It is the thorny issue posing a headache for the competition regulator: would the $18.7 billion takeover of Origin Energy by its two North American suitors enable a quicker transition to low-carbon energy on Australia’s power grid?

Although there are other competition issues also under the microscope, the consideration of “net public benefit” has that question at its core: as the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission has made clear, the criteria for assessing that centres around whether investments would be made more rapidly in new renewables, should Canada’s Brookfield and its private equity partner EIG carry off their prey.