How does a political statement cost trillions? The information contained in the sentence "let's use the money where it matters most" is zero. How do you figure out where it matters most?

The fact is: if people can exploit some loophole (like blowing dirt into the air instead of installing expensive filters), they will do so. They don't really have an incentive to do otherwise. It doesn't have to be laws that gives them an incentive - there could be "transparency", customers could prefer to buy "clean" stuff, hence producers would have an incentive to produce clean.

Without such an incentive, nothing will happen.