– Competition and environmental policies must be viewed in context. Together with sensibly designed environmental policy instruments, well-functioning competition leads to the most effective environmental solutions, said the Director-General for Competition, Knut Eggum Johansen.

– It is important that the costs of pollution are reflected in the prices of goods and services, he emphasizes.

The Director General is now in Paris with his Nordic colleagues to submit the report, Competition Policy and Green Growth, to the Competition Committee of the OECD. The Committee meets this week to discuss the role well-functioning markets and competition policy should have in a green growth strategy.

– The goal of green growth is to design an economic and social framework that facilitates economic growth and development without environmental harm, explains Eggum Johansen.

– A green growth policy must be part of a comprehensive strategy that includes both the supply side and demand side in the various markets. Especially important is that the markets for the trading of emissions quotas be as comprehensive as possible, and that they work well, he said.

The Director General promised to be on guard against governmental measures that restrict competition in the environmental field, and to closely supervise competition in the various environmental markets. The Norwegian Competition Authority has recently created a section specifically dedicated to this work.