As European competition authorities and international organizations like the OECD and ICN look to advance the debate on sustainability and antitrust, Baker McKenzie’s global antitrust knowledge lawyer Grant Murray and partner Georgina Foster explore the approach of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and ask if it can provide a blueprint for others to follow.
The covid-19 pandemic has accelerated many things in 2020. Judging from the flurry of conferences, discussions and consultations, that includes the intensity of the debate on the relationship between sustainability initiatives and competition law – namely how the latter can support the former. Antitrust authorities are asking themselves how to be part of the solution and not part the problem.
It is not surprising that covid-19 has set people thinking more deeply about climate change. The pandemic underlines the need for coordinated action but is simultaneously a reminder of how difficult it is to achieve a swift global consensus, or to rely on a set of prescriptive rules to address rapidly evolving circumstances.
