Competition law and sustainability

What are the competitive advantages of sustainability?
Sustainable advantages fall into three categories: size in the targeted market, superior access to resources or customers, and restrictions on competitors' options.
Note that these advantages are nonexclusive.
They can, and often do, interact.
The more of them, the better..
What is sustainability in law?
Sustainability can be defined as a development in which companies and other organizations take responsibility for the impact on their externalities in the environmental, social and corporate areas..
What is the role of sustainability in competitiveness?
A sustainable competitive advantage is essential in determining a company's long-term success in the market.
Businesses that lack this edge are more likely to be vulnerable to changing demands and face increased competition from new entrants..
Where is sustainability applicable?
Sustainability is a generic concept that can be applied by: governments, companies, and individuals to inform their strategic decisions, actions and behaviour.
Sustainability is more than just nature.
There are three pillars to consider: the environment, society, and economy..
A sustainable competitive advantage is essential in determining a company's long-term success in the market.
Businesses that lack this edge are more likely to be vulnerable to changing demands and face increased competition from new entrants.
Simply put, sustainability is a business approach to creating long-term value by taking into consideration how a given organization operates in the ecological, social, and economic environments.
Sustainability is built on the assumption that developing such strategies fosters company longevity.

The idea of sustainability and the concept of sustainable development are typically considered to encompass an environmental, an economic and a social dimension. By promoting economic efficiency and consumer welfare (eg quality, lower prices, variety, and innovation), competition law favours economic sustainability.

Can competition enforcement promote sustainability?

It describes how sustainability can be fostered by competition enforcement against practices hindering sustainability and then illustrates the interaction of competition law and business activities where business activity leads to increased sustainability.

Is competition law a problem?

Even more importantly, it is an approach that can often be damaging from an environmental and sustainability perspective and, in particular, it is holding back vital initiatives to combat climate change.
In other words:

competition law is part of the problem.

Is there a relationship between sustainability and competition law?

When aiming to approach the interrelationship between sustainability and competition law a more in depth look at the concept of sustainability is warranted.
Today ‘sustainability’ and ‘sustainable development’ are often used interchangeably.
This paper partly follows this approach.

Should competition law be based on the Green Deal?

Traditionally, the focus of competition law is on economy goals, assuming that non-economic public goals are better dealt with by other areas of law.
Building on the European Green Deal, this approach should change, as competition law and policy can contribute to the sustainability debates.

How can competition authorities improve sustainability?

Competition authorities might need to strengthen and broaden their capacities, given that sustainability is a broad - maybe all encompassing- field covering matters of environmental protection, economics, and the social dimension

Thus, co-operation with other regulators, relevant stakeholder, and civil society seems crucial

Is there a relationship between sustainability and competition law?

When aiming to approach the interrelationship between sustainability and competition law a more in depth look at the concept of sustainability is warranted

Today ‘sustainability’ and ‘sustainable development’ are often used interchangeably

This paper partly follows this approach

Why is competition law so important?

It shows how competition law (and, even more, the fear of unnecessarily restrictive or unpredictable competition law enforcement) is standing in the way of this

It identifies the key benefit for business, governments and society as a whole

The ecological model of competition is a reassessment of the nature of competition in the economy.
Traditional economics models the economy on the principles of physics.
This can be seen in the economics lexicon: terms like labour force, market equilibrium, capital flows, and price elasticity.
This is probably due to historical coincidence.
Classical Newtonian physics was the state of the art in science when Adam Smith was formulating the first principles of economics in the 18th century.

Proposed law of Economics

The iron law of wages is a proposed law of economics that asserts that real wages always tend, in the long run, toward the minimum wage necessary to sustain the life of the worker.
The theory was first named by Ferdinand Lassalle in the mid-nineteenth century.
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels attribute the doctrine to Lassalle, the idea to Thomas Malthus's An Essay on the Principle of Population, and the terminology to Goethe's great, eternal iron laws in Das Göttliche.

Competition law and sustainability

What are the competitive advantages of sustainability?

What is sustainability in law?

What is the role of sustainability in competitiveness?

Where is sustainability applicable?

Can competition enforcement promote sustainability?

Is competition law a problem?

Is there a relationship between sustainability and competition law?

Should competition law be based on the Green Deal?

How can competition authorities improve sustainability?

Is there a relationship between sustainability and competition law?

Why is competition law so important?