs less there. As a result, rich countries can look cleaner without cutting global pollution. The pollution just moves to poorer countries. This partly explains why the Environmental Kuznets curve bends downward for rich countries. That curve is an inverted U: pollution first rises with income, then falls.
Example
Suppose a rich country tightens its rules on leather tanning. Tanneries then shift to a developing country where enforcement is lax. The rich country's river data improves, but rivers in the new host country get dirtier.
Don't confuse with
- Porter hypothesis: this says well-designed regulation pushes firms to innovate and become more competitive. It is the opposite fear: strict rules help industry instead of driving it away.
- Carbon leakage: this is the same logic applied to greenhouse gases. Production shifts to places with laxer climate rules, which cancels out emission cuts made elsewhere.
Related concepts
- Sustainable development
- Plimsoll line of the economy
- Weak and strong sustainability
- Sustainable Development Goals
- Environmental Kuznets curve
- Environmental decoupling
- Rebound effect
- Green growth
- Green economy
- Degrowth