The Dangerous Economist: Life is full of tradeoffs: sustainability vs. competition edition

See How ‘sustainable fashion’ could run afoul of antitrust regulators: The organizer of New York Fashion Week has pledged to achieve a net-zero goal by 2050, but agreements among fashion houses risk violating competition rules by Ephrat Livni of The NY Times. Excerpts:

"But “sustainable fashion” is a contradiction, the DealBook newsletter reports. Being “green” in fashion would mean designers and retailers would produce less — and yet companies that band together to advance such goals may run into trouble with antitrust regulators.
In June, Reuters reported that a series of raids by E.U. antitrust authorities on fashion houses was connected to companies’ discussions of limiting sales for sustainability. The European Commission has not named the companies involved or commented further on the purpose of the raids.
“There are emerging tensions between E.S.G. and antitrust,” said William Kovacic, a former Federal Trade Commission chairman, referring to environmental, social and governance goals. “A vocal group of commentators say antitrust enforcement treats cartels very harshly and that unduly inhibits firms from pursuing environmental and social goals.”
Now, some environmental activists and industry advocates are pushing for a reassessment of competition policy, said Mr. Kovacic, a professor at the George Washington University Law School. Some designers and retailers have proposed overhauling the fashion calendar to reduce waste, limiting sale periods and changing the length of seasons.
But those types of agreements risk violating antitrust rules that bar competitors from collaborating to fix prices and reduce production. This tension between environmental consciousness and competition policy is being felt across sectors."
"But there is a potential hitch in rewriting the rules. “The more ambiguous the standard, the more likely businesses will take liberties,” Mr. Kovacic said. [William Kovacic, a former Federal Trade Commission chairman]
Some antitrust authorities say competition policy should consider more varied corporate objectives. Still, it’s not clear that enforcers are contemplating loosening cartel rules for the good of the planet."

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