he European Union’s groundbreaking legislation to direct business to deliver sustainability and rights is under attack from within and without its borders.
Last week’s joint statement on a US-EU trade deal which confirms that US tariffs on EU goods will rise vertiginously to 15%, also reveals that Europe seems ready to concede to US pressures on vital Green Deal laws. While technical details of the deal remain opaque, the statement mentions an EU commitment to “undertake efforts to ensure that the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) do not pose undue restrictions on transatlantic trade”. This includes “efforts to reduce administrative burden… and to propose changes to… harmonised civil liability… and to climate-transition-related obligations.”
The EU also promises to “work to address US concerns” around “the imposition of CSDDD requirements on companies of non-EU countries” and the EU Deforestation Regulation, according to the ‘key terms’ communicated last Thursday.
The US Administration has regularly signalled its hostility to any regulation that curbs the primacy of shareholders’ quarterly returns (like climate action, or workers’ rights). ExxonMobil’s CEO has described the EU laws as “some of the worst legislation I’ve seen passed anywhere” – perhaps a badge of honour to those who realise we must act to reverse climate breakdown.
To complement this US deregulatory pressure, Europe’s regressive business associations and politicians are seeking to use the ‘Omnibus Simplification Package’ to eviscerate the smart regulation contained in Europe’s approved supply chain and reporting laws, the CSDDD and CSRD. The Omnibus already proposes legislative downscaling in many of the areas cited above.
Read the whole article in business-humanrights.org »
By Heidi Hautala and Phil Bloomer
