It was a secret ballot, so we cannot be sure what exactly happend. In any case, this compromise was reached under the EPP's threat of turning to the far-right.

And I fully agree that true simplification is necessary, but merely cutting out elements that make the CSDDD binding is not that.

9 / At the end, the EPP decided to rely on far-right votes to weaken human rights, sustainability, and regulatory predictability, by watering down laws that had not even fully come into effect yet.

8/ In sum, the effectiveness of the CSRD and the CSDDD in preparing companies for the green transition, steering investments and assessing financial stability risks, and in holding companies accountable for environmental and human rights violations in their supply chain, is significantly reduced.

7/ Fourth, civil liability of companies for non-compliance with due diligence was deleted. EU member states will not be required to introduce liability, and there will be no common civil liability regime in the EU. This will make it much harder to hold companies accountable.

6/ Third, regarding the supply chain due diligence, it becomes harder for companies to request information from smaller suppliers. Hence, for companies that wish to voluntarily go beyond the legal minimum in their monitoring, today’s vote limits their ability to gather the necessary information.

5/ Second, the CSRD will only apply to companies with >1750 employees (instead of 250) and 450 Mio. EUR turnover. As a result, only ~8% of businesses now fall under its scope. The ECB warned that such a restriction weakens the Eurosystem’s ability to assess climate-related financial risk.

4/ First, the mandatory adoption of climate transition plans with implementing actions under the CSDDD is scrapped. Transition plans are an important tool to prepare companies for a low-carbon world and help steer investments to support their transition processes.

3/ A compromise between the center parties failed in October. Today, the EPP decided to vote with the far right, arguing that it is heeding the calls of businesses, which are being strangled by sustainability reporting burdens. Against this background, they pushed through the following amendments:

2/ This omnibus package is the first of multiple legislative packages that are supposed to cut red tape and help EU companies thrive. However, the right line between simplification and deregulation has been subject to intense discussions between the EU institutions and the parties in the EP.

1/ The Sustainability “Omnibus” is a legislative package proposed by the European Commission aimed at making sustainability reporting less burdensome. It includes amendments to the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).