2023 Reports

Antitrust and Sustainability: A Landscape Analysis

Sachs, Lisa E.; Hanawalt, Cynthia; Hearn, Denise

In this report, the Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment and the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law give an overview of the broad purview of antitrust law, and the myriad and complex ways in which it intersects with and affects sustainability goals. The purpose of this report is to provoke and support engaged and informed conversation among policymakers, private firms, and the wider public around the appropriate competition policy framework which can support sustainable development broadly. It considers the range of inherent complexities and aims to chart a path forward in a thoughtful manner.

Ultimately, competition policy and its enforcement agencies are one component of a broad policy framework that shapes private sector activities and their alignment with, or contributions to, climate or other sustainability-related policy objectives. Incentivizing private actors to align their practices with sustainability and climate goals will require policies and regulations throughout the economy. Antitrust policies and agencies should be a coherent part of this robust policy framework.