Overview

• A PLOS Climate study analyzed 161 countries between 1990 and 2015, linking democracy scores with pollution offshoring and greenhouse gas emissions.
• The findings show democratic nations offshore more pollution than autocratic ones, lowering domestic emissions while exporting environmental harm.
• On average, democracies with higher pollution offshoring reduced domestic greenhouse gas emissions by over one metric ton per capita.
• The study challenges traditional territory-based emissions metrics, which can misrepresent the true environmental impact of wealthier democracies.
• Researchers urge high-income democracies to adopt consumption-based emissions accounting to address their global environmental footprint.