Posted on February, 24 2025

What is happening and why does it matter?

With fewer than 24 hours over a weekend for Commission services to provide feedback, this consultation is yet another example of the rushed approach that has defined this omnibus commitment. In stark contrast to the years of evidence gathering, public consultations, and balanced negotiations that shaped the targeted laws, it highlights the lack of transparency and undue haste that critics have been warning about for months.

Von der Leyen has repeatedly promised that this attempt at simplification would not mean deregulation and not harm the core objectives of the targeted laws. However, the latest developments indicate a shift towards deregulation, which would damage the Commission’s credibility and integrity.

Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD)

The proposed changes to the CSDDD would significantly weaken the law, minimise its impact and limit the obligations for companies to address human rights and environmental risks in their supply chains. By setting a lower standard than established international frameworks, these proposals undermine global efforts to promote corporate accountability. Rather than a simplification, the revisions fundamentally alter the directive, removing key provisions. This shift benefits large corporations while ignoring violations of human rights and environmental destruction.

Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)

The proposed changes to the CSRD would drastically reduce its scope, cutting the number of companies covered by 85% through limiting requirements to those with over 1,000 employees, instead of the current threshold of 250. The revised scope would be even narrower than that of the CSRD’s predecessor, the Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD), introduced in 2014, which applied to companies with more than 500 employees. As a result, businesses with 500 to 1,000 employees that have been reporting under the NFRD since 2018 would no longer be required to do so.

What does WWF want?

WWF calls on the European Commission to stick to its Green Deal commitments, prioritise the smart implementation of existing laws, and maintain its leadership position in sustainable policy making.

The circumstances which justified the development of the CSRD, the CSDDD, and the EU Taxonomy have not changed. Companies increasingly need sustainability data to strategically assess their impacts and risks as markets evolve. The publication of this data is also increasingly vital for securing green investments, accelerating EU businesses’ green transition, and achieving the EU 2030 climate targets. The Commission should focus on making existing rules work better, providing clear guidelines, supporting businesses (particularly smaller ones), including with subsidies, and helping EU countries better implement and oversee these regulations.

While the part of the text concerning the EU Taxonomy has not been leaked, WWF warns that making it voluntary or weakening the Do No Significant Harm principle would undermine its effectiveness and weaken the EU’s global standing.

"You reap what you sow, and the Commission’s deeply flawed omnibus process appears to lead towards a reckless proposal that would destroy the EU’s corporate sustainability reporting and due diligence framework – a framework carefully built over the past eight years. Von der Leyen’s repeated commitments to simplify, not deregulate, have been binned together with core parts of each targeted law in a devastating blow to the European Green Deal. The Commission ought to return to common sense. Making the CSRD scope worse than its predecessor NFRD, making the EU Taxonomy voluntary or making the CSDDD toothless would be unacceptable," said Sebastien Godinot, Senior Economist at WWF European Policy Office.