European Ambassadors told CNCA profoundly concerned over future of EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD)

The 41 member organizations of the Canadian Network on Corporate Accountability (CNCA) have written to European Embassies to express our profound concern over the future of the E.U.’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).

As per our letters:

“The CNCA’s membership represents the voices of millions of Canadians from diverse sectors, including the labour movement, solidarity organizations and faith-based, international development and responsible investment groups. We are connected with civil society organizations, corporate accountability experts, business leaders and decision-makers in every corner of the world.

We appreciate the advances that have taken place at the European Union towards meaningful implementation of the state duty to protect people from human rights abuses linked to business activities. For too long the negative impacts of transnational business have fallen into gaps in the international legal system. This lack of enforceable rules has allowed serious, widespread harms to people and the planet. Vulnerable, marginalized groups have paid the highest price.

Citizens around the world are demanding change, insisting that a rules-based economic order where businesses respect human rights and the environment is not only possible but urgently required. Increasingly, businesses and decision-makers are joining the call to put people and the planet first.

Once implemented, the CSDDD would be a significant step towards that rules-based order. As demonstrated in the appendix to this letter, the ground-breaking directive has received remarkable levels of support from the public, businesses, faith-based groups and academics in the E.U., as well as in other jurisdictions including Canada, and from international institutions like the OECD, ILO and OHCHR.

Governments around the world are recognizing that voluntary measures do not work and that legislation is required. The E.U. is not alone in advancing strong corporate accountability measures. Several European Union member states have laws in place, and there are advanced law proposals in Australia, Brazil, Canada, Japan, Mexico, South Korea, the United Kingdom and the United States. Developments at the E.U. will surely influence the outcome of these proposals, as well as the outcome of the Canadian government’s commitment to introduce due diligence supply chain legislation.”

We expect that the governments of EU member states appreciate the importance of the CSDDD for human rights and environmental protection around the world, its potential to set a crucial precedent for business and human rights everywhere, and the negative avalanche that could result in other jurisdictions if the CSDDD fails to move forward after years of careful negotiation.

We urge all EU member states to stand up for human rights and the environment, and to join the other advanced economies that understand that meaningful measures to address corporate abuse are essential to long-term prosperity and sustainability for all.

Read the letters in full: