ClientEarth and Frank Bold bring you their ultimate legal CS3D analysis. It unpacks every single environmental element of the directive and can be used by national governments to unlock its potential in the next two years.
The recently adopted Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D) is the first cross-sectoral legislation requiring large companies operating in the EU market to identify, prevent, and address adverse impacts on human rights and the environment. This includes impacts throughout their own operations, those of their subsidiaries, and their business partners in their value chains. Companies must also implement a climate change mitigation transition plan to align their business model and strategy with the transition to a sustainable economy and the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.
Furthermore, companies must externally communicate relevant information about their due diligence policies, processes, and activities, including findings and outcomes. For most companies subject to the CS3D, this reporting obligation is addressed by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which amended the Accounting Directive to require the disclosure of sustainability information.
This guide aims at encouraging ambitious and robust transposition, implementation and enforcement of the CS3D by:
On September 24, we will hold a webinar presenting the key findings and recommendations of the analysis, specifically on the environmental scope of the CS3D as well as climate transition plans.
We will also bring together sustainability experts and business to discuss the potential challenges ahead and the best practices linked to the implementation of Environmental Due Diligence.
Look forward to hearing from:
After three months of rushed decision-making, the European Commission presented its Omnibus Simplification Package and proposed major rollbacks to the EU’s corporate sustainability legislation, threatening to undermine Europe's leadership in sustainable business practices and ESG reporting.
With the latest leaks, it is becoming clearer and clearer that President Ursula von der Leyen and Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis are willing to sacrifice the very foundations of the EU’s ESG legislation all whilst bypassing the due legislative process.
The expert group Frank Bold, along with Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth, has submitted a complaint to the European Commission regarding the actions of Czech authorities in setting emission limits for the Počerady coal power plant. In August 2024, a court revoked the plant's extensive emission limits derogation, and authorities were required to immediately reflect this decision in its operating permit. However, this has not yet happened. As a result, the power plant is currently violating the legal limit for mercury emissions. The complainants are calling on the Commission to investigate whether the Czech Republic’s approach to Počerady is in breach of the EU Industrial Emissions Directive (IED).
