How the latest proposed revisions to the CSRD further weakens it

The European Council’s chief negotiator has recommended edits for the Omnibus package, this winter’s revision to the European Union’s Green Deal, which mandates businesses to file corporate disclosure reports to member states. And Jörgen Warborn’s proposed iteration relaxes even more of the original mandates regarding the Corporate Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).

The justification behind that original proposal, released in February, was efficiency — specifically, that streamlining some of the more onerous and cash-intensive CSRD and CSDDD requirements would help businesses that would otherwise struggle to comply. Warborn’s draft takes that idea even further, watering down some of the main regulations in the name of cutting red tape.

“I’m entering this process with a clear ambition — to cut costs for businesses and go further than the Commission on simplification,” Warborn said in a post accompanying the release, “Less red tape and fewer burdens for businesses. That’s how we strengthen Europe’s economy.”

His recommendations include:

• Voluntary disclosures in place of mandatory climate transition plans
• Scope threshold of 3,000 employees and a $517 million net turnover
• Preventing member states from making national rules stricter than the EU’s
• Limiting value chain due diligence oversight

These measures are a substantial step back from the Omnibus’ proposals, which themselves weakened the original Green Deal’s requirements. For example, increasing the threshold to 3,000 employees frees hundreds of corporations from having to report; the Omnibus proposed a 1,000-employee threshold.

Members have until June 27 to comment on all proposed amendments.