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Brenda, Galindo Felix

Mrs Dorman

AP Language and Composition

18 September 2023

Environmental regulation can help save the planet

Implementing effective environmental laws is essential to the preservation of our planet.

Environmental laws play a huge part in protecting our natural resources, habitats, people and

animals. Moreover, without these environmental laws, there would be no control over the

amount of pollution emitted. And with the growing threats to our climate, the need for

environmental laws increases. Many argue that more stringent regulation would cause significant

change to the economy and job production; however, implementing more stringent

environmental laws is actually substantially beneficial and has no adverse effect on the economy

and the job market, it benefits future generations, as well as increasing the planet's health and

human health ruined by pollution.

Various regulations have been established to aid in the preservation of our planet. These

regulations ensure some limit or control over the pollution emitted. According to the United

Nations, The Paris Agreement is a legal agreement between 196 countries regarding climate

change that was fully established on November 4th, 2016. It was agreed that countries would

work towards lowering the increase in the global temperature caused by climate change down to

1.5-2°C. This agreement has helped new markets flourish and newer solutions to carbon

emissions, such as the Zero-carbon solution, which provided a change in 25% of Carbon

emissions and is estimated to change 70% of emissions globally by 2030 (“The Paris

Agreement”). The Paris Agreement is crucial for climate change as it brought many nations
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together to fight against climate change; with enforcement of this agreement, there will be a

better outcome for our planet. For instance the UN's goal was to lower the increase of global

temperature, reducing the impact of climate change on our environment. The Center for Climate

and Energy Solutions wrote an article about the Montreal Protocol regarding hazardous

chemicals and the reduction in chlorofluorocarbons, which damages the ozone layer. This treaty

has eliminated around 98% of the uses of these compounds since 1985, when the protocol was

put in place (“The Montreal Protocol”). The Montreal Protocol has been leading the works of

environmental regulation and is a critical fight against climate change. As a result, this regulation

has already changed the use of hazardous compounds that endanger the planet and humans. In

addition, the more regulations that are enforced similarly to the Montreal Protocol provide a

higher chance that other hazardous chemicals will be changed to better alternatives being

beneficial to everyone.

Environmental laws benefit not just one country but the entire world population, as they

have the power to reduce carbon emissions in the atmosphere. According to an article published

by Harvard Business Review in 2019, in order to avoid worsening conditions in climate,

countries need to limit pollution and keep global warming under 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit. The

report states that companies in countries with tighter environmental regulations emit lower levels

of CO2 in their home. Take the case of data collected from 1,800 international companies from

2008 to 2016, their firms average around 29% lower emissions in countries with tighter

regulations. Just from those countries with higher regulation, global CO2 emissions were 15%

lower (“When Environmental Regulations Are Tighter”). It has been proven that the global

impact of CO2 does not only affect the world around us but even the environment close to us.

Thus showing how countries that understand the danger and implement laws controlling the
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amount of pollution have improved the emission of CO2. A research article written by the

London School of Economics and Political Science in 2021 gathered data from 133 countries and

found that added environmental laws would lower CO2 emissions by 0.8% in 3 years and 1.8%

in total (“How Well Do Climate Laws Help”). The data above shows that CO2 emissions

lowered significantly due to the addition of environmental laws. These numbers would increase

even more through enforcing these laws and their stringency, significantly changing the negative

effects of climate change.

There have been many benefits to stringent pollution regulation, including health

improvements, financial benefits and a decrease in premature deaths . The Natural Resources

Defense Council in 2021 reported the benefits of regulations for air pollution, stating that more

control over pollution can avoid a possible 370,000 deaths due to pollutants in the air. It can also

save around 189,000 admissions to hospitals due to illnesses related to air pollution (Mackenzie,

and Turrentine). The evidence reveals how effective the enforcement of these regulations is. In

this case thousands of deaths and reduction of respiratory illness could be prevented if these laws

are not only made but also enforced. A study conducted by the National Library of Medicine

published in 2017 reports that the Clean Air Act has lowered 70% of pollution and has been the

most successful environmental law in the US. In 2015, there was a 5.9 billion dollar cost-benefit

and prevention of around 660 deaths and thousands of hospital admissions due to illnesses

related to air pollution's effects. Moreover, by 2030, it estimates a saving of 45 billion dollars in

health care bills (McCarthy and Burke). Not only do these laws help prevent deaths, but they also

help with the amount of money spent on medical bills and health care expenses. Hence just one

law in the US was able to save money as well as prevent deaths, and it is estimated that more
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will be prevented. Equally important these laws have shown that they are essential whether it be

for public health or even for our economical status.

On the other side of the debate over environmental law, many people claim that more

stringent regulation would be too costly and not worth it; however, studies show how that fact is

simply not true, and the benefit of environmental laws can sometimes have better outcomes than

not. An article by Khan Academy displays the actual cost of the Clean Air Act between 1970 and

1990. The original cost was around 500 billion dollars, but the estimated cost benefits of the Act

also brought in around 22 trillion dollars, which is more than the cost of when it was

implemented. In 2010, the EPA also estimated that the cost-benefits would average around 110

billion dollars (Khan Academy). As it shows, the average profit from the Clean Air Act exceeded

more than 400% of its original cost. Proving the inaccuracy of the claim of a negative cost

because of environmental laws. A study published by Legal Planet in 2019 showed a significant

increase in green jobs due to newer regulations, employing around 9.5 million workers for the

newer green jobs. This is an increase of 20% from 2012-13 and 2015-16. This also brought 1.3

trillion dollars in sales revenue (Legal Planet). The other argument against environmental

regulation is how much it could affect the job market. However the evidence proves that instead

of a negative effect on the market, there was actually a greater increase in green jobs.

In essence, environmental regulations that reduce pollution, improve one's air quality, and

even financial benefits which can be crucial to further progress into our future. These laws, such

as the Paris Agreement and the Montreal Protocol, also nurture the planet's health. These laws

that have been already implemented show a positive increase in global health. In the financial

sense, the Clean Air Act helps portray the substantial savings in health care and improved

economic performance. Regardless of the arguments mentioning the negative views about the
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topic, stating how more rules and regulations would only cause a loss of jobs and a higher cost

than it is worth, the evidence proves that all of those claims are false. The effects of climate

change can be easily ignored in the name of a growing economy; however, implementing laws

helps these cries not go unnoticed.

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Works Cited

Farber, Dan. “Jobs and Environmental Regulation.” Legal Planet. Legal Planet, 5 Sept. 2022,

legal-planet.org/2022/09/05/jobs-and-environmental-regulation/.

“How Well Do Climate Laws Help Reduce Global Warming?” The London School of Economics

and Political Science. Grantham Research Institute, 2 Aug. 2021,

www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/publication/how-well-do-climate-laws-help-reduce-glob

al-warming/.

Jillian Mackenzie, Jeff Turrentine. “Air Pollution: Everything You Need to Know.” Natural

Resources Defense Council. Natural Resources Defense Council, 22 June 2021,

www.nrdc.org/stories/air-pollution-everything-you-need-know#ej.

“When Environmental Regulations Are Tighter at Home, Companies Emit More

Abroad.” Harvard Business Review. Harvard Business Review, 10 Nov. 2022,

hbr.org/2019/02/research-when-environmental-regulations-are-tighter-at-home-companie

s-emit-more-abroad#:~:text=Our%20research%20finds%20that%20global,domestic%20e

nvironmental%20regulations%20are%20strict.

“The Benefits and Costs of US Environmental Laws (Article).” Khan Academy. Khan Academy,

n.d.www.khanacademy.org/economics-finance-domain/microeconomics/market-failure-a

nd-the-role-of-government/environmental-regulation/a/the-benefits-and-costs-of-u-s-envi

ronmental-laws-cnx. Accessed 3 Sept. 2023

McCarthy, Gina, and Thomas A Burke. “We Need a Strong Environmental Protection Agency:

It’s about Public Health!” American Journal of Public Health. U.S. National Library of

Medicine, May 2017, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5388973/. Accessed 3

Sept. 2023
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“The Montreal Protocol.” Center for Climate and Energy Solutions. Center for Climate and

Energy Solutions, 18 Oct. 2022,

www.c2es.org/content/the-montreal-protocol/. Accessed 3 Sept. 2023

“The Paris Agreement.” United Nations Climate Change. United Nations Climate Change, n.d.

unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/the-paris-agreement. Accessed 3 Sept. 2023.