Brussels net zero rules make us report 1,000 data points, complains wind turbine maker

Telegraph

12-02-2025

A German energy giant and one of the world's biggest wind turbine makers has criticised European net zero rules that will force companies to disclose 1,000 sustainability metrics.
Christian Bruch, the chief executive of Siemens Energy, said the requirements of the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) were 'disproportionate' and were hurting the bloc's competitiveness.
Mr Bruch, whose company has built some of the UK's largest offshore wind farms, said the EU's green reporting requirements had grown too complicated and needed a 'radical simplification'.
On a call with reporters, the chief executive said: 'CSRD creates an additional 1,000 data points to be reported. We're completely overshooting the mark. And we cannot convince international investors that European companies are attractive.
'Just making cosmetic changes to regulations will not move us one inch closer to becoming more competitive. We need to see this directive radically shortened and simplified.'
Mr Bruch added: 'We need a regulatory framework in Europe that ensures more competitiveness and provides investment incentives.'
The warning about the EU's lack of competitiveness comes as
Brussels' strict net zero rules are also becoming a source of tension with Washington. Howard Lutnick, the US commerce secretary nominee, has threatened retaliation against European environmental rules that harm US companies.
The CSRD was announced in 2023 and requires companies to report up to 1,000 data points across 10 ESG topics, including pollution and biodiversity.
Former EU commissioner Mairead McGuinness said at the time of the CSRD's announcement the rules were 'an important tool underpinning the EU's sustainable finance agenda.'
She said the regime 'strike[s] the right balance between limiting the burden on reporting companies while at the same time enabling companies to show the efforts they are making to meet the green deal agenda'.
However, the heavy burden imposed by the CSRD has sparked a backlash among business. Companies and member states have been lobbying Brussels to walk back the measures amid concerns they risk burying businesses in
A report from the lobby group BusinessEurope warned that the measures forced companies to deliver a 'gigantic sum' of data points in 'extremely granular' detail.
Last month, French officials wrote to their EU counterparts calling for a two-year delay on the rules. 'The delay must give the necessary time to improve the directive,' French officials wrote, according to Politico.
German and Italian business groups have also criticised the diktat.
The European Commission is considering watering down the rules. Brussels has said it will review the reporting requirements under the rules in the coming weeks.
Last month, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said: 'We have a very clear signal from the European business sector that there is too much complexity. Administrative procedures are too cumbersome ... we have to cut red tape.'
Mr Bruch's comments came as Siemens reported an increase in revenues to €8.9bn (£7.4bn) in the first quarter of the year, up 18.4pc.
The European Commission was contacted for comment.