Negotiations on the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive have resumed, but they face up an uphill struggle in the face of pushback from some financial institutions, while the ECB’s Frank Elderson says the law would help ensure the sector systematically integrates sustainability into decision-making and risk management

French banks are leading the opposition to the EU’s planned Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, according to experts close to the negotiations as the trialogues between the European Commission, EU parliament and European Council aimed at finalising the law before the end of the year kick off again. [...]

And the French financial sector’s oppositional stance continues, according to sources close to the negotiations.

“Pushback against the inclusion of banks is mainly led by the French financial sector,” Nelleke Hoffs, a business and human rights adviser at ABN Amro, told Sustainable Views. “They are arguing for a review clause which postpones assessment of inclusion by a couple of years.”

The French Banking Federation told Sustainable Views in a statement that “the sector’s request has always been to be subject to the same rules as all economic actors”. [...]