The Due Diligence Directive Directive is part of the unfolding EU corporate sustainability landscape which aims at integrating sustainability to strategies and everyday activity of large undertakings. Among them the CSDDD is a special case. It focuses on environmental and human rights impacts of businesses, but it also introduces an obligation for large companies to ensure that their business model and strategy are aligned with the Paris Agreement objectives, including the 1.5°C commitment. In contrast to other elements of the sustainability framework (e.g. SFDR, CSRD/ESRS, Taxonomy) CSDDD goes beyond the disclosure requirements and introduces the obligation for companies to actively manage those issues: identify, prevent, end, mitigate.

In 2023 the co-legislators and the Commission started meeting for the trilogues to negotiate the final shape of this legal act. To make the due diligence scheme workable the EU institutions will have to clarify and reconcile many issues, including how to prepare and implement transition plans, the scope of liability and boundaries of covered risks, impact on SMEs, or interplay with national and international schemes and commitments and other corporate sustainability requirements. 

The event aimed at identifying the key issues necessary to make the corporate sustainability due diligence workable.

 Agenda    ERCST Slides