Overview of the Kuznets Curve..

An overview of the Kuznets curve: The inverse relationship between environmental pollution and economic growth

The Kuznets curve, first proposed by US economist Simon Kuznets in 1955, is a well-known curve used to investigate the impact of economic growth on human welfare. According to this curve, human welfare increases in the early stages of economic growth, but then the rate of economic growth decreases, and human welfare declines.

In 1995, Grossman and Krueger began to analyze the relationship between environmental indicators and income distributions. And the 'Environmental Kuznets Curve' emerged. According to this hypothesis, there is an inverse relationship between economic growth and environmental pollution. In the early stages of industrial production, as financial income increases, environmental pollution also increases, but corruption is ignored at this stage. After the optimum growth point is reached, environmental factors start to be considered, and pollution decreases. The high environmental awareness of institutions and individuals with high-income levels shows a factor in this decrease.

If you ask what are the dangers of the curve, some proponents of the curve say that there is not yet a peak where carbon emissions will start to fall. And they think that maybe what we need is a bit more economic growth to reach the necessary per capita income threshold. It isn't clear how safe it is to read the theory in this light, as we have already crossed safe limits and started to destabilize the climate. Given that there are tipping points that will lead to climate change, increasing emissions in the name of economic growth is a luxury we don't have.

This curve actually shows how developed countries reached milestone incomes as a result of intensive production with the industrial revolution and the reduction in pollution as environmental factors that were not taken into account at that time started to be taken into account over time.

Also, the other problem is that the curve is limited to the production of countries. For example, the British economy moved away from heavy industry. But it has not stopped using heavy industrial goods. It still wants to drive gasoline-powered cars and build things out of cement. Countries that have closed their own mines still use a lot of tin, copper, and iron ore from elsewhere. From this point of view, environmental impacts have not disappeared. They have just shifted.

In every post, I want to underline the need for environmental sanctions that will evaluate the whole world holistically. We can tackle the global climate crisis not by relocating pollution, but through a global and "real" fight.