As the European Union develops its future directive on corporate sustainability due diligence, a number of civil society organisations published a briefing that outlines why and how environmental protection must be integrated into companies’ due diligence requirements alongside respect for human rights.

The scope of the directive must include the environment in order to effectively contribute to the sustainability objectives enshrined in the EU Treaties and the Green Deal, as well as to meet the EU’s climate-related commitments.

It is critical that the directive provides specific requirements for environmental protection and covers all potential or actual, direct or indirect, negative impacts on the environment. The future law should encompass climate change – including greenhouse gas emissions – but also air, soil, water and noise pollution, loss of
and damage to forests and natural ecosystems, and other impacts.

Companies must also be required to remedy harms that have occurred.

The briefing has been endorsed by ActionAid, Amnesty International, Anti-Slavery International, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre, CIDSE, ClientEarth, the European Coalition for Corporate Justice (ECCJ), the European Environmental Bureau (EEB), the Fair Trade Advocacy Office, Fern, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), Forest Peoples Programme, Global Witness and WWF.