ACCC Clears Five-Year Sustainable Finance Alliance

In a historic step towards speeding Australia's shift to a sustainable economy, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has granted conditional authorisation to the Australian Sustainable Finance Institute (ASFI) and a wide range of industry participants. The five-year authorisation permits collective action by ASFI members and the wider financial industry to enhance sustainable finance practice nationwide.

ACCC's ruling opens the door to more industry collaboration in creating and executing strategies that integrate sustainability into core financial systems. That includes integrating natural capital data—i.e., the financial worth of nature, water, and ecosystems—into financial choices. The goal is to link financial practice more strongly to environmental outcomes by promoting investment in nature-positive programs, retooling old regulative systems, and designing finance products that factor in ecological fact.

The ASFI, which was created to underpin an Australian sustainable financial system, will now further actively collaborate with banks, insurers, investors, and other market participants to co-design investment products as well as regulatory reform proposals intended for sustainability objectives. The partnerships will not just support the innovation of green finance but also aim to lead and assist agricultural producers and exporters in the adoption of sustainable agriculture and reaching global sustainability standards.

This coordinated conduct, however, has a fall-back. To avoid anti-competitive conduct and secure market equity, the ACCC has outlined five cardinal conditions. The conditions aim to act as a shield against potential risks arising from information disclosure between industry participants, an essential aspect of concerted sustainability endeavors that otherwise would undermine market competition.

The approval recognizes the significant benefits of industry co-operation on sustainability issues, ACCC Deputy Chair Mick Keogh stated. "The ACCC acknowledges that there may be advantages for business in co-operating to a more sustainable economy, and that many co-operations on sustainability issues are unlikely to be of concern under competition," Keogh said.

The ACCC is of the opinion that the approved green finance cooperation has the capacity to deliver a variety of public benefits. These include lower costs of transactions, better decisions, and a higher likelihood of investment in socially and environmentally positive projects. These consequences may result in better access to capital for sustainable business, a healthier green finance market, and further considerable steps toward Australia's target of reducing emissions.

The ACCC ruling also reflects a larger policy change where sustainability needs are being introduced into competition regulation to an increased degree. The latest guidelines from the regulator concerning sustainability partnerships, released recently in an effort to assist businesses with competition law, emphasize that such law would not be perceived as a hindrance to legitimate and useful sustainability projects. The guidance illuminates the manner in which companies can act together legally for the environment without violating competition regulations and explains when formal authorisation, including the kind granted to ASFI, is required.

This change is especially opportune with Australia ramping up attempts to be net-zero emissions and transition towards climate change. The government has released the Sustainable Finance Taxonomy—a taxonomy putting environmental sustainability of economic activity into the spotlight earlier in 2025. The ACCC's endorsement of cooperative sustainable finance is aligned with this taxonomy, trying to channel flows of capital into climate-resilient investment and out of environmentally destructive activity.

In international terms, the ACCC's approach is part of a broader pattern in Europe as well as in the United States, where competition authorities have also begun to wholeheartedly endorse cooperation among companies headed toward sustainability goals. Such regulatory approaches show that an understanding exists that the climate crisis calls for consolidating efforts, and regulatory frameworks must shift to facilitate such endeavors instead of excluding them.

By enabling ASFI and its allies to collaborate through a clear legal avenue, the ACCC has produced an environment conducive to change enablers. The coordination could be a model for other industries and nations to adopt, demonstrating that competition law can be framed to be used in higher public and environmental good terms without undermining market integrity.

Its performance will be watched in the coming years. If it is successful, it can unlock trillions of dollars of green investment, speed the uptake of sustainable agriculture, and further embed climate risk and nature-based solutions into the financial system. More importantly still, it will demonstrate that market forces and environmental stewardship can be harnessed to work in tandem when steered by open, fair, and forward-looking regulation.