#95 Abrial Gilbert-d'Halluin & Michael Mehling: What the EU-US Trade Deal Means for Global Corporate Accountability

Against the backdrop of the final Omnibus agreement emerging from trilogues, what will continued US political and corporate pressure mean for the future of EU environmental and human rights due diligence legislation?

In this episode of the Frankly Speaking podcast, Richard Howitt was joined by Abrial Gilbert-d'Halluin, Policy Advisor for MEP Raden Kanev and original parliamentary sherpa for the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), and Professor Michael Mehling, Deputy Director of the Centre for Energy and Environmental Policy Research at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Together they discussed the principle of extraterritoriality in the EU’s CSDDD legislation, and why it’s seen such unprecedented pushback from both politicians and businesses in the United States lobbying against the directive. You’ll also hear more about:

• Why the CSDDD’s extra-territorial reach is so important in limiting environmental and human rights abuses across global value chains  

• The US perspective on EU sustainability and due diligence rules, and why both sides of the American political spectrum take issue with external corporate regulation (including the Clinton administration back in the 1990s)

• How the US is responding to the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), including the showdown between the ‘Brussels vs Trump effect’

• The crucial role of sovereignty in discussions on external regulation

• The vague wording of the EU-US trade deal on the CSDDD, and what it means for the effectiveness of the directive’s extraterritoriality principle

• How US corporates are doing on environmental and human rights due diligence  

• What makes Michael and Abrial optimistic for the future of corporate accountability globally

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