Editor’s Note: We recently launched the Emissions Market Accelerator (EMA), a groundbreaking initiative that helps governments in the Global South design and deploy market solutions to reduce pollution and foster economic growth. Researchers affiliated with the Emissions Market Accelerator helped the Indian state of Gujarat design and launch the world’s first particulate pollution market—an effort EMA is now scaling up. That project has been named a finalist for The Earthshot Prize. This episode of Shocked is a great primer to learn how emissions markets work and how they got their start in the U.S. It also unpacks how the Gujarat market came to be and its success.
In theory, the free market should help solve climate change. In reality, it’s rarely that simple. This episode explores how emissions markets work, where they’re taking off to reduce pollution, and why economists still believe markets are essential—if politics will let them be.
More on the pollution market in India: https://emissionsmarkets.org/evidence-from-india/
More on the scale up efforts: https://emissionsmarkets.org/