The Recorder: Are Sustainability and Competition Truly Incompatible?
February 6, 2023
O’Melveny partner Anna Pletcher, counsel Kelse Moen, and associates Emme Tyler and Molly Shuminer co-authored this article focusing on antitrust issues stemming from environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards. “Despite these good intentions, competitors using ESGs to set goals and measure achievements has generated significant debate and concern about antitrust issues. Generally, businesses enjoy wide latitude to define their purposes and unilaterally act to achieve their goals. But a rise in industry-wide coordination has unwittingly pushed ESGs into the antitrust space,” the authors wrote. “For now, asset managers, fashion designers, and other businesses should tread lightly. ESG-related antitrust litigation is all but guaranteed, so we inevitably will find out whether sustainability and competition are truly incompatible.”
Read the full article here.