This legal briefing provides a detailed overview of the purpose, requirements, timeline, and most importantly, key interactions between different sustainability laws that will apply to companies operating in the European Union.
Over the past few years, there have been a number of developments in sustainability legislation covering both social and environmental aspects of sustainability. While this has positioned the EU as a driving force in the sustainability transition, it has also raised questions from the business community concerned over the complexity or overlaps between certain legal requirements.
With this new resource, we aim to help businesses understand these obligations and support good and efficient implementation. The briefing is designed to help companies navigate legal requirements in different areas, including due diligence, emissions tracking, climate transition planning, and sustainability reporting. Additionally, the Annexes provide a legal summary of each of the 10 legislations*, including process and output requirements, as well as details of GHG accounting methods.
Following the EU Commission’s presentation of the Omnibus Simplification package, our analysis also includes a summary of changes proposed, as well as elements that are not expected to be modified by EU policy-makers.
*The guide covers the following: the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), the EU Taxonomy, the European Emissions Trading System (EU ETS), the Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM), the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED), the European Batteries Regulations (EUBR), the European Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), the Conflict Minerals Regulation (CMR), and the Forced Labour Regulation (FLR).
This publication is part of a project funded by the European Climate Initiative (EUKI), which aims to support practical implementation of EU sustainability legislation by providing high-quality, publicly accessible research and expert guidance. To find out more, visit www.euki.de/en.
In the context of the last phase of the negotiations on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), Frank Bold initiated a multistakeholder statement together with the Responsible Business Alliance (RBA) and Shift.
Today, the European Parliament successfully fended off efforts to reject the European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), a key legislative piece to ensure the effective application of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the transitioning efforts in the context of the Green Deal. A majority of 359 Members of the Parliament voted against a motion to reject the ESRS and its replacement with an emptied and diluted piece of legislation.
In light of today’s State of the Union Address by President von der Leyen and the ‘SME relief package’ presented by the European Commission yesterday, Frank Bold calls on the Commission not to disregard the political agreement reached in 2022 on the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD).
