Activities of Sirpa PIETIKÄINEN related to 2022/0051(COD)
Shadow opinions (1)
OPINION on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence and amending Directive (EU) 2019/1937
Amendments (38)
Amendment 102 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) Existing international standards on responsible business conduct specify that companies should protect human rights and set out how they should address the protection of the environment across their operations and value chains. The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights79 recognise the responsibility of companies to exercise human rights due diligence by identifying, preventing and mitigating the adverse impacts of their operations on human rights and by accounting for how they address those impacts, paying special attention to the actual and potential adverse impacts on groups or populations that may have a heightened risk of vulnerability or marginalisation, such as girls and women. Those Guiding Principles state that businesses should avoid infringing human rights and should address adverse human rights impacts that they have caused, contributed to or are linked with in their own operations, subsidiaries and through their direct and indirect business relationships. __________________ 79 United Nations’ “Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework”, 2011, available at https://www.ohchr.org/documents/publicati ons/guidingprinciplesbusinesshr_en.pdf.
Amendment 110 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 5
Recital 5
(5) Existing international standards on responsible business conduct specify that companies should protect human rights and set out how they should address the protection of the environment across their operations and value chains. The United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights79 recognise the responsibility of companies to exercise human rights due diligence by identifying, preventing and mitigating the adverse impacts of their operations on human rights and by accounting for how they address those impacts, paying special attention to the actual and potential adverse impacts on groups or populations that may have a heightened risk of vulnerability or marginalisation, such as girls and women. Those Guiding Principles state that businesses should avoid infringing human rights and should address adverse human rights impacts that they have caused, contributed to or are linked with in their own operations, subsidiaries and through their direct and indirect business relationships. __________________ 79 United Nations’ “Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework”, 2011, available at https://www.ohchr.org/documents/publicati ons/guidingprinciplesbusinesshr_en.pdf.
Amendment 148 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 22
Recital 22
(22) In order to reflect the priority areas of international action aimed at tackling human rights and environmental issues, the selection of high-impact sectors for the purposes of this Directive should be based on existing sectoral OECD due diligence guidance. The following sectors should be regarded as high-impact for the purposes of this Directive: the manufacture of textiles, leather and related products (including footwear), and the wholesale trade of textiles, clothing and footwear; agriculture, forestry, fisheries (including aquaculture), the manufacture of food products, and the wholesale trade of agricultural raw materials, live animals, wood, food, and beverages; the extraction of mineral resources regardless of where they are extracted from (including crude petroleum, natural gas, coal, lignite, metals and metal ores, as well as all other, non-metallic minerals and quarry products), the manufacture of basic metal products, other non-metallic mineral products and fabricated metal products (except machinery and equipment), and the wholesale trade of mineral resources, basic and intermediate mineral products (including metals and metal ores, construction materials, fuels, chemicals and other intermediate products, with special emphasizes paid to endocrine disruptors). As regards the financial sector, due to its specificities, in particular as regards the value chain and the services offered, even if it is covered by sector- specific OECD guidance, it should not form part of the high-impact sectors covered by this Directive. At the same time, in this sector, the broader coverage of actual and potential adverse impacts should be ensured by also including very large companies in the scope that are regulated financial undertakings, even if they do not have a legal form with limited liability.
Amendment 161 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 22
Recital 22
(22) In order to reflect the priority areas of international action aimed at tackling human rights and environmental issues, the selection of high-impact sectors for the purposes of this Directive should be based on existing sectoral OECD due diligence guidance. The following sectors should be regarded as high-impact for the purposes of this Directive: the manufacture of textiles, leather and related products (including footwear), and the wholesale trade of textiles, clothing and footwear; agriculture, forestry, fisheries (including aquaculture), the manufacture of food products, and the wholesale trade of agricultural raw materials, live animals, wood, food, and beverages; the extraction of mineral resources regardless of where they are extracted from (including crude petroleum, natural gas, coal, lignite, metals and metal ores, as well as all other, non-metallic minerals and quarry products), the manufacture of basic metal products, other non-metallic mineral products and fabricated metal products (except machinery and equipment), and the wholesale trade of mineral resources, basic and intermediate mineral products (including metals and metal ores, construction materials, fuels, chemicals and other intermediate products, with special emphasis paid to endocrine disruptors). As regards the financial sector, due to its specificities, in particular as regards the value chain and the services offered, even if it is covered by sector- specific OECD guidance, it should not form part of the high-impact sectors covered by this Directive. At the same time, in this sector, the broader coverage of actual and potential adverse impacts should be ensured by also including very large companies in the scope that are regulated financial undertakings, even if they do not have a legal form with limited liability.
Amendment 223 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 63
Recital 63
(63) In all Member States’ national laws, directors owe a duty of care to the company. In order to ensure that this general duty is understood and applied in a manner which is coherent and consistent with the due diligence obligations introduced by this Directive and that directors systematically take into accountintegrate sustainability matters in their decisions, this Directive should clarify, in a harmonised manner, the general duty of care of directors to act in the best interest of the company, by laying down that directors take into account the sustainability matters as referred to in Directive 2013/34/EU, including, where applicable, human rights, climate change and environmental consequences, including in the short, medium and long term horizons. Such clarification does not require changing existing national corporate structures.
Amendment 224 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 64
Recital 64
(64) Responsibility for due diligence should be assigned to the company’s directors and board management, in line with the international due diligence frameworks. Directors should therefore beand board management should therefore have adequate ecological competence while being responsible for putting in place and overseeing the due diligence actions as laid down in this Directive and for adopting the company’s due diligence policy, taking into account the input of stakeholders and civil society organisations and integrating due diligence into corporate management systems. Directors and board management should also adapt the corporate strategy to actual and potential impacts identified and any due diligence measures taken.
Amendment 267 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 63
Recital 63
(63) In all Member States’ national laws, directors owe a duty of care to the company. In order to ensure that this general duty is understood and applied in a manner which is coherent and consistent with the due diligence obligations introduced by this Directive and that directors systematically take into accountintegrate sustainability matters in their decisions, this Directive should clarify, in a harmonised manner, the general duty of care of directors to act in the best interest of the company, by laying down that directors take into account the sustainability matters as referred to in Directive 2013/34/EU, including, where applicable, human rights, climate change and environmental consequences, including in the short, medium and long term horizons. Such clarification does not require changing existing national corporate structures.
Amendment 271 #
Proposal for a directive
Recital 64
Recital 64
(64) Responsibility for due diligence should be assigned to the company’s directors and board management, in line with the international due diligence frameworks. Directors should therefore beand board management should therefore have adequate ecological competence while being responsible for putting in place and overseeing the due diligence actions as laid down in this Directive and for adopting the company’s due diligence policy, taking into account the input of stakeholders and civil society organisations and integrating due diligence into corporate management systems. Directors and board management should also adapt the corporate strategy to actual and potential impacts identified and any due diligence measures taken.
Amendment 306 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point b
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point b
(b) ‘adverse environmental impact’ means: (i) any adverse impact on one of the following environmental categories: (a) climate change mitigation; (b) climate change adaptation; (c) the sustainable use and protection of water, marine and soil resources; (d) the transition to circular economy including resource use; (e) pollution prevention and control; (f) protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems; (ii) an adverse impact on the environment resulting from the violation of one of the prohibitions and obligations pursuant toestablished under international environmental law, including, but not limited to, the international environmental conventions listed in the Annex, Part II;
Amendment 358 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point b
Article 3 – paragraph 1 – point b
(b) ‘adverse environmental impact’ means: (i) any adverse impact on one of the following environmental categories: (a) climate change mitigation; (b) climate change adaptation; (c) the sustainable use and protection of water, marine and soil resources; (d) the transition to circular economy including resource use; (e) pollution prevention and control; (f) protection and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems; (ii) an adverse impact on the environment resulting from the violation of one of the prohibitions and obligations pursuantestablished under international environmental law, including, but not limited to, the international environmental conventions listed in the Annex, Part II;
Amendment 389 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – point b a (new)
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – point b a (new)
(ba) a demand for adequate ecological competence to be represented in board governance;
Amendment 438 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
2. CIn order to comply with paragraph 1 of this article, companies shall be required to take the following actions, where relevant:
Amendment 442 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – point a
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – point a
(a) where necessary due to the nature or complexity of the measures required for prevention, develop and implement a prevention action plan, with reasonable and clearly defined timelines for appropriate measures action and qualitative and quantitative indicators for measuring improvement. The prevention action plan shall be developed in consultation with affected stakeholders;. The appropriate measures should apply, where applicable, to a company’s own operations, subsidiaries as well as direct and indirect business relationships.
Amendment 448 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – point a a (new)
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – point a a (new)
(aa) In the event that the company is not in a position to prevent or mitigate all the potential adverse impacts at the same time, this plan shall include a prioritisation strategy which shall consider the level of severity and likelihood of the different potential adverse impacts on human rights and the environment.
Amendment 467 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – point b a (new)
Article 5 – paragraph 1 – point b a (new)
(b a) a demand for adequate ecological competence to be represented in board governance;
Amendment 538 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – introductory part
2. CIn order to comply with paragraph 1 of this article, companies shall be required to take the following actions, where relevant:
Amendment 541 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – point a
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – point a
(a) where necessary due to the nature or complexity of the measures required for prevention, develop and implement a prevention action plan, with reasonable and clearly defined timelines for appropriate measures action and qualitative and quantitative indicators for measuring improvement. The prevention action plan shall be developed in consultation with affected stakeholders;. The appropriate measures should apply, where applicable, to a company’s own operations, subsidiaries as well as direct and indirect business relationships.
Amendment 547 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – point a a (new)
Article 7 – paragraph 2 – point a a (new)
(a a) in the event that the company is not in a position to prevent or mitigate all the potential adverse impacts at the same time, this plan shall include a prioritisation strategy which shall consider the level of severity and likelihood of the different potential adverse impacts on human rights and the environment.
Amendment 623 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – title
Article 15 – title
Combating climate change and protecting the environment
Amendment 632 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 1
Article 15 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall ensure that companies referred to in Article 2(1), point (a), and Article 2(2), point (a), shall adop shall adopt and implement a plan to ensure that the overall business model and strategy of the company are compatiblealigned with the transition to a sustainable economy and with, the limiting of global warming to 1.5 °C in line with the Paris Agreement. This plan shall, i and the Regulation (EU)2021/1119 of the European pParticular, identify, on the basis of information reasonably available to the company, the extent to which climate change is a risk for, or an impact of, the company’s operations.liament and of the Council, including its 2050 climate neutrality target and the 2030 climate target, and pursuant to the latest recommendations of the IPCC and the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change. This plan shall include:
Amendment 637 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 1 – point a (new)
Article 15 – paragraph 1 – point a (new)
(a) short-, medium- and long-term targets related to their climate objectives, including absolute greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions for 2030 and in five-year steps up to 2050 in alignment with the 1.5°C climate scenario. Targets should be based on science, pursuant to the latest recommendations of the IPCC and the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change. Companies active in the energy and agricultural sectors shall specify the share of methane emissions, including their methane emissions reduction plan;
Amendment 638 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 1 – point b (new)
Article 15 – paragraph 1 – point b (new)
(b) an identification of decarbonisation levers within the company’s business and value chain, and related financial and investment plans;
Amendment 639 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 1 – point c (new)
Article 15 – paragraph 1 – point c (new)
(c) implementing actions and a description of the progress made to achieve the company’s climate targets and data covering their scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
Amendment 640 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 1 – point d (new)
Article 15 – paragraph 1 – point d (new)
(d) Member States shall ensure that companies referred to in article 2 shall adopt and implement, where applicable, in consultation with stakeholders, a plan on other environmental matters such as those listed in Article 3 (b), taking into account the entire value chain, with implementing actions and financial investment plans, and short-term, mid-term and long-term reduction targets.
Amendment 653 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 3
Article 15 – paragraph 3
3. Member States shall ensure that companies duly take into account the fulfilment of the obligations referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 when setting variable remuneration, if variable remuneration is linked to the contribution of a director to the company’s business strategy and long- term interests and sustainabilityalign half of directors’ variable remuneration with the achievement of the environmental targets, in particular greenhouse gas emission reduction.
Amendment 731 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 25 – paragraph 1
Article 25 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall ensure that, when fulfilling their duty to act in the best interest of the company, directors of companies referred to in Article 2(1) take into account the consequences ofintegrate climate risks and potential and actual adverse impacts identified pursuant to this Directive into their decisions for sustainability matters, including, where applicable, human rights, climate change and environmental consequences, including in the short, medium and long term.
Amendment 776 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – title
Article 15 – title
Combating climate change and protecting the environment
Amendment 779 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 1
Article 15 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall ensure that companies referred to in Article 2(1), point (a), and Article 2(2), point (a), shall adop shall adopt and implement a plan to ensure that the overall business model and strategy of the company are compatiblealigned with the transition to a sustainable economy and with, the limiting of global warming to 1.5 °C in line with the Paris Agreement. This plan shall, i and the Regulation (EU)2021/1119 of the European pParticular, identify, on the basis of information reasonably available to the company, the extent to which climate change is a risk for, or an impact of, the company’s operations.liament and of the Council, including its 2050 climate neutrality target and the 2030 climate target, and pursuant to the latest recommendations of the IPCC and the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change. This plan shall include:
Amendment 783 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 1 – point a (new)
Article 15 – paragraph 1 – point a (new)
(a) short-, medium- and long-term targets related to their climate objectives, including absolute greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions for 2030 and in five-year steps up to 2050 in alignment with the 1.5°C climate scenario. Targets should be based on science, pursuant to the latest recommendations of the IPCC and the European Scientific Advisory Board on Climate Change. Companies active in the energy and agricultural sectors shall specify the share of methane emissions, including their methane emissions reduction plan;
Amendment 784 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 1 – point a a (new)
Article 15 – paragraph 1 – point a a (new)
(aa) an identification of decarbonisation levers within the company’s business and value chain, and related financial and investment plans;
Amendment 785 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 1 – point a b (new)
Article 15 – paragraph 1 – point a b (new)
(ab) implementing actions and a description of the progress made to achieve the company’s climate targets and data covering their scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.
Amendment 787 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 1 a (new)
Article 15 – paragraph 1 a (new)
1a. Member States shall ensure that companies referred to in Article 2 shall adopt and implement, where applicable, in consultation with stakeholders, a plan on other environmental matters such as those listed in Article 3 (b), taking into account the entire value chain, with implementing actions and financial investment plans, and short-term, mid-term and long-term reduction targets.
Amendment 796 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 15 – paragraph 3
Article 15 – paragraph 3
3. Member States shall ensure that companies duly take into account the fulfilment of the obligations referred to in paragraphs 1 and 2 when setting variable remuneration, if variable remuneration is linked to the contribution of a director to the company’s business strategy and long- term interests and sustainabilityalign half of directors’ variable remuneration with the achievement of the environmental targets, in particular greenhouse gas emission reduction.
Amendment 798 #
Proposal for a directive
Annex I – Part II – point 1
Annex I – Part II – point 1
1. Violation of the obligation to take the necessary measures related to the use of biological resources in order to avoid or minimize adverse impacts on biological diversity, in line with Article 10 (b) of the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity and [taking into account possible amendments following the post 2020 UN Convention on Biological Diversity] and with the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and its associated Action Plan, including the obligations of the Cartagena Protocol on the development, handling, transport, use, transfer and release of living modified organisms and of the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity of 12 October 2014;
Amendment 801 #
Proposal for a directive
Annex I – Part II – point 12 a (new)
Annex I – Part II – point 12 a (new)
12a. Violation to respect Paris Agreement on climate change, adopted by 196 Parties at COP 21 in Paris on 12 December 2015.
Amendment 914 #
Proposal for a directive
Article 25 – paragraph 1
Article 25 – paragraph 1
1. Member States shall ensure that, when fulfilling their duty to act in the best interest of the company, directors of companies referred to in Article 2(1) take into account the consequences ofintegrate climate risks and potential and actual adverse impacts identified pursuant to this Directive into their decisions for sustainability matters, including, where applicable, human rights, climate change and environmental consequences, including in the short, medium and long term.
Amendment 946 #
Proposal for a directive
Annex I – Part I – point 1
Annex I – Part I – point 1
1. Violation of the people's right to dispose of a land's natural resources and to not be deprived of means of subsistence in accordance with Article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rightsobligation to take the necessary measures related to the use of biological resources in order to avoid or minimize adverse impacts on biological diversity, in line with Article 10 (b) of the 1992 Convention on Biological Diversity and [taking into account possible amendments following the post 2020 UN Convention on Biological Diversity] and with the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and its associated Action Plan, including the obligations of the Cartagena Protocol on the development, handling, transport, use, transfer and release of living modified organisms and of the Nagoya Protocol on Access to Genetic Resources and the Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising from their Utilization to the Convention on Biological Diversity of 12 October 2014;
Amendment 966 #
Proposal for a directive
Annex I – Part II – point 12 a (new)
Annex I – Part II – point 12 a (new)
12a. Violation to respect Paris Agreement on climate change, adopted by 196 Parties at COP 21 in Paris on 12 December 2015;