Merging for a sustainable future: integrating sustainability-driven efficiency claims into the merger control assessment

In the assessment of efficiencies, the European Commission narrowly interprets the conditions set out in the Horizontal Merger Guidelines which must be satisfied for each efficiency claim. Considering certain features of sustainability-driven efficiency claims, if the Commission maintains its current approach in analysing these claims, it may disproportionately limit the success of such claims. To avoid any impediment to the pursuit of sustainable goals through mergers, the Commission’s approach to the relevant conditions should change. There are some alternative models and means of assessment of efficiency claims that can be used to strike the right balance between promoting competition and sustainability.