Letter to EU ministers: Guarantee an effective corporate sustainability law

On Monday, 28 November, we joined the European Coalition for Corporate Justice and 50 other civil society organisations to send letters to EU ministers asking them to take a constructive position on the corporate sustainability due diligence directive to protect human rights, the environment and climate.

The letter welcomes the efforts of governments to act quickly and commends the outstanding leadership of the Czech Presidency on delivering a workable text. However, rather than living up to international standards and strengthening the European Commission’s proposal, some parts of the draft law have been dramatically weakened while under discussion in the Council.

We urge EU ministers to use their vote on 1 December in favour of a general approach that:

• Covers the full value chain, including downstream impacts and the full coverage of the financial sector;
• Expands the scope of rights and impacts covered, including climate impacts and concrete transition plans;
• Strengthens access to justice and addresses barriers to justice often faced by claimants in business-related human rights and environmental cases.

The directive has the potential to be a win-win for citizens, companies, states and the planet but its rules must be robust and based on justice not profit.