Today, the Council of the EU approved a watered-down version of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). It includes a severely reduced scope: Only about 0,05% of companies across the EU will be subject to the new law, a cut of roughly 2/3 - compared to the December trilogue outcome.
"The Belgian Presidency of the Council managed to save EU companies from having to comply with a patchwork of national laws and found agreement on a common EU response to exploitation in global value chains. However, the cuts introduced at the eleventh hour leave a bitter aftertaste: They will likely reduce the positive impacts on people working in the value chains of EU companies due to the reduced scope and throw into doubt the reliability and legitimacy of normal EU decision-making processes," says Julia Otten, Senior Policy Officer at Frank Bold.
Today's approval builds on four years of work done by the European Commission, European Parliament and by the Member States - alongside with the engagement from trade unions, civil society and businesses. As Frank Bold, we advocated for defining a level-playing-field on responsible corporate conduct for large companies in the EU and designing an effective EU response to the race to the bottom in global value chains.
It is now the turn of the European Parliament to take the high road and cast the definitive vote in favour of an agreement that, while imperfect, will contribute to fairer and more sustainable global value chains.
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.
Together with other environmental organizations, we succeeded in revoking a derogation from the emission levels associated with the best available techniques for the Počerady Power Plant, the largest producer of greenhouse gases in the Czech Republic. The illegal derogation allowed the plant to emit unprecedented amounts of toxic mercury. Now it is the turn of the Ministry of the Environment to push for an end to the ongoing illegal situation.
European Union and its member states have approved a framework to prevent that companies providing low prices based on dumping, child labour, pollution and exploitation will not be better positioned in the EU market. They adopted the Corporate Sustainable Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), which will provide guidance to companies on how to prevent significant negative impacts in their operations and value chains.
