The sustainability space in the EU and beyond is moving at unparalleled speed, driven by seismic shifts in the regulatory space and bold actions taken by investors, companies and civil society in response to growing societal challenges. To keep up with the daily influx of sustainability news crowding your LinkedIn feeds, the Raison Round-Up brings you the five biggest headlines within the sustainability and ESG space that caught our attention during the week.
A potential compromise on CSDDD?: A preliminary compromise has been proposed on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) in the wake of the last-minute diversion spear-headed by Germany, which may save the directive from being shelved completely. In the proposed compromise, company obligations on risk-based due diligence is still on the table but will impact fewer companies and at a later stage than originally proposed. See this post by Professor and Associate Dean, Andreas Rasche from Copenhagen Business School: The CSDDD Compromise – Fewer Companies, Later Adoption (A Commentary) | LinkedIn – and keep an eye out for a potential vote on the compromise later today (March 8th) …
New rules ahead on forced labour in the supply chain: European lawmakers reached a provisional agreement on new rules that will stop products made with forced labour from being sold in the EU and potential fines for companies that make use of forced labour in their supply chains. Read more here: EU moves forward on forced labour issue | OPI – Office Products International
Danske Bank divests from fossil fuels: Danske Bank communicated that they will sell off 90% of their fossil fuel investments, bringing Danske Bank and Danica Pension’s current portfolio of fossil fuel companies from 1,900 to 170. The bank has been over pressure for a while, including by NGOs and climate activists and the story was covered by the Danish media, Finans, whose journalists almost fell off their chairs. In case you missed it (in Danish only): FINANS IMPACT: Det var lige godt… Danske Bank vil ekskludere 1.730 fossile selskaber | LinkedIn
What will auditors look for in future CSRD reports? Most investors, companies and advisors working hands-on with the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) know that it will take some time before there will have clear and standardised auditing protocols. In the meantime, one of the ‘big four’ auditing firms released an early indication of what it will take to comply with CSRD – and while there will probably be a grace period during the first few years, it will not be a walk in the park: What is double materiality under CSRD?: PwC
SEC finally adopts climate disclosures but drops scope 3 emissions: On the other side of the pond, big news this week as the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) finally adopted its long-waited rules to help enhance and standardize climate-related disclosures by public companies. Contrary to the CSRD’s climate reporting standard, SEC has dropped any requirements on Scope 3 reporting. However, it might not make much of a difference as many US companies may be subject to scope 3 emissions reporting under the California climate disclosure laws or as per their extraterritorial obligations under CSRD. A perspective by ESGDive here: Scope 3 will be a focus for large companies regardless of SEC rule outcome, KPMG says | ESG Dive
Have a great weekend and a continued Happy International Women’s Day to all!
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