By AFP - Agence France Presse
New EU sustainability rules are “hell” for companies: France
The European Union's new rules on reporting social sustainability efforts are creating “hell” for companies, France said Wednesday, joining a growing chorus of criticism from executives.
Large companies must implement the bloc's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) for the first time in their annual results for 2024.
Directors must provide investors and other “stakeholders” with information about their climate impacts and emissions, as well as the actions being taken to reduce them.
Critics say the new requirements are too onerous and could simply be used to “greenwash” a company's registration.
The rules are “hell for businesses”, French government spokeswoman Sophie Primas told journalists after a weekly cabinet meeting.
“There are significant costs and I think the European Union has generally recognized that it has gone a bit too far,” she said.
On Tuesday, the employers' associations AFEP and DAI from France and Germany respectively called for a “review of the architecture of the European sustainable finance framework”.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen told a summit in November that she would seek a “general law” to revise parts of the CSRD that “seem excessive”, especially with regard to data requirements.
The EU's industrial chief, Stephane Sejourne, told French radio this week that a review could be part of a “simplification shock” being planned for the bloc's companies.
“It is by no means a question of abandoning” the objectives of the CSRD, Primas said on Wednesday. It's a question of making them feasible and not onerous for companies.”
hrc/js/rl
Comments