abusesaffiliationarrow-downarrow-leftarrow-rightarrow-upattack-typeburgerchevron-downchevron-leftchevron-rightchevron-upClock iconclosedeletedevelopment-povertydiscriminationdollardownloademailenvironmentexternal-linkfacebookfiltergenderglobegroupshealthC4067174-3DD9-4B9E-AD64-284FDAAE6338@1xinformation-outlineinformationinstagraminvestment-trade-globalisationissueslabourlanguagesShapeCombined Shapeline, chart, up, arrow, graphLinkedInlocationmap-pinminusnewsorganisationotheroverviewpluspreviewArtboard 185profilerefreshIconnewssearchsecurityPathStock downStock steadyStock uptagticktooltiptwitteruniversalityweb

這頁面沒有繁體中文版本,現以English顯示

文章

2023年2月9日

作者:
European Coalition for Corporate Justice

Environment committee votes to make companies accountable for their impacts on the environment and on climate change

"MEPs slowly turn tide on corporate environmental and climate obligations"

The European Parliament’s environment committee has voted to include an obligation for large companies and SMEs in certain risky sectors to risk-assess their global value chains for abuses like oil spills and pollution, but the improvements are not yet sufficient to prevent and end the vast impacts of companies on climate change, said the European Coalition for Corporate Justice.

MEPs voted to strengthen the definition of ‘adverse environmental impacts’ to encompass impacts on soil, water, biodiversity and the climate. This definition is consistent with other EU laws – such as the corporate sustainability reporting directive, the regulation on deforestation-free products, and the taxonomy regulation.

Furthermore, the committee agreed to include climate mitigation and adaptation in the scope of companies’ obligations. It voted for new rules saying that companies should adopt climate transition plans in line with the 1.5-degree target of the Paris climate agreement. These transition plans must be time-bound and include science-based targets, minimising the risk of further greenwashing.

The committee included important clarifying definitions of human rights and environmental defenders, animal welfare, and science-based targets. It also put forward the ‘polluter pays’ principle, in accordance with the environmental crime directive.

These provisions go a step further than the Commission’s proposal, which focused on human rights and some environmental risks but did not include climate due diligence requirements – despite growing evidence of climate breakdown around the world. Under the Commission’s draft text, companies would only have to identify and end impacts that result from the breach of one of the 12 international environmental conventions listed in the law – a list that doesn’t include the Paris Agreement and other important standards for environmental protection.

However, not all civil society demands were met today. The committee left scope 3 emissions (indirect emissions that are not produced by the company itself, but by the customers using the company’s products or suppliers making products that the company uses) at the discretion of each company. This would mean that some of the most harmful business impacts could be excluded from the law. Energy giants like Shell or TotalEnergies would not be held accountable for the emissions that come from how their oil is used.

The committee agreed on an obligation to link directors’ pay to meeting climate transition targets but is only for large companies. 

Lastly, we strongly denounce the conservative European People’s Party bad faith negotiation tactics. A week before the vote, the political group backed out of several compromise amendments to the environment committee’s proposal, despite the best efforts of the file’s rapporteur Tiemo Wölken to secure a strong cross-party majority. The EPP has also voted against compromise texts in other committees.

The gaps in the environment committee’s proposal for the planned due diligence directive must be closed by the legal affairs committee next month. MEPs must not only include a more complete list of environmental standards and cover scope 3 emissions, but also maintain the broad definition of environmental impacts and keep specific criteria for credible transition plans to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees.

To drive meaningful corporate action on climate, the European Parliament must follow its own 2019 declaration of a “state of climate emergency” with strong legislative action on corporate sustainability.

The European Parliament will agree on its final position in May 2023, ahead of negotiations with the Council and Commission on the final law.

時間線

隱私資訊

本網站使用 cookie 和其他網絡存儲技術。您可以在下方設置您的隱私選項。您所作的更改將立即生效。

有關我們使用網絡儲存技術的更多資訊,請參閱我們的 數據使用和 Cookie 政策

Strictly necessary storage

ON
OFF

Necessary storage enables core site functionality. This site cannot function without it, so it can only be disabled by changing settings in your browser.

分析cookie

ON
OFF

您瀏覽本網頁時我們將以Google Analytics收集信息。接受此cookie將有助我們理解您的瀏覽資訊,並協助我們改善呈現資訊的方法。所有分析資訊都以匿名方式收集,我們並不能用相關資訊得到您的個人信息。谷歌在所有主要瀏覽器中都提供退出Google Analytics的添加應用程式。

市場營銷cookies

ON
OFF

我們從第三方網站獲得企業責任資訊,當中包括社交媒體和搜尋引擎。這些cookie協助我們理解相關瀏覽數據。

您在此網站上的隱私選項

本網站使用 cookie 和其他網絡儲存技術來增強您在必要核心功能之外的體驗。