'Corporate Environmental Due Diligence and Reporting in the EU' September 2024

The recently adopted Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D) is the first cross-sectoral legislation requiring large companies operating in the EU market to identify, prevent, and address adverse impacts on human rights and the environment. This includes impacts throughout their own operations, those of their subsidiaries, and their business partners in their value chains. Companies must also implement a climate change mitigation transition plan to align their business model and strategy with the transition to a sustainable economy and the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

Furthermore, companies must externally communicate relevant information about their due diligence policies, processes, and activities, including findings and outcomes. For most companies subject to the CS3D, this reporting obligation is addressed by the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which amended the Accounting Directive to require the disclosure of sustainability information.

For whom is this guide?

This guide aims at encouraging ambitious and robust transposition, implementation and enforcement of the CS3D by:

• National parliamentarians and lawmakers
• Law commissions and similar independent bodies called upon to propose legislation designed to transpose the CS3D
• Executive officials tasked with drafting national legislation in compliance with EU laws
• Companies themselves, that are seeking a better understanding of what these provisions mean

Why download this guide?

• Get a better understanding of the provisions related to the environmental scope of CS3D and CSRD
• Access clear recommendations on how to transpose the CS3D into national law
• Foster wider coherence with the CSRD
• Ensure a high level of protection of the environment by aligning with the OECD Guidelines and UNGPs