Climate vs competition: A balancing act

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has recently published draft guidance on applying Chapter 1 prohibition to environmental sustainability agreements.

Upon successful implementation of the guidance, UK fund managers should find it easier to assess the risk of environmentally focused agreements and the possibility of them infringing upon competition law.

While the CMA outlines greater flexibility in support of environmental initiatives, it remains firm in other areas of competition law principles, highlighting legal limitations on the flexibility it offers.

The defining detail
The guidelines clarify that individual exemptions to competition law may apply if the environmental collaboration restricting competition has a wider benefit to society, which outweighs the potential anticompetitive effect of the legal breach.

In this case, the benefits may need to...