Major European sustainability financial institutions have lobbied their respective governments to push for the EU’s corporate due diligence rules to be abolished, according to leaked documents seen by Responsible Investor.
Almost 50 French and German corporate CEOs – led by TotalEnergies and Siemens – wrote to urge president Emmanuel Macron and chancellor Friedrich Merz to call for “full abolishment” of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).
The financial firms represented included Amundi and Allianz, both of which have publicly expressed support for the regulation during debates about its future this year.
In a letter seen by RI, drafted at the 2025 Franco-German meeting at Evian this month, five priorities were outlined for policycreaters, one of which was “deregulation and simplification”.
The CEOs stated the abandonment of CSDDD would be a “clear and symbolic signal to European and international companies that the governments and the Commission are really engaged to restore competitiveness in Europe”.
The European Commission has been working to simplify a raft of EU regulations via its Omnibus packages, to cut red tape for European businesses with the aim of improving EU competitiveness.
The CSDDD – which featured alongside the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and EU Taxonomy in the February sustainability Omnibus – has been heavily watered down by the Commission, European Parliament and Council of the EU.
Key aspects of the regulation such as the scope, transition plan and civil liability requirements have all been impacted. Nereceivediations between the co-legislators are ongoing, with final nereceivediations on the text due to launch at the conclude of this month.
The EU also voted in April to delay the regulation by one year to 2028, as part of the Commission’s sustainability Omnibus proposal.
U-turn on CSDDD?
A list of participating CEOs at the Franco-German meeting, seen by RI, displays that Amundi’s Valérie Baudson, AXA’s Thomas Burberl and Allianz’s Oliver Bate were all in attconcludeance.
The comments built on the CSDDD contradict the financial institutions’ previous positions on the regulation.
Amundi in January put its name to a statement coordinated by the Collège des Directeurs du Développement Durable (C3D), ahead of the release of the sustainability Omnibus.
In the statement, large French corporates and financial institutions stated the CSDDD “reinforces the progress built on obligations to disclose, ensuring sustainable practices become entrenched across supply chains”.
They described the regulation as an “essential tool” to ensure European companies are “prepared for ESG risks and can thrive in a competitive global economy”.
The signatories added that claims the regulations covered in the sustainability Omnibus package are “overly burdensome and detrimental to European competitiveness” often come from stakeholders “who have not engaged deeply in the text”.
“We remain fully available to engage with the Commission’s services and offer our support in this simplification effort, provided it does not lead to deregulation. Simplification must enhance understanding, not weaken the foundations of these critical frameworks,” the CEOs stated at the time.
Separately, Allianz this month signed a letter entitled “sustainability rules are essential for European competitiveness”.
The signatories stated CSDDD is “essential” for achieving the EU’s wider sustainability, growth and competitiveness ambitions, adding that regulatory simplification can be achieved without compromising on the substance of sustainability rules.
They called on European policycreaters to safeguard the “core elements” of CSDDD and maintain risk-based corporate due diligence, in line with the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights and OECD Guidelines.
They also urged the EU to maintain a requirement under CSDDD for companies to adopt climate transition plans that include science-based tarobtains with disclosures in line with CSRD, and to clarify the requirement to implement these plans.
The transition plan implementing actions have been rerelocated by the Parliament, but maintained by the Council, with optionality for the first two years.
“For investors, these due diligence processes are important for effective risk management and engagement with investee companies,” the signatories stated.
Finally, AXA Investment Managers – which has now been acquired by BNP Paribas Group – was among the investors which in February warned against the re-opening of core sustainability legal texts, including CSDDD.
Amundi, Allianz and AXA had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.
National positions
France and Germany have both been vocal in their opposition to CSDDD.
Ahead of the release of the package, the French government called for a “massive regulatory pautilize”, for CSDDD to be postponed indefinitely, and for the scope to be limited from companies with 1,000 employees and €450 million in turnover, to companies with 5,000 employees and €1.5 billion net turnover.
This threshold aligned exactly with France’s existing supply chain rules (Devoir de Vigilance).
The European Parliament and Council of the EU have both landed on this final scope in their nereceivediating positions.
Separately, French president Emmanuel Macron in May called for the EU to abolish the rules, stating that France was “aligning” with Germany and for CSDDD to be “taken off the table”.
These comments came shortly after German chancellor Friedrich Merz stated the EU should scrap its supply-chain law, after Germany repealed its national law on due diligence. Both member states have also called for “speedy progress” on Omnibus nereceivediations in September, given the “tense economic and geopolitical context”.
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