EU's New 'Omnibus' - Simplification or Rollback?

What’s In this Week’s Newsletter:

  • Is the EU’s “Omnibus” a simplification of sustainability regulations or actually just deregulation?

  • The UN Global Plastics Treaty breaks down, adding another disappointment for the sustainability movement. 

  • Coca-Cola joins companies that are recalibrating their sustainability goals.

  • How do Trump's tariffs and cabinet picks impact climate action?

  • A series of precedent-setting climate court cases kicked off this week.

Companies racing to meet the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requirements are now facing an added layer of complexity as the rule is set to be re-opened and potentially changed. Less than a month before reporting begins, EU ministers, in a simplification drive, have decided to create a new omnibus regulation combining CSRD with two other sustainability rules.

The new “simplified omnibus regulation” will combine the CSRD with the EU taxonomy – a regulation categorizing “green businesses” and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) – a regulation requiring companies to identify and mitigate environmental and social harm in supply chains. This change was prompted by key EU figures asking for less burdensome sustainability regulation.

While there are more questions than answers at this point, published reports claim that the new regulation will be issued on February 26th, 2025, less than three months from now. We also know that this action will re-open the legislative process on these three key policies, which were considered completed.

Reopening these rules will likely lead to attempts to scale back some or all of these regulations. Marie Toussaint, a French Green MEP said, “Although they say simplification will not mean deregulation, I’m really afraid that that’s exactly what’s on the table.”

As pointed out in this piece by Andreas Rasche, the timing of this couldn’t be worse. There are still member states that have yet to transpose the CSRD and may hold off until after the omnibus goes through the legislative process. Plus, all of this leads to further uncertainty, with thousands of companies preparing to issue their first CSRD reports. 

With confusion swirling and the pendulum swinging to deregulation, the EU confirmed the Deforestation Rule (EUDR), which has gone through multiple changes in the last few months, has been finalized (well, almost, it still has a few more votes). An expected year delay until December 31st, 2025, was maintained. However, unexpectedly, a controversial measure to exempt ‘no risk’ countries was dropped. 

Life in Plastic It’s Not Fantastic

This week’s fifth round of UN talks on reducing plastic pollution in Busan, South Korea, failed to yield the desired result. The UN’s Plastic Treaty was touted as “the most important multilateral treaty” since the Paris Agreement. Even though 100 countries agreed to a reduction in the production of plastics and more than 140 agreed to reduce certain chemicals that harm human and environmental health, a small minority of oil and gas states led by Saudi Arabia and Russia opposed these targets

John Duncan of The Business Coalition for a Global Plastics Treaty said, “It’s frustrating to watch the slow pace of multilateralism, which can be dictated by this very unprogressive minority.” The stalemate comes down to two opposing viewpoints. Most countries believe that production should be reduced, whereas oil-producing nations believe that the treaty should only discuss plastic waste management.

This is the third UN multilateral event with a poor outcome in as many months. Talks at the biodiversity COP in October were suspended and will reconvene next year. Although there was an agreement on financing at COP29 last month, many were unhappy about the result, and other important agreements were kicked down the road

The imminent arrival of the Trump Administration means a likely US withdrawal from the Paris Agreement. However, Trump supported action on reducing ocean plastics in his first term and will likely get on board with a global plastic treaty that emphasizes waste management over reduced production. Ben Dietderich, a Republican spokesperson, said Trump “will tackle the issue of plastic waste and will result in a treaty that the Senate can support.”

More Corporate Backtracking

Shortly after the collapse of the plastic agreement, Coca-Cola came under fire for backtracking on its plastic reduction targets. The company said this week they will aim for 35-40% recycled material in packaging by 2035, as opposed to a previous goal of 50% by 2030. Coke also aims to collect 70-75% of every can and bottle sold by 2035 as opposed to collecting and recycling a bottle or can for every one sold by 2030.

Coca-Cola is one of a growing number of companies that are recalibrating their sustainability goals. Expect more of this in 2025, as cost pressures mount and the threat of greenwashing accusations makes companies more realistic with their sustainability targets.

Climate Impacts of Trump’s Tariffs and Nominees

Although the general direction of Trump’s administration is clear, the team he has built so far runs the whole spectrum of views on climate. On one end, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., his Health and Human Services Department nominee, says it is an “existential” risk. On the other end, Chris Wright, Energy Department nominee, denies climate change is a problem.

Climate in the Courtroom

Hearings will be held over the next two weeks at the ICJ ahead of an expected decision next summer. In addition to this international climate case, there were three other notable cases this week:

 The views expressed on this website/weblog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer. 

Other Notable News:

Sustainability Research

AI and Climate

Climate Investments

Global Weirding

Notable Podcasts: 

Notable Jobs:

Reply

or to participate.