CSDDD Webinar Series

As part of the European Union's Green Deal, one of the areas of EU law that has developed most rapidly and profoundly is that relating to corporate sustainability governance. Most recently, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) has been approved by both the European Parliament and Council of the European Union, and has thus been officially adopted, imposing obligations on covered companies (including non-EU companies), with penalties for non-compliance in the form of fines of up to 5% of their global turnover.

As with the GDPR a few years ago, this law will have significant extra-territorial scope and a very significant impact on companies in the Asia-Pacific region (as well as other companies throughout the world).

Some of the largest companies in the Asia-Pacific region (those with significant business activities in the EU) will be covered directly and will be most impacted, whilst many others will not be covered directly but will feel indirect impacts in their interactions with covered companies.

In essence, this law imposes two key obligations:

New value chain-wide due diligence obligations requiring companies to identify risks of human rights and environmental problems in their value chains, prevent those risks from materialising, and react to occurrence of such problems in order to bring them to an end.

New climate obligations requiring the adoption and actual implementation of a 1.5°C Paris-aligned climate transition plan.

The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) was officially adopted on 24 May 2024 and essentially imposes the following two key obligations:

• New value chain-wide due diligence obligations requiring companies to identify risks of human rights and environmental problems in their value chains, prevent those risks from materialising, and react to any occurrences of such problems in order to bring them to an end.

• New climate obligations requiring the adoption and actual implementation of a 1.5°C Paris-aligned climate transition plan.

Given the critical importance of this new law and the business impact it is bound to have for most companies active in the EU, we have also developed the CSDDD Explainer Series to explain the most important aspects of CSDDD compliance and provide practical insights to support businesses as they adapt to this new challenge.

As part of the European Union's Green Deal, one of the areas of EU law that has developed most rapidly and profoundly is that relating to corporate sustainability governance. Most recently, the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) has been approved by both the European Parliament and Council of the European Union, and has thus been officially adopted, imposing obligations on covered companies (including non-EU companies), with penalties for non-compliance in the form of fines of up to 5% of their global turnover.

Given the critical importance of this new law and the business impact it is bound to have for many multinational companies active in the EU, we've developed the CSDDD Explainer Series to explain the most important aspects of CSDDD compliance and provide practical insights to support businesses as they adapt to this new challenge.

As with the GDPR a few years ago, this law will have significant extra-territorial scope and a very significant impact on companies in the North American region (as well as other companies throughout the world). Some of the largest companies in the region (those with significant business activities in the EU) will be covered directly and will be most impacted, while many others will not be covered directly but will feel indirect impacts in their interactions with covered companies.