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Beyond the Policy Debate: How to Quantify Sustainability Benefits in Competition Cases

Lessons Learned From Environmental Economics

Adina Claici, Jasper Lutz

DOI https://doi.org/10.21552/core/2021/3/5

Keywords: sustainability benefits, competition policy, economic analysis


The competition community is currently busy discussing the role of competition policy in supporting the Green Deal and other EU sustainability objectives. In this paper, we look beyond the policy debate and focus on the application of economic methodologies in quantifying sustainability benefits potentially stemming from an agreement, a merger, or state aid. We zoom in on the current rules to identify the boundaries of what could be the basis for incorporating sustainability in such cases before presenting well-established tools and methodologies from environmental economics that can be used in the quantification of sustainability. As with any quantitative assessment, there is a trade-off between accuracy and cost, and the methodological choices should be based on the circumstances of each case.
Keywords: sustainability benefits, competition policy, economic analysis

Dr Adina Claici, visiting professor at the College of Europe, Bruges and the Barcelona Graduate School of Economics, director of the Global Competition Law Centre, steering committee member of the Association of Competition Economists in Europe. Jasper Lutz, economic analysist with Copenhagen Economics, Copenhagen. For correspondence: <mailto:adina.claici@coleurope.eu> and <mailto:jlu@copenhageneconomics.com>.Authors’ note: we would like to thank Cezar Miu for valuable research assistance; we are indebted to Torben Thorø Pedersen and Mindaugas Cerpickis for their valuable comments.

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