International Aspects of Environmental Questions

ENVI 201Version spring 2004

Steve Coltafsgc@uaa.alaska.edu

2

Three Perceived Problems

• Growth, itself• Pollution Havens• Bad governance (environmental

policy and institutions)

3

Four Real Challenges

• Poverty• Consumption by the rich, not the

poor• Protecting the Global Commons• Effective Global Environmental

Governance (policy and institutions)

4

Story 1: Thank Japan for Clean Air

• 1970 Clean Air Act mandated big drop in auto emissions

• Detroit Big 3 said “can’t do it” – especially for California

• Honda was ready with cars that met the standards, CA mandated them

• CA was dominant consumer so it dictated standard practice to rest of US.

5

Story 2: Turtles and Trade

• Asian shrimp boats catching endangered sea turtles

• WTO (1998): US can’t discriminate against imports based on how shrimp are caught

• US continued to press for Turtle Excluding Devices (TEDs)

• Legal wrangling continues today

6

The Twin Environmental Crises

• Poverty– 1.2 Billion people live on less than

$1/day

• Human-Dominated Ecosystems– 42% of Earth’s annual production of

plant material is used by people(Pimm 2001)

• Both Numbers Matter

7

Poverty and Environment

• 1.2 billion people live on less than $1/day

• In Ghana:– 60% of urban people have no sewers– 70% of energy from open wood burning– 40% of people drink contaminated

water• Worldwide, waterborne diseases

annually cause 11 million childhood deaths

• 700 million people breathe smoke from open indoor fires (Todaro 2000)

8

Globalization is Not New

9

Three Perceived Problems• 1) Growth wrecks the planet

Source: World Bank, “Greening Industry”

10

Three Perceived Problems

• 2) Pollution Havens: Globalization causes competition for industry, causing (forcing?) some (all?) countries to live with dirty industry

• 3) Bad Governance: Secret decisionmaking by the“unelected WTO” and corporations ignores environmental effects

11

Growth has Three Effects

• How Much is Produced?– World CO2 emissions continue to rise

with world economy

• What is Produced?– Massages vs. Steel

• How are things produced?– Carbon Monoxide down due to

catalytic converters

12

             

              

               

            

Growth Example: China

13

Growth Example: China• Economic output doubling every

decade, concentrated in urban areas– (how much / scale)

• People switching from bicycles to cars and from rice to meat– (what / composition)

• Slow switch from coal to natural gas, controls on particulates– (how / technique)

14

Switching from Coal to Gas has other Implications…

15

Growth in China: Effects

Source: World Bank, Greening Industry

16

World Growth: How Much

Source: World Bank, Globalization Growth and Poverty

17

World Growth: What?

18

World Growth: How?

Source: World Bank, Greening Industry

19

World Growth: Good Newsl

• Cleaner production is reducing air pollution (Antweiler Copeland Taylor AER sep 2001)

• Little direct evidence for strong “Pollution Haven” effects (but debate continues )

20

Trade: Exporting Pollution?

• “Freer” trade certainly allows rich countries to export pollution more easily than they perhaps could have.

• But, corporations tend to build the same plant in China as they would in Indiana……Pollution control is more about learning new tricks than it is about brute effort.

21

Exporting Pollution or Technology?

Source: Wheeler and Afsah 1996

Compliance with standards in Indonesia manufacturing

(green / blue / red / black scale)

22

Adoption of Clean Technologyin Rich Countries, Open LDCs, and Closed LDCs

Source: World Bank, “Greening of Industry”

23

Trade Policy and Environmental Policy

• Should Countries be able to exclude products based on how they are produced?

• WTO saying “maybe” for Shrimp that harm turtles

• Which products???• Generally, When should one

country intervene in affairs of another?

24

Global Action for Global Spillovers

• Particulates from China drift to Alaska in four days (ADN 12/7/98)

• US Demand for Shrimp kills Sea Turtles in Malaysia

• Russian Fleet takes half the Pollock in the Bering Sea

• Carbon Dioxide warms the Arctic

25

The Global Commons

• Owned by everyone• Owned by No One• Crucial part of our Human-

Dominated Ecosystem• Threatened by All• Who will safeguard the global

commons?

26

Four Real Challenges

• Poverty• Sustainable Consumption by the

Rich• Protecting the Global Commons• Effective Global Environmental

Governance

27

Responses: Treaties

• Montreal Protocol (1987), amended throughout 1990s– Banned production of CFCs, most

other ozone-depleting chemicals in developed countries by 1996, by 2010 in LDCs

– Ozone layer still declining, but expected to stabilize and return to pre-1970 state by 2030

28

Responses: Treaties

• Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (1973)– “Red Book” contains listings of

species for which trade is restricted or prohibited

– 162 signatories as of 2003

29

Treaties….

• Convention on Biological Diversity (1992-Rio Earth Summit)– Signed by 168 countries

• Not signed by:– Iraq, Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Sierra

Leone, a few others

• Signed but not ratified by:– United States

30

Responses: Treaties

• Kyoto Protocol (1997)– Developed countries negotiated an

average 5% reduction of greenhouse gases below 1990 levels.

– U.S. did not ratify the treaty

• All Treaties must first be negotiated, then (in most countries) ratified by the legislative branch

31

Responses: Invest where Payoff is high for planet

• UN Global Environment Facility (GEF) and Clean Development Mechanism– Protect the planet wherever it’s

cheapest to do so, through prevention– 36 Rich countries funding $3 billion of

GEF projects in poor countries (1998)– www.gefweb.org

32

Answers: End Perverse Subsides

• UNEP estimates perverse subsidies – at $500 billion – $1.5 trillion per yr

• Fisheries, forestry, agriculture– Promotes “too many boats chasing

too few fish,” “mining the rainforest”– Puts huge pressure on the planet

• WTO allows exceptions for “green” subsidies

33

Answers: Health-Led Development

• Conventional wisdom: wealth causes health

• New wisdom: Health causes wealth– (Bloom, Science 18 Feb 2000)

• Productivity is the key link – it’s hard to work when you’re sick

34

Answers: Informed Investors and Consumers

• “Know what you own” -- Peter Lynch, Fidelity Investments

• AK Permanent Fund top 10 stocks???– Microsoft, GE, Citigroup, Pfizer,

American Int’l, Johnson&Johnson, ExxonMobil, Intel, Walmart, IBM

• Shade-grown coffee – it sells• Home Depot now buys only

certified lumber

35

Answers:Harmonization of Policies

• 25 Environmental Treaties in 1960• 250 today

36

Answers: Tradable Greenhouse Gas

Permits• CO2 is not the only problem:– Methane is 25 times more potent

• Choose a target level of GHG emissions for entire planet

• Distribute permits to all (how?)• Free trade in GHG permits

37

Tradable Permits, cont.

• Follows Pay-to-Play (Polluter Pays) Principle

• Cheapest reductions (leaky gas pipelines) will occur first

• Stimulates technical innovation• Start with equal numbers of

permits per person? (Global Commons Institute)– Carbon is already being traded

38

Closing Thoughts

39

Globalization vs Industrialization• Industrialization was an unstoppable

process – started in 1800• The benefits were (are still)

unevenly distributed• It took at least 50 years for the

benefits to reach everyone, especially women

• Let’s focus on making the lag time shorter for globalization

40

Take-Home Messages• Poverty and stress on our Human-

Dominated Ecosystem (climate, oceans, biodiversity) are the real global environmental problems – regional pollution will largely take care of itself

• Growth of poorest countries attacks poverty and helps environment without creating pollution havens

• The Global Commons requires new forms of global management, such as tradable permits.

41

ReferencesGlobalization, Growth and Poverty: Building an

Inclusive World EconomyWorld Bank Policy Research Reports (2001)http://econ.worldbank.org/prr/subpage.php?sp=2477

Environment and Trade: A HandbookUN Environment Program, et al. (2000)http://iisd.ca/trade/handbook.

Vanishing Borders: Protecting the Planet in the Age of Globalization.Hilary French, Worldwatch Institute. (2000)http://www.worldwatch.org/

Global Environment and Trade Study (GETS)Tufts Universityhttp://www.gets.org/

42

ReferencesGoing Public On Polluters In Indonesia: Bapedal’s PROPER PROKASIH PROGRAM David Wheeler and Shakeb Afsah*

World Bank Policy Research Dept (1996)http://www.worldbank.org/nipr/work_paper/proper/

Greening IndustryWorld Bank Development Research Group (2000)http://www.worldbank.org/research/greening/

World Wildlife Fund (certification and ecolabeling programs)http://www.wwf.org

Global Commons Institutehttp://www.gci.org.uk/main.html

43

Teaching and Learning Resources

United Nations Global Environmental Facility (GEF)http://www.gefweb.org/index.html