Environmental Impacts of Globalisation

This lesson examines the environmental consequences of globalisation — including the carbon footprint of global trade, deforestation, pollution, e-waste and the challenges of governing the global commons. It addresses the Edexcel Enquiry Question: "What are the consequences of globalisation for countries and different groups of people?"

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Globalisation and the Environment: An Overview

Globalisation has increased the scale, speed and complexity of human impacts on the environment. The relationship between globalisation and environmental change operates through several mechanisms:

Mechanism	Environmental Impact
Increased trade	More goods transported over longer distances → higher carbon emissions from shipping, aviation and road freight
Global shift	Manufacturing relocated to countries with weaker environmental regulations → "pollution havens"
Consumer demand	Globalisation creates demand for products (palm oil, soy, beef, minerals) that drive deforestation and habitat destruction
Resource extraction	Global commodity markets drive mining, drilling and logging in environmentally sensitive areas
Urbanisation	Globalisation-driven rural-urban migration creates mega-cities with air pollution, waste management and water quality challenges
Technology	Can both increase environmental damage (more production) and reduce it (cleaner technologies, monitoring)

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Carbon Footprint of Global Trade

The transport of goods across the globe generates significant greenhouse gas emissions:

Emissions by Transport Mode

Transport Mode	Share of Global Trade (by volume)	CO₂ Emissions per Tonne-km	Key Goods
Maritime shipping	~80%	8–16 g CO₂ per tonne-km	Containers, oil, gas, bulk commodities
Road freight	Variable (domestic/regional)	60–150 g CO₂ per tonne-km	All types; last-mile delivery
Rail freight	~8% (by volume)	20–30 g CO₂ per tonne-km	Bulk commodities, containers
Air freight	~1% (by volume) but ~35% by value	500–1,000 g CO₂ per tonne-km	High-value, perishable, time-sensitive goods

Key Statistics

• International shipping accounts for approximately 2.9% of global CO₂ emissions (IMO, 2023) — equivalent to the emissions of a major country like Germany or Japan.
• Aviation accounts for approximately 2.5% of global CO₂ emissions (plus non-CO₂ warming effects from contrails and NOₓ).
• The average container ship crossing from Shanghai to Rotterdam emits approximately 4,000–5,000 tonnes of CO₂ per voyage.
• A single long-haul flight (London to New York return) generates approximately 1.6 tonnes of CO₂ per passenger — more than the total annual emissions of a person in many LICs.

The "Food Miles" Debate

Food miles refers to the distance food travels from production to consumption:

Product	Origin	Destination	Air Miles
Green beans	Kenya	UK	~6,800 km
Avocados	Peru	UK	~10,200 km
Lamb	New Zealand	UK	~18,800 km
Blueberries	Chile	UK	~11,700 km

However, the food miles concept is misleading as a simple measure of environmental impact:

• Production emissions often dwarf transport emissions — growing tomatoes in heated greenhouses in the UK can produce more CO₂ than growing them outdoors in Spain and trucking them to the UK.
• Seasonal variation: importing apples from New Zealand when UK apples are out of season can be more efficient than storing UK apples in refrigerated warehouses for months.
• Livelihoods: food exports provide vital income for farmers in LICs — Kenya's green bean industry employs thousands.

Exam Tip: Food miles is a good example of how a seemingly straightforward environmental concept is actually complex and contested. In exam answers, show that you understand this complexity — the environmental impact of food depends on production methods, transport mode, seasonality and storage, not just distance. This nuanced analysis earns high marks.

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Deforestation and Export Agriculture

Globalisation drives deforestation through global demand for agricultural commodities:

Palm Oil

• Indonesia and Malaysia produce approximately 85% of the world's palm oil.
• Palm oil is used in approximately 50% of all packaged supermarket products (food, cosmetics, cleaning products, biofuels).
• Indonesia lost approximately 26 million hectares of tree cover between 2001 and 2023 (Global Forest Watch).
• Deforestation destroys habitat for critically endangered species including orangutans (~100,000 remain), Sumatran tigers (~400 remain) and Sumatran rhinoceros (~80 remain).
• Peatland drainage and burning for palm oil plantations releases massive quantities of stored carbon — Indonesia is one of the world's top greenhouse gas emitters partly due to peat fires.

Soy

• Brazil is the world's largest soy producer. Soy is used primarily for animal feed — feeding livestock that produce meat for global markets.
• Soy expansion has driven deforestation in the Cerrado (tropical savanna) and, to a lesser extent, the Amazon rainforest.
• Brazil lost approximately 26,000 km² of Amazon forest in the decade 2013–2023 (INPE data).

Cattle Ranching

• Brazil has the world's largest commercial cattle herd (~215 million head).
• Cattle ranching is the largest single driver of deforestation in the Amazon, responsible for approximately 80% of forest clearance.
• Beef exports from Brazil reached approximately $12 billion in 2023, driven by demand from China, the USA and Europe.

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The Pollution Havens Hypothesis

The pollution havens hypothesis suggests that TNCs relocate pollution-intensive production to countries with weaker environmental regulations — effectively "exporting" pollution from HICs to LICs and NEEs.

Evidence For

Example	Detail
China's air pollution	Rapid industrialisation driven by export manufacturing has made China the world's largest CO₂ emitter (30% of global total); severe urban air pollution in industrial cities
Ship-breaking	End-of-life ships from around the world are dismantled on beaches in Bangladesh (Chittagong), India (Alang) and Pakistan (Gadani) — workers exposed to asbestos, heavy metals and toxic chemicals with minimal protective equipment
Textile dyeing	Garment factories in Bangladesh discharge toxic dyes into rivers — the Buriganga River near Dhaka is heavily polluted
Mining	Gold mining in DRC and Ghana uses mercury, polluting rivers and soil; cobalt mining in DRC involves child labour and environmental contamination

Evidence Against / Complications