Latest news with #JörgenWarborn
Forbes
8 hours ago
- Business
- Forbes
European Parliament Wants To Reduce Cost Of Sustainability Reporting Requirements
People walk by a European Union flag (Photo by) The European Parliament is debating legislation to reduce sustainability reporting requirements in the European Union. The original proposal of the European Commission included a drastic reduction of the scope of a pair of sustainability reporting directives. The member leading the drafting of the Parliament's has released his draft proposal, calling for even more cuts, alarming sustainability activists and emboldening business interests. That proposal was debated in the June 24 meeting of the Committee on Legal Affairs, known as JURI. As part of the European Green Deal, a trilogy of directives were passed by the EU to force businesses to address climate change and report greenhouse gas missions. However, the cost of these proposals on businesses and the broader impact on the EU economy became a theme during the 2024 elections. The shift to the right in EU politics embolden opponents. As a result, the Commission proposed a package of new directives to 'reduce the burden' on businesses. The Omnibus Simplification Package was officially adopted by the Commission in February. The proposal is being debated in the Council and the Parliament. In the Parliament, the debate is public and working through multiple committees, giving interest parties and MEPs the opportunity to voice their opinions. JURI, is the primary committee that will produce the legislation that will be sent to the full Parliament for a vote. MEP Jörgen Warborn, of the European People's Party, has been designated as the rapporteur to lead the drafting of the final legislation. Warborn's draft report was made public on June 6. The draft includes 82 proposed amendments. During the June 24 JURI meeting, the Committee addressed the proposed amendments. Warburn was given the opportunity to share his initial proposal and the shadow rapporteurs gave initial comments. Jörgen Warborn Warburn stated the EPP's goal in the proposal. 'We would like to go further in cutting costs, because we need to strengthen European competitiveness in order to create long-term prosperity for European citizens.' To justify the need for cuts, he stated "sustainability rests on three pillars: the environmental pillar, the social pillar, and the economic pillar… if one breaks, the stretcher collapses." He then outlined his 10 key priorities in the proposal: MEP Lara Wolters, Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats Lara Wolters, of the Group of the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D), stated her group felt the 'Commission proposal was extremely rushed and deeply flawed.' She says that the proposal is not focused on removing the administrative burden, rather on removing accountability. She did not get into the specifics of the S&D proposal, but gave a vigorous counterargument to reductions. Countering the EPP's push to lower costs on businesses, she stated that she 'is not inspired by this… It is our job to weigh public versus private interests. But if costs are all the EPP cares about at the moment, then at least let us be honest that the costs are merely being displaced. Costs reduced for companies here are costs that the world will need to shoulder anyway. Climate denial comes at a cost. So does environmental degradation, exploitation, and inequality. So does feeding populism.' MEP Pascal Canfin, The Renew Group Pascal Canfin, of the Renew Europe Group, stated that he agrees with the EPP on the auditing of the CSRD report. He believes there is room to negotiation on that topic and reduce cost beyond the Commission proposal. He stated that he agrees in cost reduction, but that the EPP proposal does not deliver that. Focusing on capital market union, he said investors need data. The reduction in of the CSRD may save costs on paper, but will increase costs in the long term as investors spend more to gather the data. He will be offering amendments to address those concerns. Renew will also present amendments to address the single market approach and what he views as conflict with the restriction on civil liability causing market fragmentation. He also took issue with the application of the 3000 employee threshold to non-EU companies, claiming that would exempt nearly all non-EU companies from the scope. Interestingly, he stated the calculation of the employee count for non-EU companies is not based on total employees in the EU, rather total employees in a member state. MEP Kira Marie Peter-Hansen, Group of the Greens/ European Free Alliance (EFA) Kira Peter-Hansen, of the Group of the Greens/ European Free Alliance (EFA), stated that they agree with simplification and "reporting must be both meaningful and manageable.' However, she agrees with the S&D that the Omnibus and the EPP proposals go beyond simplification into deregulation. She pointed out that the raised thresholds not only eliminate 80% of the companies, but also some member states as they do not have any companies large enough to comply. She encouraged the use of the EFRAG data to simplify the data points in the European Sustainability Reporting Standards to simplify reporting requirements without 'weakening impact.' She accused the EPP of 'choosing populistic, symbolic changes over actual needed changes that would benefit from a revision." Further, she stated that 'removing climate transition plans completely is not just wrong, it is irresponsible.' She encouraged the adoption of a risk-based approach over the Commission proposal of mapping the value chain, claiming it would increase costs for companies. Finally, she objected to the removal of civil liability in the CSDDD. MEP Arash Saeidi, The Left Group Arash Saeidi, of The Left, opened by stated that 'there are men, women, and children whose rights are being breached and they're just being seen as cogs in the wheel of a production - modern slavery, textiles workers, forced labor to produce our electronics.. workers killed on sites. The CSDDD is designed to put an end to impunity and finally holding companies legally accountable from environmental damage and infringement of human rights.' He stated that The Left will present a proposal to reject all the proposed changes and stay with the existing text in the CSRD and CSDDD. Political parties and MEP had until June 27 to submit amendments. On July 15, the shadow rapporteurs will meet to discus the amendments and begin negotiations. To pass, the proposal needs majority support. Committee opinions are being drafted by Economic and Monetary Affairs, known as ECON, Environment, Climate and Food Safety, known as ENVI, Foreign Affairs, known as AFET, International Trade, known as INTA, and Employment and Social Affairs, known as EMPL. Those will be sent to JURI for consideration. I suspect Warborn's proposal is a negotiation tactic. By promoting a position that is more extreme than the original Commission proposal, the EPP has room to negotiate. However, the recent proposal by the Council was also to the right of the Commission. The final Parliament proposal may end up being the middle ground. JURI is expected to adopt the final language to reduce the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive on October 13. Following the vote of the Parliament, designated representatives from the Parliament, Council, and Commission will enter into "trilogue" negotiations. The proposals from each of the three bodies will vary. The trilogue will negotiate the differences to produce a final directive. That directive will be sent to the Council and Parliament for a final vote in December or January.
Reuters
16-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Sustainable Switch Climate Focus: Climate rule rollbacks in US and EU
This is an excerpt of the Sustainable Switch Climate Focus newsletter, where we make sense of companies and governments grappling with climate change on Fridays. To receive the full newsletter in your inbox for free sign up here. Hello! Climate law rollbacks in the United States and the European Union are in focus today as the Trump administration is planning to phase out its emergency management agency, while the EU is facing pressure from countries over its corporate, sustainability and methane emissions laws. President Donald Trump said he planned to start "phasing out" the Federal Emergency Management Agency after the hurricane season and that states would receive less federal aid to respond to natural disasters. "We're going to give out less money," he said. He also said he planned to distribute disaster relief funds directly from the president's office. In keeping with the Trump administration's broader efforts to unwind environmental laws, three sources that spoke to Reuters said that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is planning to roll back Biden-administration rules meant to curb carbon dioxide, mercury and other air pollutant emissions from power plants, following through on a promise the agency made in March. It's not just the Trump administration rolling back climate laws, as a Swedish centre-right lawmaker Jörgen Warborn has proposed that the EU should further slash the number of companies subject to its environmental and corporate sustainability rules. The European Commission proposed a "simplification omnibus" in February that it said would help European firms compete with foreign rivals by cutting back on sustainability reporting rules and obligations intended to root out abuses in their supply chains. But the walk-back on environment, social and corporate rules has met resistance from some investors and campaigners, who have warned it weakens corporate accountability and hurts the bloc's ability to attract more investments towards meeting climate goals. Additionally, European Union countries are demanding that Brussels simplify the EU's methane emissions law, according to a document seen by Reuters. From this year, the EU requires importers of oil and gas to monitor and report the methane emissions – the second-biggest cause of climate change after CO2 emissions. Draft conclusions from a meeting of EU countries' energy ministers showed governments are preparing to ask the Commission to add the methane law to its "simplification" drive to cut bureaucracy for companies. WHAT TO WATCH With more than 600 dead pythons under her belt, Amy Siewe - known as the 'Python Huntress' - is one of a handful of women among hundreds of men hunting the invasive Burmese python in Florida's Everglades wetland ecosystem. Click here for the full Reuters video. CLIMATE LENS China's access to fresh stockpiles of minerals like dysprosium and terbium has been throttled recently after a major mining belt in Myanmar's north was taken over by an armed group battling the Southeast Asian country's junta, which Beijing supports. Now, in the hillsides of Shan state in eastern Myanmar, Chinese miners are opening new deposits for extraction, according to two of the sources, both of whom work at one of the mines. Click here for the full Reuters exclusive report. Number of the Week - $80 billion The amount that Indonesia has invited foreign investors to put in for building a seawall hundreds of kilometres long to prevent floods along the north coast of its most populous island Java, President Prabowo Subianto said.
Business of Fashion
12-06-2025
- Business
- Business of Fashion
Lead EU lawmaker on sustainability laws proposes more cuts
The European Union should further slash the number of companies subject to its environmental and corporate sustainability rules, the European Parliament member leading negotiations on the policies said on Thursday. The European Commission proposed a 'simplification omnibus' in February that it said would help European firms compete with foreign rivals by cutting back on sustainability reporting rules and obligations intended to root out abuses in their supply chains. Those proposals did not go far enough, according to Swedish centre-right lawmaker Jörgen Warborn, who has drafted amendments to scale back the laws further to only cover companies with 3,000 employees or more and over 450 million euros ($521 million) in turnover. The Commission proposal would exempt companies with fewer than 1,000 employees - already, cutting out more than 80 percent of the roughly 50,000 companies currently covered by the green reporting rules. The EU counts around 6,000 companies with more than 1,000 employees. 'Europe is falling behind the US and China in the global race for competitiveness. I'm entering this process with a clear ambition: to cut costs for businesses and go further than the Commission on simplification,' Warborn said in a statement on Thursday. His draft proposal must be negotiated in the European Parliament where other lawmakers can propose their own amendments. The Parliament will agree the final changes with EU member countries in the coming months. Warborn, a member of the centre-right European People's Party lawmaker group, is facing competing calls from some right-wing lawmakers to scrap the policies entirely, and Socialist and Green lawmakers vowing to preserve them. French president Emmanuel Macron and German chancellor Friedrich Merz have both demanded the EU scrap the supply chain law. But the walk-back on ESG rules has met resistance from some investors and campaigners, who have warned it weakens corporate accountability and hurts the bloc's ability to attract more investments towards meeting climate goals. Warborn said his proposed changes will not weaken Europe's sustainability standards, but rather free up resources that companies can instead invest in innovation. By Kate Abnett; Editor: Joe Bavier Learn more: Op-Ed | Dear Fashion CEOs, Stop Undermining Climate Action Too many brands have set ambitious emissions goals while their trade associations quietly work to block the regulations needed to achieve them, argues Maxine Bédat.
Irish Examiner
12-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
EU lawmakers propose further easing of corporate sustainability rules amid backlash
The European Union should further slash the number of companies subject to its environmental and corporate sustainability rules, the European Parliament member leading negotiations on the policies said on Thursday. The European Commission proposed a "simplification omnibus" in February that it said would help European firms compete with foreign rivals by cutting back on sustainability reporting rules and obligations intended to root out abuses in their supply chains. Those proposals did not go far enough, according to Swedish centre-right lawmaker Jörgen Warborn, who has drafted amendments to scale back the laws further to only cover companies with 3,000 employees or more and over €450m in turnover. The commission proposal would exempt companies with fewer than 1,000 employees - already cutting out more than 80% of the roughly 50,000 companies currently covered by the green reporting rules. The EU counts around 6,000 companies with more than 1,000 employees. "Europe is falling behind the US and China in the global race for competitiveness. I'm entering this process with a clear ambition: to cut costs for businesses and go further than the commission on simplification," Warborn said in a statement on Thursday. His draft proposal must be negotiated in the European Parliament where other lawmakers can propose their own amendments. The Parliament will agree the final changes with EU member countries in the coming months. Warborn, a member of the centre-right European People's Party lawmaker group, is facing competing calls from some right-wing lawmakers to scrap the policies entirely, and Socialist and Green lawmakers vowing to preserve them. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz have both demanded the EU scrap the supply chain law. But the walk-back on ESG rules has met resistance from some investors and campaigners, who have warned it weakens corporate accountability and hurts the bloc's ability to attract more investments towards meeting climate goals. Warborn said his proposed changes will not weaken Europe's sustainability standards, but rather free up resources that companies can instead invest in innovation. Reuters
Reuters
12-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Lead EU lawmaker on sustainability laws proposes more cuts
BRUSSELS, June 12 (Reuters) - The European Union should further slash the number of companies subject to its environmental and corporate sustainability rules, the European Parliament member leading negotiations on the policies said on Thursday. The European Commission proposed a "simplification omnibus" in February that it said would help European firms compete with foreign rivals by cutting back on sustainability reporting rules and obligations intended to root out abuses in their supply chains. Those proposals did not go far enough, according to Swedish centre-right lawmaker Jörgen Warborn, who has drafted amendments to scale back the laws further to only cover companies with 3,000 employees or more and over 450 million euros ($521 million) in turnover. The Commission proposal would exempt companies with fewer than 1,000 employees - already, cutting out more than 80% of the roughly 50,000 companies currently covered by the green reporting rules. The EU counts around 6,000 companies with more than 1,000 employees. "Europe is falling behind the U.S. and China in the global race for competitiveness. I'm entering this process with a clear ambition: to cut costs for businesses and go further than the Commission on simplification," Warborn said in a statement on Thursday. His draft proposal must be negotiated in the European Parliament where other lawmakers can propose their own amendments. The Parliament will agree the final changes with EU member countries in the coming months. Warborn, a member of the centre-right European People's Party lawmaker group, is facing competing calls from some right-wing lawmakers to scrap the policies entirely, and Socialist and Green lawmakers vowing to preserve them. French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz have both demanded the EU scrap the supply chain law. But the walk-back on ESG rules has met resistance from some investors and campaigners, who have warned it weakens corporate accountability and hurts the bloc's ability to attract more investments towards meeting climate goals. Warborn said his proposed changes will not weaken Europe's sustainability standards, but rather free up resources that companies can instead invest in innovation. ($1 = 0.8633 euros)
