Competition policy supporting the Green Deal

ClientEarth's submission to the Eropean Commission’s call for contributions on how competition policy can support the Green Deal

The alignment of competition policy with the European Green Deal objectives alignment is necessary since, so far, competition policy primarily focussed on distortion of competition in the internal market without considering environmental negative externalities of economic activities and without having much regards to the social and environmental dimensions of sustainable development.

Competition policy should be rethought and reshaped in accordance with overarching principles of the EU treaties, such as Article 3 TUE, Article 11 TFEU and Article 37 EU Charter of Fundamental Rights that call for a consistent, coherent and integrated approach of environmental concerns across all Union policies. While legal tools already exist – but could be enhanced – in antitrust and merger control, a deeper reflection on State aid policy and a new assessment test are required to cut aid to fossil fuels and projects that do not comply with their environmental law obligations, and take into account the environmental impact of projects.