The Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) has released its Green Agreements Guidance, stringent information on how businesses can legally collaborate to move the dial on sustainability issues. Here’s how brands can work together in confidence…

One of the biggest challenges facing brands when it comes to sustainability is understanding what businesses can and can’t share with one another. Or, is it?

Thanks to new guidance published by the CMA, businesses that are on a level playing field and are in competition now have clarity about what they can collaborate on.

This comes as brands and businesses are showing growing interest in joining efforts to combat green issues, but are unsure about what is, and what is not, legal when working together towards environmental sustainability goals.

On top of offering open-door guidance to businesses that need more support differentiating what’s within CMA laws, the guide sets out clear examples of the types of green initiatives that can be worked on collaboratively:

• An agreement which concerns the internal corporate conduct of the businesses, for example, to eliminate the use of single-use plastic in their business premises, or to moderate the use of heating and air-conditioning in offices, or to limit the number of printed materials.
• An agreement to pool funds to engage in activities to mitigate, adapt or compensate for the effects of greenhouse gas emissions generated in production. This could include, for example, where the joint funds are used for training activities for people working in the industry to develop or encourage the use of more sustainable practices or processes.
• An agreement to run a joint campaign to raise awareness about environmental sustainability issues within an industry or among customers, provided that the campaign does not amount to joint selling or advertising of specific products.
• Joint lobbying for policy or legislative changes, such as on carbon pricing, where businesses come together to influence policy or legislative change in order to protect and promote their interests. Such an arrangement must not involve the sharing of competitively sensitive information between competitors, nor must it be an attempt to use lobbying as a means for seeking the exclusion of a competitor.

In essence, the Green Agreement Guidance reads: ‘Businesses may rule out any concerns about competition law compliance if the environmental sustainability agreement in question does not affect or engage with the way those businesses compete.’

So, if you are thinking about collaborating with a competitor for the progression of your green commitments, consider whether doing so effects price, quantity, quality, choice or innovation – which are all key parameters of competition.

If you are steering clear of all of these aspects, we say ‘go for it’ – after all, cross-industry collaboration has the power to foster real change.

Following the release of the CMA’s Green Agreements Guidance, the British Beauty Council and its Sustainable Beauty Coalition are actively working with each sector of the beauty industry to formulate a blueprint for a new approach to plastic waste and waste management, titled ‘the Great British Beauty Clean Up’.

You can read the Green Agreements Guidance here.