Making Enterprises Responsible Again: Deploying the CSDDD to Stop Corporate Backsliding

The EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) is one of the most significant recent developments in the move from soft to hard law to ensure responsible and transparent business conduct and corporate accountability for harms. Building on normative international business and human rights frameworks, such as the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the CSDDD mandates human rights and environmental due diligence as part of a suite of European legislation to advance sustainable economies.

The CSDDD will have significant impacts beyond European borders as it applies to large companies, including those headquartered in the U.S., which operate in the EU. Given concerns about companies backsliding on their human rights and environmental commitments under a Trump administration adverse to ESG approaches, the CSDDD offers an opportunity for investors to engage with companies to continue their efforts to fulfill their responsibilities towards people and planet.

In the first half of this session, participants will learn about the key provisions of the CSDDD and its strengths and gaps, including regarding the inclusion of the financial sector, relative to international normative frameworks. Speakers will situate the CSDDD within the larger EU sustainability regulatory landscape and discuss implementation steps and timelines.

The second half of the session will explore how the CSDDD can be deployed by investors to encourage companies to undertake human rights and environmental due diligence. Speakers will elaborate on how companies can prepare to meet their due diligence obligations under the CSDDD and how investors can effectively convey their expectations of portfolio companies in engagements and in response to political developments.

Watch the full session below: