Is religiosity helpful in protecting the natural environment?

Recently, we decided to conduct a study showing the connection between religiosity, the quality of environment, and the wealth of a society. For this purpose, we created an econometric model referring to the two previous streams of research in this area: the first stream indicated the presence of a connection between religiosity and the wealth of a society, while the second stream focuses on the environmental hypothesis of the Kuznets curve which describes the connection between income and the quality of environment.

The research sample adopted in our study includes 53 countries located in North and South America, Africa, Europe, Asia and Australia. The history of the formation of their economies is varied and complex. However, on the basis of data from 1960 to 2018, we can conclude that poorer countries are characterized by higher religiosity and worse environmental pollution. The countries that are defind by the highest religiosity are Christian and Christian-Muslim located primarily in Africa, such as Ghana, Kenya, Niger and Nigeria. Environmental degradation in these economies is mainly due to economies of scale, i.e., increased production, which also increment pollution. It should be noted that such a phenomenon may be caused by, inter alia, the internationalization of their economies with growing exports and energy consumption, as well as the type of industry and the production technologies used.

In comparison, in richer and also less religious countries, the reduction in environmental degradation occurs as a result of two effects: the technology effect and the composition effect. The technological effect involves replacing old production methods that are unfriendly to the Earth's ecosystems with new methods that do not devastate the environment or do it to a much lower extent. The composition effect, in contrast, results from increasing the share of production in those sectors of the economy, such as services, that contribute less to environmental degradation than, for example, heavy industry.

The simplest recommendations for policies in developing (poorer) countries are, of course, the introduction of appropriate legal regulations and effective support of investment in technologies that are environmentally friendly. In our research, we additionally highlight religious institutions that can play a significant role in the processes of protecting and improving the quality of the environment by shaping pro-environmental attitudes. An example of such religious influence is undoubtedly the current work of Pope Francis, whose encyclical Laudato si.  "On Care for Our Common Home" is an eloquest voice that the restorative potential of a devastated environment can be found in religion.

** Research funded under the "Regional Excellence Initiative" by the Ministry of Education and Science.