EU sustainability reporting standards (ESRS)

The founders of CEBRE and Czech representatives of the European Parliament met in Prague and held the traditional meeting to discuss the impact of the Corporate Due Diligence Directive on sustainability and the social responsibility of companies on our firms. The European Commission has not listened to the voice and arguments of businesses as, rather than clear and tangible rules, it brought complex and unclear terminology and legal uncertainty. Related to this is the proposal for a directive adopted on 23 February 2022.

It is clear to all those involved that this proposal will fundamentally affect the lives of businesses and will affect, in particular, the principle of voluntariness. The representatives of businesses have agreed that the directive is problematic for our businesses and MEPs need to have as many arguments as possible from businesses, through associations and unions, as to why they do not agree with it and to try to eliminate the negative impact as much as possible. The participants in the debate also saw a problem in the fact that the Commission has the false impression that only some companies will be affected by this regulation. Due to the unclear definitions, and the supply chain itself, it is already certain that it will also impact sub-suppliers and SMEs who will not be prepared for it.

The question is if this will not be all about the courtesy of business growth and competitiveness, and there is a risk that this will undermine Europe’s competitiveness with Asia, and during this difficult period. Besides sustainability, participants also pointed out the issue of taxonomy and high material prices, which have a high impact on our businesses and need to be solved as soon as possible. MEPs also responded to the taxonomy that we must not underestimate this and we have to emphasize our interests. This is a key aspect for investors and even more so now that alternatives to Russian gas are being discussed. They also pointed out that company representatives need to contact them themselves before voting on selected directives to make sure that they are familiar with all the information so that they can vote in a way that is as supportive of our interests as possible.