Media reaction
EU ‘Omnibus’ deregulation push rewards sustainability laggards and hurts competitiveness - lawyers
22 January 2025
ClientEarth lawyers have warned that the economy commissioner’s plans to scrap sustainability requirements for companies will encourage a race to the bottom and damage the EU’s competitiveness.
Following a Council meeting yesterday, the commissioner for economy and productivity, Valdis Dombrovkis, strongly hinted at the reopening of recently adopted laws aimed at ensuring companies’ accountability and transparency regarding their environmental, social and human rights impacts.
More worryingly, he warned that the plan would go beyond the originally announced reduction in reporting and extend to other aspects of these pieces of legislation.
This follows a series of announcements on a forthcoming deregulation agenda – the so-called the Omnibus Regulation – which could lead to the weakening of environmental standards in three EU Green Deal laws: the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the EU Taxonomy.
ClientEarth senior lawyer Amandine Van den Berghe said:
“In a political context marked by an ideological anti-sustainability stance, reopening these laws before they have even been fully implemented opens a Pandora's box of legal and political uncertainty – something that businesses and markets do not want – and could undermine the EU’s competitiveness goals.
“It would penalise companies committed to compliance and sustainability while rewarding laggards, encouraging a 'race to the bottom' and creating an uneven playing field.”
“Strong sustainability laws, such as the CSDDD and CSRD, are key to the EU's competitive advantage in a global consumer market that’s putting increasing pressure on companies to act sustainably. Weakening these frameworks would jeopardise this advantage and dangerously undermine the EU’s climate and nature protection objectives.”
Instead of reopening these laws, lawyers call on the Commission to preserve legal certainty for markets and avoid the potential burden of “over-compliance” for companies by:
- focusing on smart and coherent implementation of the CSDDD, CSRD, Taxonomy and other related sustainability requirements through clear and strong communication on how to implement these laws and support SMEs;
- avoiding delays in the transposition of the directive by adjusting the phase-in periods for companies in the second wave of implementation.
The Commission’s proposal for the ‘Omnibus regulation’ - part of the Clean Industrial Deal – will be presented on February 26.
ENDS
Notes to editors:
Major businesses like Ferrero, Nestlé and Unilever have urged the Commission to ensure that the Omnibus approach will not allow renegotiations of agreed texts, including the CSDDD. Read the position paper.
Civil society organisations have warned that the Omnibus proposal will create costly confusion and lower protection for people and the planet. Read the statement.
About ClientEarth
ClientEarth is a non-profit organisation that uses the law to create systemic change that protects the Earth for – and with – its inhabitants. We are tackling climate change, protecting nature and stopping pollution, with partners and citizens around the globe. We hold industry and governments to account, and defend everyone’s right to a healthy world. From our offices in Europe, Asia and the USA we shape, implement and enforce the law, to build a future for our planet in which people and nature can thrive together.