In mid-December, the European Commission acknowledged a large part of the arguments put forward by the Czechia in an effort to prevent the expansion and continuation of illegal mining at the Turów mine in Poland, that endangers the sources of drinking water for thousands of people in the Liberec region and, according to new studies, has serious impacts on groundwater in Germany as well. Frank Bold's lawyers, who defend the interests of Czech citizens, have long been involved in the case.
"We are pleased that the European Commission has heard our call and issued a reasoned opinion stating that Poland has violated the directives - a major milestone in this case. The Czech Republic is now in a stronger position on the road to the European Court of Justice. The link between the action and the interim measure to stop mining is crucial at this stage. Therefore, we provide full cooperation to all parties and collect the latest information on the impact of mining, which locals feel every day," said Petra Urbanová, lawyer at Frank Bold.
The Turów mine supplies fuel to the adjacent power plant and has a mining permit until 2026, which was granted in violation of EU rules, which has now been confirmed by the European Commission. At the same time, Poland has long declared that it plans to mine in Turów until 2044. The mine should expand to 30 square kilometers. An out-of-court settlement with Poland has not yet been reached.
More information about families endangered by mining in Turów can be found at https://www.waterorcoal.org/.
The Russian war in Ukraine has, in addition to the COVID-19 global pandemic, once again highlighted the need for corporate human rights and environmental due diligence (HREDD) regulation, such as the proposed EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).
The next months are key to determining what kind of sustainability data companies will disclose. For the transformation to an economy within planetary boundaries, we call on the ISSB to develop standards that go beyond climate, require reporting on key impact data and ensure climate-related disclosures are sufficiently granular to be meaningful.
The European Commission, Parliament and Council reached an agreement for the new EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) that clarifies disclosure obligations for large companies and listed SMEs, and mandates the development and adoption of mandatory EU corporate sustainability reporting standards.
