Australia to join global regulatory surge in 'green collaboration' guidance
Australia has lagged behind a growing number of jurisdictions providing guidance on exemptions from competition law for environmental outcomes. That could be about to change.
Australia's competition regulator is no stranger to weighing the environmental benefit of a transaction against its effect on competition.
The Australian Competition & Consumer Commission's landmark decision to endorse the failed Brookfield-Origin deal on the basis of Brookfield's pledge to spend billions decarbonising the business shows it is possible to succeed on public benefit grounds.
But when it comes to simple collaboration rather than a merger or transaction, the regulator's standing is harder to assess, lawyers say.
The European Union, Japan, New Zealand and the UK are all among jurisdictions that have recently published guidance for companies seeking to collaborate in an otherwise anticompetitive manner for an environmental outcome.
