Abstract
This chapter offers a detailed cluster analysis of "pollution havens" in apparel production; links that divergence to theoretical works on Environmental Kuznets Curves (EKC), unequal ecological exchange, the pollution havens hypothesis, and global governance; exposes the system of perverse incentives that creates pollution havens; and explains how the academy has treated the issue.
This chapter offers a detailed cluster analysis of "pollution havens" in apparel production; links that divergence to theoretical works on Environmental Kuznets Curves (EKC), unequal ecological exchange, the pollution havens hypothesis, and global governance; exposes the system of perverse incentives that creates pollution havens; and explains how the academy has treated the issue. The reality is that the technological platform for the production of cotton has largely remained unchanged for a century. Organic or inorganic, cotton production accounts for around 6% of final apparel costs. Weaving cotton into fabric is more than twice as expensive because it is an integrated and technology-dependent petrochemical process. Weaving brings the costs of textile production, including farm-level costs, to account for 13% of apparel item retail prices. The "pollution haven" hypothesis states that a large proportion of foreign direct investment (FDI) in lesser-developed countries (LDCs) finances highly polluting and ecologically inefficient manufacturing processes and facilities that are outsourced from developed countries.