{"id":8855,"date":"2022-03-30T08:42:55","date_gmt":"2022-03-30T06:42:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cf.iisd.net\/itn\/?p=8855"},"modified":"2024-08-09T18:32:19","modified_gmt":"2024-08-09T16:32:19","slug":"european-commission-proposes-directive-for-corporate-due-diligence-on-climate-human-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/2022\/03\/30\/european-commission-proposes-directive-for-corporate-due-diligence-on-climate-human-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"European Commission proposes directive for corporate due diligence on climate, human rights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>This article was first published on <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/sdg.iisd.org\/news\/european-commission-proposes-directive-for-corporate-due-diligence-on-climate-human-rights\/\"><em>the<\/em><\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/sdg.iisd.org\/news\/european-commission-proposes-directive-for-corporate-due-diligence-on-climate-human-rights\/\"><em><span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips79'>SDG<\/span> Knowledge Hub\u00a0<\/em><\/a><em>and is reprinted with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The European Commission has adopted a proposal on requiring <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips117'>EU<\/span> companies to conduct \u201cdue diligence\u201d processes related to their human rights and environmental impacts. Some businesses would also be required to align their business strategies with limiting global warming to 1.5\u00b0C. The directive also extends to companies\u2019 subsidiaries and value chains.<\/p>\n<p>Adopted on February 23, 2022, the proposal will be submitted to EU Parliament and the European Council for approval. Once approved, each EU member state would have 2 years to adopt a national law incorporating the directive.<\/p>\n<p>The proposed directive would cover large EU companies in all sectors, and mid-to-large EU companies\u00a0in high-impact sectors such as textiles, agriculture, and extractives. Companies would be required to identify, end, prevent, mitigate, and account for negative human rights and environmental impacts in their own operations, their subsidiaries, and their value chains.\u00a0In addition, certain large companies need to have a plan to ensure that their business strategy is compatible with limiting global warming to 1.5\u00b0C in line with the Paris Agreement on climate change.<\/p>\n<p>Other recent or ongoing processes are also imposing mandatory due diligence on companies related to sustainable development. These include: ongoing negotiations under the UN Human Rights Council to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ohchr.org\/en\/hrbodies\/hrc\/wgtranscorp\/pages\/igwgontnc.aspx\">negotiate a legally binding instrument<\/a>\u00a0to regulate the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises; work by the <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips44'>OECD<\/span> on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.oecd.org\/investment\/investment-policy\/investment-treaties.htm\">reshaping investment treaties<\/a>\u00a0to address current challenges including the SDGs and the climate crisis; and a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lexology.com\/library\/detail.aspx?g=737c9546-8347-4bda-ade9-f4a39ffa5477\">law that just entered into force<\/a>\u00a0in Switzerland setting out new reporting requirements on environment, social responsibility, and human rights, as well as specific due diligence and reporting requirements in the areas of child labour as well as minerals and metals from conflict zones (\u201cconflict minerals\u201d).<\/p>\n<p>According to the European Commission,\u00a0the new rules will ensure that businesses address the adverse impacts of their actions both inside and outside Europe. [<a href=\"https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/info\/business-economy-euro\/doing-business-eu\/corporate-sustainability-due-diligence_en\">European Commission press release<\/a>]<!--more--><\/p>\n<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips32','International Institute for Sustainable Development<!--more-->'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips33','Institut international du d\u00e9veloppement durable'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips34','Instituto Internacional para el Desarrollo Sostenible'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips44','Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips65','East African community'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips67','Energy Charter Treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips79','Sustainable Development Goal'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips100','investissement direct \u00e9tranger'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips104','responsabilit\u00e9 sociale des entreprises'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips106','asociaci\u00f3n p\u00fablica-privada'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips116','European Commission'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips117','European Union'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips118','Union europ\u00e9enne'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips119','Uni\u00f3n Europea'); <\/script>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The European Commission has adopted a proposal on requiring <span class='tooltipsall tooltipsincontent classtoolTips117'>EU<\/span> companies to conduct \u201cdue diligence\u201d processes related to their human rights and environmental impacts. Some businesses would also be required to align their business strategies with limiting global warming to 1.5\u00b0C. The directive also extends to companies\u2019 subsidiaries and value chains.<script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips67','Energy Charter Treaty'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips116','European Commission'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips117','European Union'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips118','Union europ\u00e9enne'); <\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\"> toolTips('.classtoolTips119','Uni\u00f3n Europea'); <\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":15869,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[397],"tags":[1916,1912],"class_list":["post-8855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-european-parliament","tag-human-rights"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iisd.org\/itn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}