Dick Smith wants to save the world from population growth, and he is willing to pay $1 million for it.

The larger-than-life Australian entrepreneur launched his Wilberforce Award at the Financial and Energy Exchange in Sydney this morning, flanked by five young blonde women, celebrity publicist Max Markson, a Chihuahua dog and an old suitcase filled with $1 million in $100 notes.

The aim of the prize is to encourage people around the world below the age of 30 to come up with the best solution to stop what Mr Smith terms society's capitalist-driven addiction to consumption growth.

The millionaire believes the planet, with its finite resources, cannot cope with the exponential expansion of the human population and, if nothing is done to reverse it, human civilisation will collapse.