levo

The External Environment

Business and the environment

  • 3 things to know
  • A2 Unit 4

Overview

Five potential environmental costs of business activity, external cost and three ways government can control environmental costs.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

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Key term

Name five potential environmental costs of business activity.

Key term

Why do external costs mean the market produces too much of a polluting good?

Key term

Name three ways government can control environmental costs.

Questions from this subtopic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

  1. 1

    Name five potential environmental costs of business activity.

    Model answer

    Air pollution, water pollution, noise, waste disposal and the destruction of habitat, with congestion and greenhouse gas emissions alongside them.

  2. 2

    What is an external cost?

    Model answer

    A cost of an activity borne by third parties rather than by the producer or consumer, such as pollution affecting people who never bought the product.

  3. 3

    Why do external costs mean the market produces too much of a polluting good?

    Model answer

    The producer's price reflects only its private costs, so the good is cheaper than its true cost to society and more of it is bought.

  4. 4

    Name three ways government can control environmental costs.

    Model answer

    Regulation setting limits and standards, taxation making pollution expensive, and tradable permits capping total emissions.

  5. 5

    Give an example of an environmental tax or charge in the UK.

    Model answer

    Landfill tax on waste sent to landfill, with the single-use carrier bag charge a further example.

  6. 6

    What is a tradable permit scheme, and what is its advantage?

    Model answer

    A cap on total emissions divided into permits that firms can buy and sell, which achieves the cap while letting reductions happen where they are cheapest.

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Need means something essential for survival, such as food, water or shelter.
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