The Lancet Planetary Health, June 2025

Planetary Health Research Digest

Pollution offshoring

Many studies assert that democratic nations typically have better environmental protection records than those found in authoritarian states. While some researchers have attributed this relationship to genuine domestic environmental protection, others disagree. Thomas Bernauer (Federal Institute of Technology Zurich, Switzerland) and colleagues aim to shed light on the ambiguity of the democracy–environment nexus by examining an overlooked factor—pollution offshoring.