Unless EU member states hold the private sector accountable for their climate impacts, the costs of responding to extreme weather events will become even higher.
Kath Hebron (FOEE), Julia Otten and Paul de Klerk for ECC (Frank Bold)’s ‘Justice is Everybody’s Business’ campaign.
This autumn, the European Parliament and member states will enter final negotiations on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), the first EU law that could potentially require companies to respect human rights and the environment in global value chains. There is.
Although this law has generated great expectations, there appear to be pages missing from the draft. Conspicuously absent is the obligation for companies to conduct due diligence in line with the Paris Agreement.
You see, this law could spell out obvious things that most of us already know.
For example, it is clear that no one in the world should see homes destroyed, rivers filled with oil, or forests cleared by reckless profit-seeking corporations. The current draft is a step towards a human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment, recognized by the United Nations. The law requires European companies to assess, mitigate and remediate any potential harms throughout their value chains, both inside and outside the EU.
It is also clear that the EU is not on track to meet the goals of the Paris Agreement. Not only are we off track, but climate science says we’re heading in the opposite direction. The EU has committed to achieving net zero by 2050. According to a recent United Nations Environment Report, with policies currently in place, the Earth is on track to warm by 3.2 degrees Celsius by 2100. And there is no need to talk about harm in the future tense. As you read this, we’ve all had a sweltering summer in Europe as another record-breaking heatwave hits.
Governments are not taking climate change seriously. CSDDD could be a key tool in making it clear that companies need to reduce their emissions if they are to curb their emissions on the scale needed for rapid decarbonisation across Europe. .
Corporations are responsible for the majority of greenhouse gas emissions around the world. Since this statistic was published in 2017, voluntary efforts by companies to transition to a climate-friendly industry have become as prevalent as air pollution. Nevertheless, the EU’s fossil industry and banking sector are now preparing to spend $130 million a day for the remaining 10 years on “carbon bomb” projects that will blow up the EU’s own estimated carbon budget.
Big fossil fuel companies are investing millions of dollars in climate change denial advertising and lobbying efforts to water down climate laws, and 97% of their short-term expansion plans involve further oil and gas exploration. include.
The current CSDDD document suggests that companies should develop a transition plan, but there is no obligation to actually implement it. The European Parliament wants to make it compulsory for companies to implement these plans, but some national governments, such as France and Germany, are resisting efforts to make them mandatory. To most of us, this may sound silly. Companies are required to have a plan, but then they are free to ignore that plan. In this way, the Council is setting up her CSDDD as a new greenwashing activity.
An effective CSDDD will include all emissions associated with a company’s business operations (including upstream and downstream), in line with the goals of the Paris Agreement and other key elements listed in Article 15 of the Congressional proposal. It must include an obligation for companies to implement climate change plans that include reductions in climate change. . And importantly, if they fail to implement the above plan, they will have to bear civil liability. Affected people should be able to sue companies for failing to reduce emissions. Again, the council wants to stop this and let the free riders go free.
These plans must be aimed at absolute reductions in emissions. It’s easy to promise and insist on offsetting – Shell has turned it into a sport – but no amount of haggling or half-hearted green-hued tree-planting campaigns will stop them. will not be able to offset the 640 billion tons of CO2 that it plans to emit into the atmosphere. Relying on offsets is like calling the firefighters right before you light a match in a dry forest. Climate-friendly companies do not assume that their activities require damage control.
A strong climate commitment in CSDDD will also level the playing field for businesses by aligning climate change responsibility across sectors. It also significantly reduces long-term costs and credit risk for businesses and banks. The European Central Bank has stated that “failure to accelerate the green transition will reduce corporate profitability.”
Businesses and governments can make a fuss about their obligations to fight climate change while temperatures are rising, but the responsibility for mitigating global warming becomes lighter when it is shared. The climate crisis is not negotiable. When politics compromise between a livable planet and short-term business interests, we all lose.
The EU must prioritize climate change and human rights obligations above all else, through the CSDDD and all political and corporate strategies. It’s the only way our ecosystem will thrive and the only way we and our children will survive.
