Abstract: In many developing contexts, economic growth brings increased pollution. Pollution often has human consequences, like worsening health, that offset the welfare gains from growth. I investigate this tension, examining how Brazil’s sugarcane industry shifted from a dirty, manual harvest to a cleaner, mechanical harvest. In contrast to claims by policymakers, my analysis of worker- and establishment-level data finds that regulation cannot explain the widespread shift in harvesting practices, although it may have led to limited experimentation with mechanical harvesting. Economic growth itself seems to be the primary driver; an instrumental variables approach suggests increasing wages are sufficient to explain the adoption of green technology.