An electrician who came to my house to repair some lights asked what I did at Yale. He was shocked that I worked at the university's Center for the Study of Globalization. "Isn't it true that globalization destroys the rainforest?" he asked, explaining his surprise. Although I do not work for globalization, his concern is valid and shared by many who take to the street protesting globalization.
That charge holds if, by globalization, one simply means expanded international trade. The other charge, that multinational companies wreak havoc on the global environment by moving operations to countries where environmental regulations are weak or nonexistent, is a little more difficult to prove. A recent World Bank study shows that clearing forests to grow crops accounted for some 20 percent of global carbon emissions.
But the bank has found little evidence that companies chose to invest in such countries to shirk pollution-abatement costs in rich countries. Instead, the most important factor in determining the amount of investment was the size of the local market. It has also been found that within a given industry, foreign-operated plants tended to pollute less than local peers.
That charge holds if, by globalization, one simply means expanded international trade. The other charge, that multinational companies wreak havoc on the global environment by moving operations to countries where environmental regulations are weak or nonexistent, is a little more difficult to prove. A recent World Bank study shows that clearing forests to grow crops accounted for some 20 percent of global carbon emissions.
But the bank has found little evidence that companies chose to invest in such countries to shirk pollution-abatement costs in rich countries. Instead, the most important factor in determining the amount of investment was the size of the local market. It has also been found that within a given industry, foreign-operated plants tended to pollute less than local peers.
for more information,refer to this link:http://www.globalenvision.org/library/8/1672/1/
