The polluter pays versus the pollutee pays principle. Pdf this article traces the evolution of polluterpaysprinciple ppp as an economic, ethical and legal instrument and argues that it has the. Regulation, polluterpays principle, responsibility for pollution impact, externalities. The polluter pays principle originates from the economic theory of the internalization of externalities, which imposes on the polluters the social costs borne by public authorities responsible for inspecting, monitoring and controlling pollution. The spill cost recovery regulation under the environmental management act ema outlines the process and parameters for recovering costs for responding to spills. The polluter should pay for the damage he is causing to the environment. Hayek discusses polluter pays principle ppp with students at stanford in the 1970s, in inside the hayek equation. The polluter pays principle ppp is an environmental policy principle which requires that the costs of pollution be borne by those who cause it. On the margins of the conference we talked to keir fitch on the challenges of city logistics, on sustainability, the polluters pay principle and on house of logistics and mobility holm. It makes the firmconsumer pay the total social cost, rather than just the private cost. As applied by trade liberalizers, the principle means that polluters and countries should pay for.
This work traces the history of the polluter pays principle the ppp in the early economic literature from 1920s. Interpreting the polluter pays principle in the trade and. We also discuss the acceptability of the polluterpays principle and compare it with the vickreyclarkgroves mechanism. Combining the two inequalities 22 and 24 allows the derivation of upper and lower. The polluter pays principle is logical and simple those who cause pollution and environmental damage should be responsible for rectifying it. Discussions of where the costs of climate change adaptation and mitigation should fall often focus on the polluter pays principle or the ability to pay principle.
The polluter pays principle and costbenefit analysis of. Under the wfd, domestic users will pay for the water they use and also for the postuse treatment of that water. The oecd recommended the ppp as the guiding principle concerning the international economic aspects of environmental policies in 1972. The environmental liability directive eld is a law that could, and should, be a powerful tool for putting this into practice, but it is widely underused or, in some cases, unknown. This principle, which is intuitively sensible, was trumpeted by early environmentalists as a means to discourage environmental harms. In international environmental law, it is mentioned in principle 16 of the 1992 rio declaration on environment and development. In this case, the payment imposed to agents i b y the polluter pay principle exceed the non cooperative cost of pollution for i. Pdf over the years, the polluter pays principle has developed into a strong basis for eu policy making. Precautionary principle and the polluter pay principle. In this case, the payment imposed to agents i b y the polluterpay principle exceed the non cooperative cost of pollution for i. Compensating victims for damages caused by climate change is one extension of the polluter pays principle with respect to adaptation costs. The polluterpays principle is the principle according to which the polluter should bear the cost of measures to reduce pollution according to the extent of either the damage done to society or the exceeding of an acceptable level standard of pollution. Some further ideas to explore on polluter pays principle. Ffos is advocating that if polluters release pollution into the environment, they should bear the cost of cleaning up their pollution.
The european forum of logistic clusters 2014 was held at the brussels44center and pay attention on the support of the research potentials of its regions. The polluter pays principle is also founded on a philosophical position as to ownership of the environment. At the outset, the polluterpays principle had been devised largely in the context of. It is a recognized principle of environmental law that polluters should pay for the harm they cause. The polluter pays principle is one of the oldest principles of environmental law and also one of the most intuitive.
The polluter pays principle is a way of internalising the externality. Economic impact of ppp forcing polluters to bear the costs of their activities is also said to enhance economic efficiency. Making the polluters pay competitive enterprise institute. The polluter pays principle as it is currently being advocated ends up being a wealth transfer from nonpolluters to politically well connected nonvictims. The principle to be used for allocating costs of pollution prevention and control measures to encourage rational use of scarce environmental resources and to avoid distortions in international trade and investment is the socalled polluterpays principle. Precautionary principle and the polluter pay principle 1. History and evolution of the polluter pays principle.
The polluter pays principle, including the internalization of externalities, by virtue of which the costs of pollution prevention, control and reduction should be borne by the polluter. Polluter pays principle ppp requires that an environmental polluter should be held responsible to pay compensation to victims and the cost of remedying harm to the environment occasioned by pollution caused by the polluter3. Multiplying both sides with 1, we combine the above inequality with the. After all, making the polluter pay for its wrongs makes sense on both. Attempts to apply this principle to climate change have. In environmental law, the polluter pays principle is enacted to make the party responsible for producing pollution responsible for paying for the damage done to the natural environment. Thus, in supporting the beneficiary pays principle in general, and the polluter pays principle in some cases, i challenge interpretations of cbdr which maintain that backwardlooking principles are unfair, since they impose duties upon present day generations. A property rights based polluter pays principle, if implemented, would solve many of these problems by enforcing existing property rights and providing principled guidance for the. The polluter pays principle states that whoever is responsible for damage to the environment should bear the costs associated with it. Interpretation of polluter pays principle ppp in india. The court observed, we are of the opinion that any principle evolved in this behalf should be simple, practical and suited to the conditions obtaining in this country. Penalties should be increased in their degrees over the time.
The proper role for government in this area is to ensure that polluters pay for the damage they cause and are enjoined from causing harm in the future. In essence, the union interpretation of the polluter pays principle is not shared by the member states. Entin was a staff economist with the joint economic committee of the congress, where he developed legislation for tax rate reduction. Polluter pays principle financial definition of polluter.
Polluter pays principle ppp polluters or environmental violators will not willingly pay for the clean up of the environment, even though they are guilty of spoiling it. Under the polluter pays principle, the community effectively owns the environment, and forces users to pay for the damage they impose. The full health and environmental costs of transport should be borne by the polluters as far as possible. It is good that india that imbibed the polluter pays principle ppp in their law of land. Chapter 2 coauthored with christian barry examines what we take to be the most challenging objections that have been presented to the beneficiary pays principle. National authorities should endeavour to promote the internalization of environmental costs and the use of economic instruments, taking into account the approach that the polluter should, in principle, bear the cost of pollution, with due regard to the public interest and without distorting international trade and investment. For instance, a factory that produces a potentially poisonous substance as a byproduct of its activities is usually held responsible for its safe disposal. Carbon price is a good strategy to implement the polluters pay principle. Making the polluter pay foundation for economic education. Polluter pays principle how is polluter pays principle. The polluter pays principle has been held to be a sound principle by this court in indian council for enviro legal action v.
The polluter pays principle is the commonly accepted practice that those who produce pollution should bear the costs of managing it to prevent damage to human health or the environment. Appropriately applied, policies based on a polluter pays principle ppp should enable us to protect the environment without sacrificing the efficiency of a free market economic system. Caselaw of the court of justice european commission europa eu. To encourage sustainable development, that principle assigns polluters the responsibility for remedying contamination for which they are responsible and imposes. Adoption of this principle as part of government policy towards the environment involves intervening in markets to. Then determine if under local or national law, that person or company can be held liable for the costs of cleaning up the pollution and the damages from the pollution.
This is not because their laws are explicitly or implicitly based upon different models of the polluter pays principle as such. The polluter pays principle has received support from most countries of the organisation for economic cooperation and development oecd and from the european community ec. Identify a local instance of pollution of water or air or land and determine who caused the pollution. In the light of the precautionary principle, environmental legislation may also provide for measures which are taken to. The polluter pays rhetoric is still often used, and most americans probably think that current environmental policies make polluters pay. I then discuss some support for the beneficiary pays principle that has been developed in the literature. It is regarded as a regional custom because of the strong support it has received in most organisation for economic cooperation and development oecd and european union countries. Simon caney has recently defended a hybrid view, which includes versions of both of these principles. The polluter pays principle is one of the fundamental environmental principles in trinidad and tobago. Water charges the wfd does not allow governments to profit from water charges, but the directive recommends two policies which will push water charges upward. Carbon price should be uniform across the countries and there should not be any carbon havens. The polluters pays principle is the commonly accepted practice that those who produce pollution should bear the costs of managing it to prevent damage to human health or the environment.
States can also provide an allowance setaside to clean energy generators including verified demandside energy efficiency projects. The centre was established in 1988 and is a joint venture by the international institute for environment and development iied and university college london ucl. It simply means that a polluter must pay the cost of their pollution. The gulf spill and the polluter pays principle west. Explanation this is a basic economic principle currently being adopted in legislation by many countries that requires the producers or generators of pollution to pay for the costs of avoiding pollution or of cleaning up or remedying its effects. The polluterpays principle ppp was adopted by oecd in 1972 as an economic principle. Combine incentive and revenueraising functions of eis. The supreme court of canada has described the purpose of this principle as follows. The polluter pay principle david pearce london environmental economics centre this gatekeeper series is produced by the london environmental economics centre leec. For instance, a factory that produces a potentially poisonous substance as a byproduct of its activities is usually held. The polluter pays principle does not only apply if there is a real pollution in terms of harm or damage to private property andor the environment.
1024 343 1226 1065 1059 169 1500 975 87 4 1352 269 495 727 1494 559 567 1526 1385 1208 1161 1464 627 1080 1428 230 143 590 1243 1397 1204 202 1337 99 289