The Linklaters antitrust and foreign investment group is one of the world’s leading antitrust law practices, helping our clients successfully navigate fast-evolving competition and foreign investment laws across the globe.

Our dedicated ESG antitrust team has been at the forefront of the ongoing debate around the role of antitrust law in the pursuit of sustainability goals. We have a strong appreciation of the challenges and opportunities for our clients. Crucially, we can translate our extensive expertise and award-winning innovation into practical and dynamic solutions for clients both under the existing competition framework and the changes that will come.

What we advise on

• Competitor and industry-wide collaboration: We have explored competition issues around collaboration to achieve ESG goals, including advising the Consumer Goods Forum on industry-wide collaboration in the ESG space and clients on seeking “comfort letters” from the European Commission and regulators on competitor collaboration on packaging and waste initiatives.
• Acquisitions and joint ventures: Our market-leading expertise in merger control includes advising companies on strategic partnerships and joint ventures in the ESG space, including in relation to the development of alternative and emerging technologies.
• Purchasing terms: We advise clients on purchasing terms, with requirements to source sustainably, use sustainable packaging and commit to the sourcing entities’ sustainability principles, such as Diageo’s Society 2030 Spirit of Progress targets.
• Joint procurement arrangements: We have advised clients on a range of procurement arrangements including advising one of the primary OEM parties in the Commission’s precedent-setting emissions cartel investigations.
• Benchmarking exercises: Engaging in benchmarking on ESG standards is a useful and permissible exercise in order to ascertain what is “market standard” and desirable. We advise clients on navigating their benchmarking exercises in this space.
• MFNs in supply/procurement contracts: We have significant experience in advising clients on the scope of MFNs, including advising in relation to the precedent-setting CMA enforcement action against Compare the Market.