When it comes to the environment, often it can be difficult to enforce laws and prosecute individuals who cause major damage to the environment. However, besides laws and governmental policies to prevent pollution there are also moral policies which have developed. In total, there are five of these principles which have developed over the years. These are the right to be able to exploit your own environment, the right to implement industrial development if no damage occurs, the precautionary principle, the sustainable development principle and the polluter pays principle. Of these five principles, the polluter pays principle will be discussed here in detail.
The polluter pays principle is a principle which states that when someone causes pollution to the environment it is that individual which is responsible for the costs associated with cleaning up and repairing the damage caused by the pollution. It is also often refereed to as internalizing externalities. However, there can be some difficultly with this principle, as it may not be feasible to recuperate the costs from the polluter. As well it also may not be possible to determine a specific monetary value for the damage caused by the pollution .
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The history of the principle can be difficult to trace, but recently it has been thought that the principle dates to the literature from the 1920s on economics. During the beginning of this century the industrial revolution started. As such there was a rapid increase in development, often with little care for the environment. While many people were not concerned about the environmental impact, several economic researchers began to recognize it as a potential risk which could be extremely costly. As such the polluter pays principle was created . One of the earliest examples of this principle was written by A.C. Pigou in which he described internalizing externalities .
However, it wasn’t until the early 1970s when international organizations and environmental groups recognized the value of this principle. Today it is widely used in the creation of policies and is mentioned and incorporated in various ways across the world. The major purpose of this policies is to try to seek remuneration from the individuals who caused the pollution, and to hold them financially responsible for the damage that they caused. For example, if a company was found to be releasing toxic waste into the river, than they would be responsible for the cleanup of the river, as well as damage to the wildlife, and any health costs incurred by the residents which use that river.
Personally, I believe that this principle is a great starting point for helping to ensure that individuals are held liable for polluting our environment. But it can often be difficult to enforce. As well, it can be difficult to assess a proper value. For example, of the years there have been several major oil spills. For example, the Exxon Valdez oil spill. According to this principle the companies should have been held responsible as they were found negligent. Instead, while there was a large settlement awarded, the residents of Prince William Sound in Alaska have still yet to be compensated for the extreme damage done to their livelihood . As a further example, recently BP was required to pay a 20 billion dollar settlement as a result of the Deepwater Horizon spill, however experts have stated that this value still does not come close to covering the damages that were incurred . Overall, while I believe that this principle is a useful starting point, it has its limitations. Until we can accurately calculate the cost of pollution, it is likely that polluters will never fully pay for the cost of their pollution.
- Cornwall, W. (2015). Deepwater horizon: After the oil. science, 348(6230), 22-29.
- Munir, M. (2013). History and Evolution of the Polluter Pays Principle: How an Economic Idea Became a Legal Principle?
- Pigou, A. C. (2013). The economics of welfare: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Plater, Z. J. (2011). The Exxon Valdez Resurfaces in the Gulf of Mexico and the Hazards of Megasystem Centripetal Di-Polarity. BC Envtl. Aff. L. Rev., 38, 391.
- Woerdman, E., Arcuri, A., & Clò, S. (2008). Emissions trading and the polluter-pays principle: do polluters pay under grandfathering? Review of Law & Economics, 4(2), 565-590.
