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Is perfection the only relevant standard? The west has made massive strides in environmental protection over the last 50 years.

https://www.popsci.com/america-before-epa-photos

It was just an expression meaning "we don't have that great a handle" either on how much Western countries actually pollute.

As proven in the examples mentioned in subsequent comments.

It's impossible to say without some type of dedicated study focused specifically on the question, but my sense is that those examples are rather extraordinary exceptions, and not the rule.

Color me unsurprised that the Mafia is breaking laws; there are also vanishingly few organizations like the Mafia in the developed West.

Or Dieselgate. Or how the authorities of the countries lobbied to keep emissions tests which they knew were easy to fool:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/sep/24/uk-franc...

When carmakers means employment for voters and tax income, it seems obvious governments will let them get away with crap, their motivation is to remain in power and that is easier when the voters are happily employed: https://qz.com/1045619/germanys-diesel-scandal-shines-a-ligh...

It isn’t binary.