Competition safeguards
Members of The Global Risks Alliance (GRA) compete with one another. Cooperation between competitors is lawful and useful when it improves shared evidence and methods, and unlawful when it touches prices, markets or competitively sensitive information. GRA's programmes are designed around safeguards that keep every activity precompetitive. They are set out in a written competition policy that counsel reviews before membership opens. This page explains the design. It belongs to membership and participation.
- 01In briefThe short answer
- 02Never discussedTopics outside every GRA activity
- 03Meeting rulesHow a lawful industry meeting runs
- 04Climate cooperationWhere authorities have spoken
- 05Never agreedAgreements GRA activities never produce
- 06InformationWhat may and may not be exchanged
- 07How meetings runRules for every council, working group and event
GRA · Institution · service level R0
The short answer.
Competition safeguards at GRA are the written rules that keep every activity precompetitive, because members compete with one another: cooperation on shared evidence and methods is lawful, and touching prices, markets or competitively sensitive information is not. The policy is reviewed by counsel before membership opens.
Jurisdictions in the Nile Basin.
The jurisdictions that hold authority over this question: countries, their first-level divisions and capitals, shown for the Nile Basin as an example geography for this subject.
Topics outside every GRA activity.
- Prices, premiums, rates, fees, margins, discounts and wages
- Bids, tenders and individual negotiations
- Underwriting, lending or coverage terms offered to customers
- Capacity, output, expansion or withdrawal plans
- Individual customers, suppliers or counterparties
How a lawful industry meeting runs.
- Agenda circulated in advance and followed; no item on prices, terms, capacity or customers.
- Counsel present or available for sensitive topics.
- Minutes recorded and kept.
- Objection: any participant may stop a discussion that strays, and the stop is minuted.
- Data: only aggregated, historical, non-identifying information is shared.
Where authorities have spoken.
The EU Horizontal Guidelines and the UK CMA guidance describe when sustainability cooperation between competitors can be lawful; in the United States there is no current collaboration guidance after the 2000 guidelines were withdrawn. Collective commitments on whom to finance or insure are outside GRA's scope in every jurisdiction.
Agreements GRA activities never produce.
No allocation
No division of markets, customers, products or territories between members.
No collective refusal
No agreement to refuse to deal with any firm, and no collective commitment on which sectors, firms or projects to finance, insure or invest in.
No exclusion
No standard or method that excludes a competitor without objective reason. No member is required to adopt any method GRA publishes.
What may and may not be exchanged.
| Permitted, within safeguards | Never exchanged |
|---|---|
| Published research, methods and public data | A member's confidential or competitively sensitive information |
| Aggregated industry data, so that no firm can be identified | Firm-level current or future prices, terms, costs or plans |
| Views on shared evidence gaps and research questions | Views on how members should respond commercially |
Rules for every council, working group and event.
- 01
Agenda
A written agenda circulated in advance; items outside it are not taken.
- 02
Minutes
Minutes recorded and kept, showing what was discussed and decided.
- 03
Stopping
The chair stops any discussion that strays, and any participant may object and ask for it to stop.
- 04
Reporting
Concerns are reported in confidence to compliance@globalriskalliance.com, and reviewed outside the meeting or activity concerned.
- 05
Counsel
The policy is reviewed by counsel before membership opens, and counsel may attend meetings where sensitive topics are near.
Membership is designed never to limit a member's independent commercial decisions. The public statement of these safeguards is on antitrust and competition; related pages: professional conduct and complaints and professional working groups.
Terms used on this page.
Each term as this page uses it. Where a standard-setting body defines the term, the wording follows that body.
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Antitrust safeguards | The written rules, agendas, minutes and counsel review that keep competitors in a trade association from exchanging competitively sensitive information or coordinating prices, output or customers. |
| Competitively sensitive information | Information on prices, costs, capacity or strategy whose exchange can reduce competition. |
| Information barrier | Controls that stop inside information passing between parts of a firm. |
Where this page's references lead.
The bodies and documents this page is read against. Status and editions change; each link goes to the issuing body.
- Article 101 TFEU and the EU Horizontal Guidelines (2023), including the chapter on sustainability agreements
- UK CMA guidance on environmental sustainability agreements (2023)
- Sherman Act section 1; DOJ and FTC inquiry on new competitor collaboration guidance (February 2026) after the 2000 guidelines were withdrawn in December 2024
Questions and answers.
Is the competition policy in force?
What should I do if a meeting strays into prices?
Can members benchmark against one another?
Are admission criteria part of the safeguards?
Around GRA.
Start with an enquiry.
The current service level is R0: information and enquiries. An enquiry receives a reference and names the next step; applications, payments, compute allocations and registrations open only when their team, terms and review capacity exist.