No regulations, so companies, being in a competitive state, will try anything to "win" the competition.
So what do they do? They play by the rules. They find loopholes in the rules. They do the bare minimum of what is required of them. That gives them better prices, giving them a competitive edge than a company that tries to do "things right" or "things better".
Doing things better is automatically more costly, increasing costs, influencing the price.
We need an economic tool to promote sustainability