As per reports, in the year 2011, there were 542 environment related accidents out of which 60% are from road and process related accidents. It is estimated that the loss due to these accidents resulting in environment damage is about US$ 220 billion and this cost does not take into account of impact on public health and loss of productivity from farm land contamination. The number of accidents causing damage to environment is on rise.
I am not an economist and can't think much. But, it appears that countries while setting ambitious export targets are overusing the available limited natural resources and giving less importance to safety of employees and environment protection. When everybody tries to flood markets with their products, costs will come down, but this will also lead to wasting of resources and loading the environment.
One of the units to measure development in an area is that of per capita energy consumption. This unit neither takes into account of effective use of energy not actual need for the energy consumed.
Instead of craving for tags/labels of development, one should use available resources judiciously to provide necessary comfort for all.