Can game theory help solve the problem of climate change?

Applying the mathematical principle of studying models of conflict and cooperation between groups could help us rein in global warming

Can't we all just get along. Play nicely? Share? Such laments could be applied to many economic, political and social problems today. Perhaps the thorniest of them all is, climate change. Despite the relative success of the Paris COP21 in November, we are still far from effectively controlling greenhouse gas emissions. Could game theory help us rein in our impacts on the climate?

Game theory is the mathematical study of conflict and cooperation between actors or groups: animals, people, businesses, countries or even computer algorithms. It became a formal topic of study in the 1950s and has since made significant impact on economics, political science and evolutionary biology and ecology.