Global Sustainability

Event Details

Companies across the globe are making major changes to their business models to meet Net Zero and other environmental and social goals. However, despite growing public consensus about the need for the private sector to act, there is ongoing debate about how antitrust rules should deal with competitor collaborations which will deliver sustainability benefits. 

Major strides forward have been made in the last few years. The European Commission published its final guidelines in June 2023 with the CMA following suit with their Green Agreements Guidance in October 2023 - both following lengthy and in-depth public debates. However, there remains a concern that a lack of alignment between policy makers and agencies internationally may still be having a chilling effect on legitimate initiatives. This is amplified by the threat of litigation by groups who oppose ESG-related action, most notably in the United States. Several questions need to be addressed:

• What steps could and should legislators and agencies be taking to help businesses collaborate with confidence within the rules?
• Should some sustainability initiatives benefit from more flexible enforcement than others - and if so, which ones?
• How are businesses able to demonstrate that long-term environmental benefits for a specific class of consumers will outweigh any short-term harm?

 
Our international debate will feature representatives from some of the world's leading antitrust agencies, as well as those businesses and alliances that are directly affected by the current levels of uncertainty.

Now is a critical time to engage in the debate and help drive a framework for clear and consistent enforcement globally.

This event will be hosted under the Chatham House Rule

Chair:

Liza Lovdahl Gormsen, Senior Research Fellow in Competition Law and Director, Competition Law Forum, BIICL

Speakers:

• Philipp Dimakopoulos, European Comission (DG Comp CET)
• Denise Hearn, Resident Senior Fellow, Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment
• Thorsten Käseberg, Head of the competition policy unit in the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy
• Rachel Keyserlingk, Economist, Frontier Economics
  
• Martin McElwee, Partner, Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP
• Jane Murray, IIGCC
• Ann Pope, Senior Director for Antitrust, CMA
• Will Richards, Assistant Director & member of the Sustainability Taskforce at the ACCC
• Martijn Snoep, Chairman of the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM)
• Kenta Suzuki, Senior Planning Officer, Coordination Division, Japan Fair Trade Commission

Names of representatives from the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice to be confirmed.

Pricing and Registration

This event is open to members of the Competition Law Forum at BIICL and invited guests only. Members of the forum may reserve a place by contacting the Event Team.

If you would like to register your interest in attending please contact The events Team 

Find out more about the Competition Law Forum 

Join the conversation #sustainability #antitrust #ESG