Survey: Most EU Businesses Want Stronger Sustainability Rules Than Omnibus Proposes

A YouGov survey of more than 2,500 European businesses commissioned by climate think tank E3G finds that a majority of EU companies support more stringent and broadly applied sustainability reporting and due diligence requirements than those envisioned under the European Commission's Omnibus simplification proposals. Companies were nearly three times as likely to agree as to disagree that becoming more environmentally sustainable improves their competitiveness.

The survey covered businesses in Germany, France, Italy, Poland, and Spain, including 1,988 SMEs. Despite ongoing Omnibus negotiations aimed at dramatically narrowing the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive's scope, 70% of businesses believe the minimum company size threshold for mandatory sustainability reporting should be 1,000 employees or fewer, with half favoring a threshold of 500 employees or fewer. Only 15% selected a threshold above 1,000 employees. Additionally, 63% of respondents supported sustainability reporting for their own company if requirements are proportionate and the data is meaningful, including a majority of SMEs.

The survey also challenges the assumption that companies want supply chain due diligence requirements removed. More than 62% of companies with non-EU supply chains agreed that the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive would likely lead large companies to favor suppliers from the European Economic Area over non-European ones — a finding that illustrates how supply chain sustainability rules create competitive pressure with direct implications for exporters in India and other major sourcing markets. Indirect business partners were the most commonly cited source of human rights and environmental risk, at 41%.

Particularly striking is the survey's finding on transition plans: 63% of respondents agreed that large companies should be required to implement a green transition plan, a requirement that the Omnibus process is seeking to weaken. The results suggest that the political case for rolling back sustainability regulations has been overstated by some member state governments and industry associations. E3G Director Jurei Yada concluded that European businesses regard sustainability as a driver of competitiveness, not red tape — a finding that may inform the final shape of the Omnibus package as Parliamentary negotiations resume.

Key figure — 70% of EU businesses favor mandatory reporting threshold of 1,000 employees or fewer