Did International Trade Become Dirtier in Developing Countries? On the Composition Effect of International Trade on the Environment

Utilizing the world panel dataset for the pollution emission embedded in international trade for the period between 1988 and 2009, we investigated whether the composition of international trade of a country moved away from pollution-intensive industries as its income level rises. The empirical evidence suggests that the income levels of countries are negatively related to export pollution intensity, but we also find that income is negatively related to import pollution intensity. Thus, the composition effect of international trade on the environment is only consistent with the pollution haven hypothesis on the export side, which predicts that developing countries export more of dirtier industries and import more of cleaner industries after trade liberalization. Further investigation reveals that the lower-middle income countries experienced an increase in the pollution emission of exports and a decrease in the pollution emission of imports, whereas the countries in the lowest income group experienced increases in the pollution emission embodied in both exports and imports.Composition effect; Environment; International trade; Pollution emission; Pollution haven hypothesis.

KYOTO PROTOCOL - A MILESTONE ON THE ROAD TO A LOW CARBON ECONOMY

Human activities have had an impact on environment since immemorial times but significant effects could be traced since about 500 years. The world is getting rapidly warmer, and there is an overwhelming consensus among the leading climate scientists that this is being caused mainly by carbon dioxide and other 'greenhouse gases' emitted by human activities. the responsibility of various countries vis-à-vis environment pollution is not equal. At the same time, neither the resources and scientific capabilities of various countries which can be used for the control of pollution are not equal. The need for international cooperation and coordination is self-evident because less developed countries cannot by themselves find solutions to environment pollution and at the same time they cannot be condemned to underdevelopment.environment, global warming, pollution, ecological footprint

Environment and environmental effects of pollution. Model of eco-dashboard – A tool for analysis of environmental management performances

This article presents some conceptual approaches to environment and pollution phenomenon, describing the main factors of pollution and their evolution in Romania. There are described the main centers of pollution from the Slatina area. There is presented a definition of eco-dashboard, the main flight specific businesses within the non-ferrous metallurgical industry of Romania and a model for analysis of environmental management performance of this specific field.steel industry; pollution; eco-dashboard; indicators of environment; performance.

Pigeons home faster through polluted air.

Air pollution, especially haze pollution, is creating health issues for both humans and other animals. However, remarkably little is known about how animals behaviourally respond to air pollution. We used multiple linear regression to analyse 415 pigeon races in the North China Plain, an area with considerable air pollution, and found that while the proportion of pigeons successfully homed was not influenced by air pollution, pigeons homed faster when the air was especially polluted. Our results may be explained by an enhanced homing motivation and possibly an enriched olfactory environment that facilitates homing. Our study provides a unique example of animals' response to haze pollution; future studies are needed to identify proposed mechanisms underlying this effect

Microplastic pollution in marine environment

Plastic is constructed from linking of hydrocarbon monomers and produced synthetic polymers. Plastic production reported is growing up steadily each year due to its demand based on Figure 2.1. Current production reported to be up to 348 million tonnes in 2017 (Plastic Europe, 2018)

Environmental Impact of Trade Policy Reforms on Pollution Intensity

The paper attempts to provide a theoretical analysis as well as some indicators of the linkage between trade policy and the environment. It looks at what has happened to the share of manufacturing industries by pollution classification overtime and finds tat the share of non-pollutive/non-hazardous industries has grown over the years covering the period of trade reforms. It also analyzes the impact of trade policy on the environment using a simulation model, which predicts what happens to pollution intensity with and without trade reforms. The results indicate some positive impact of trade reforms on the environment and that the Philippines should pursue its greater trade liberalization and implement the corresponding environmental measures.trade reforms, pollution, environmental issues, trade policies, environmental management

Environmental policy negotiations, transboundary pollution and lobby groups in small open economies

This paper analyzes the consequences of lobby group activity for policy outcomes in economies with transboundary pollution and international environmental policies. In our framework, international environmental policies are characterized as pollution taxes determined in a negotiation between two countries. We find, among other things, that the presence of local lobbying tends to reduce the level of pollution taxes. We also find that an increase in the environmental concern (i.e. stronger preferences for a clean environment) may reduce the pollution tax in both countries. It is also possible that increased environmental concern in one country reduces the pollution tax in the other country.transboundary pollution; lobbying; taxes; pollution; Nash bargain; negotiations; environmental policy

The Pigouvian Tax Rule in the Presence of an Eco-Industry

Pollution abatement goods and services are now largely being delivered by a specialized “eco-industry.” This note reconsiders Pigouvian taxes in this context. We find that the optimal emission tax will depart from the marginal social cost of pollution according to the polluters’ and the environment firms’ relative market power.Pigouvian taxes, Environment industry

Airborne Particles in Museums

Presents one in a series of research activities aimed at a better understanding of the origin and fate of air pollution within the built environment

An extension and application of the Leontief pollution model for waste generation and disposal in Scotland

Solid waste generation, treatment and disposal are important policy concerns for the Scottish Parliament. As a result of the Environment Act 1995, a National Waste Strategy for Scotland was introduced with the general aim of reducing the amount of waste produced and dealing with what is produced in more sustainable ways. This implies the need for an empirical framework to inform policymakers regarding the relationship between economic activity and waste generation, treatment and disposal and the likely impacts of any policy actions or other disturbances on all types of sustainability indicators. In this paper we report on a study to develop an extended input-output (IO) system of the type originally proposed in the seminal paper by Leontief (1970). This involves extending the standard IOaccounts to take account of pollution or waste generation as an additional output accompanying production and consumption activities in the economy and of the activity required to clean up (or prevent) these unwanted outputs. The extension of IO tables to take account of pollution/waste generation is relatively widespread in the literature. It is usually achieved through the introduction of physical pollution/waste-output coefficients, and has been previously applied to Scotland for the case ofair pollution (see McNicoll & Blackmore, 1993, McGregor et al, 2001). Such an approach allows us to examine the impact of the economy on the environment, in terms of the amount of pollution/waste emitted as a result of economic activity. However, it does not allow us to track the feedback from the environment to the economy in terms of the resources used in environmental cleaning. If we areinterested in this aspect, we need to identify the input structure of any pollution abatement or waste disposal activities and identify columns in the IO tables representing cleaning activities