Environmental regulation and corporate offshoring in the aluminium sector

Aluminium has been produced on a large scale since the 1880s. Since the beginning, local populations have noted and protested against the environmental impacts of the processes by which bauxite is transformed into aluminium. Environmental regulation implemented to reduce such impacts often only led to aluminium companies offshoring their production to third countries. To show the underlying mechanisms, this article discusses three cases of environmental conflict involving the aluminium industry: fluoride emissions, red mud deposition, and C02 emissions.