Skip to content
  • MyNewMarkets.com
  • Claims Journal
  • Insurance Journal TV
  • Academy of Insurance
  • Carrier Management
Insurance Journal - Property Casualty Industry News

Featured Stories

  • Lengthy Government Shutdown to Impact Insurers
  • FEMA, Customs and Border Protection Staff Data Stolen
  • Articles
  • Jobs
  • Markets

Current Magazine

current magazine
  • Read Online
  • Subscribe
  • Login
  • Front Page
    • National
    • International
    • Most Popular
    • Magazine
    • Forums
    • Blogs
    • Videos/Podcasts
    • Newsletters
  • News
    • Most Popular
    • National
    • International
    • East
    • Midwest
    • South Central
    • Southeast
    • West
  • Magazines
  • Research
  • Directories
  • Jobs
  • Features
    • Events
    • Forums
    • Market Directories
    • Quotes
    • Polls
    • Rankings & Awards
    • Insurance Giving Back
  • Subscribe

EU Weighs Easing Corporate Liability Under Toughest ESG Law

By John Ainger | February 12, 2025
Email This Subscribe to Newsletter
  • Article

The European Union is reviewing the extent to which companies can be held liable for environmental and human rights breaches in their supply chains, ahead of a package designed to remove red tape from the bloc’s ESG regulatory framework.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive branch, will try to better align reporting standards across the three main pillars of its environmental, social and governance rule-set later this month. Plans to cut reporting requirements — especially for small and medium-sized companies — have been well-flagged, but officials are now also looking at ways to ease rules that require firms to clean up their value chains under the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, or CSDDD.

“Civil liability is one of the topics we are looking at,” said Valdis Dombrovskis, the commissioner in charge of the EU’s push to simplify regulations. We are assessing “what kind of legal certainties companies are having, how many layers up and down the value chain they should actually be monitoring and able to influence.”

US Companies Say ESG Rules Are a Serious Barrier to EU Trade

Businesses operating in the EU have complained that the legal liability they face under CSDDD represents an unacceptable risk. At the same time, activists defending environmental and human rights causes hold the directive up as an example of what ESG rules should aspire to. As the framework currently stands, CSDDD infringements could result in fines of as much as 5% of a firm’s global revenue.

Cutting red tape is one of the biggest priorities for the EU as it tries to stay competitive with the US and China. The commission is due to present its first so-called simplification omnibus on Feb. 26, in which it will address several pieces of ESG legislation at once. Besides CSDDD, the omnibus will target the EU’s Taxonomy Regulation and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive.

Dombrovskis said that the package would likely also include adjustments to the EU’s Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism. Wopke Hoekstra, the EU’s climate commissioner, said that 80% of companies would be exempt.

Photograph: Flames from a flare stack at an oil refinery. Photo credit: Bartek Sadowski/Bloomberg

Related:

  • Investors With $6.8 Trillion Warn EU Not to Bow to ESG Backlash
Copyright 2025 Bloomberg.

Topics Europe Liability

Was this article valuable?

Thank you! Please tell us what we can do to improve this article.

Thank you! % of people found this article valuable. Please tell us what you liked about it.

Here are more articles you may enjoy.

Update: National Flood Insurance Program Expires
Charlie Javice Duped JPMorgan Out of $175 Million. Bank Is Picking Up Her Legal Tab
IBHS Study Shows Smaller Hail May Be More Damaging to Roofs Than Once Believed
Hedge Funds Targeting Fire Insurance Hit a Wall in California

Written By John Ainger

More From Author

Interested in Liability?

Get automatic alerts for this topic.

Email This Subscribe to Newsletter
  • Categories: International & Reinsurance NewsTopics: Climate Change, climate reporting, Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), environmental social and governance (ESG) criteria, ESG regulation, EU climate change, EU ESG rules
  • Have a hot lead? Email us at newsdesk@insurancejournal.com
More News
French Wine Output to Fall Below 2024 After Fires Ravage Vines
Musk’s X Settles Ex-Twitter Executives’ $128 Million Severance Pay Lawsuit
Survey: Employer, Employee Views Differ on Workplace Safety
Drone Attacks Are Now Seen 2,000 Kilometers Inside of Russia
More News Features

Read This Next

  • EU Weighs Easing Corporate Liability Under Toughest ESG Law
  • House Bill Aims to Combat Forum Shopping in Trucking Industry Lawsuits
  • People Moves: Specialty MGA Taps BMS's Conway as Senior MedMal Underwriter; HDI UK & Ireland Names Potter From AXA XL as Director of Liability
  • Being Pleasant Is Key to Success at Small but Growing Southern California Firm
  • Louisiana Farm Bureau Approved for Double-Digit Auto Rate Decrease

Insurance Jobs

  • Customer Service Agent – Personal Lines - Bethlehem, PA
  • Senior Insurance Agent (3+ Yrs P&C Exp | W-2 | Warm Leads | In-Office Only) Senior Insurance Agent (3+ Yrs P&C Exp | W-2 | Warm Leads | In-Office Only) - Westminster, CO
  • Claims Manager, Insurance & Risk Management - Queens, New York
  • Auto Good Hands Repair Network – Performance Consultant – Remote (MST/CST) - Remote?, IL
  • Construction Surety Underwriter / Financial Analyst - Charlotte, NC
MyNewMarkets
  • How to Attract the Next Generation to Insurance
  • 5 Evolving Trends Shaping Architects and Engineers Coverage
  • Rethinking Assault & Battery Liability in Commercial Real Estate
  • From Golf Greens to Sausage Fests: The Wild World of Prize Insurance
  • As Schools Prepare to Pay Athletes, What Role Will Insurance Play?
Claims Journal
  • Engle Martin Acquires London-Based Integra Technical Services Claims Adjusters
  • Musk Settles Suit by Ex-Twitter CEO Over Denied Severance Pay
  • Toyota Explores Small Drone System for Off-Road Vehicle Use
  • New York City Sues Social Media Companies for Allegedly Addicting Children
  • Survey Shows Homeowners Warming to DIY Digital Claims, Insurance Processes
Academy of Insurance education
  • October 9 Forward Into The Past: Certificates of Insurance, Additional Insureds, and Other Contractual Risk Transfer Issues
  • October 16 Auto Insurance: You Get What You Pay For
  • October 23 Gotchas That'll Getchya - Latest Policy Language That'll Get You Sued
  • October 30 Challenges in Agency Mergers – Reducing Staff Flight and Avoiding E&O Claims

Insurance News

  • News by Region
  • News by Topic
  • Yesterday

Site Search

Features

  • Insurance Markets Directory
  • Forums
  • A.M. Best Company Ratings
  • Industry Events
  • Agencies For Sale
  • Newswire
  • Insurance Jobs
  • Rankings & Awards

Connect with us

  • Email Newsletters
  • Magazine Subscriptions
  • For Your Website
  • RSS Feeds
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Do Not Sell My Info

Insurance Journal

  • Submit News
  • Advertise
  • Subscribe
  • Reprints
  • Link to Us
  • Contact Us

Wells Media Group Network

  • Insurance Journal
  • MyNewMarkets.com
  • Claims Journal
  • Insurance Journal TV
  • Academy of Insurance
  • Carrier Management
© 2025 by Wells Media Group, Inc. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Site Map