For a long time, companies did not have to care about how much they polluted. So the problem was not bad rules, but the lack of rules, there was no market on pollution.

Bernardo García Pola

There are no jobs on a dead planet, so we must find a way for capitalism and the environment to coexist in harmony. The pursuit of ever-increasing profits has seen us hurtling towards the point of no return, because for the longest time, companies did not have to care about how much they polluted the environment. So how can we incentivise the world’s biggest polluters to choose the planet over profit? According to UNSW academic Bernardo García Pola, the answer could be game theory and reimagined market design so that it is in everyone’s interests to do the right thing for the planet.
 

A UNSW Centre for Ideas project, with illustrations designed by Juune Lee and footage filmed at the EPICentre – a UNSW research centre located at the Art & Design campus. Videos filmed and edited by Paper Moose, and podcast editing and music composition by Bryce Halliday.