European companies will be able to give their opinion on the CSRD
On Monday March 31st, WeAreEurope is launching a major survey of EU companies to find out their position on the CSRD.
This survey will be the first at European Level to help us find out what companies really think of this directive on reporting, a directive at the center of intense political lobbying linked to the notion of competitiveness.
The Commission has launched its Omnibus project, under debate in Parliament, to recast this text, which has already been adopted and entered into force in 20 countries out of 30 members of the EEA.
—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The CSRD directive (for Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) is initially a technical text intended to harmonize the production of ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) data provided by companies and lead them to assess both the risks and opportunities that the current environmental and social crises generate for their economic models but also the impacts that these companies generate on the environment and society. Adopted on December 16, 2022, the CSRD enabled companies of the “first wave” to produce already 200 first reports.
But, for several months, the CSRD has been at the heart of a political battle which has transformed this directive into a scapegoat for compensing the lack of European competitiveness. It is in the name of this imperative that the European Commission launched the Omnibus project aimed at modifying a series of texts which allowed its Green Deal, adopted in 2019, to take shape.
The Omnibus project was carried out in haste, without a real impact study and by consulting a small number of very large listed companies, not representative of the European economic fabric which is made up overwhelmingly of Small and Medium Enterprises.
First real consultation of businesses on the CSRD
The initiative of the WeAreEurope collective will play a decisive role to find out the companies' point of view on the CSRD when they are bombarded with contradictory information.
The CSRD is accused by its adversaries of being one of these “unbearable bureaucratic standards”. For its supporters, it is the best way to harmonize ESG data which is already requested in a non-standardized manner today from companies, while assessing the risks linked to the impacts and dependencies which weigh on companies on an environmental and social level.
What is the opinion of European companies? This is what the WeAreEurope survey will reveal.
Online, targeting 50,000 European companies, supplemented by a dozen interviews with German, French, Spanish, Czech, Greek and Nordic companies, the survey will take place from March 31 to April 30, 2025.
The survey is supervised by academics from major European schools and universities such as Copenhagen Business School, HEC Paris or CERCES or LMU. The results should be known no later than May 14.
If you are in charge of CSRD preparation and working in one of the companies concerned, here is the link to complete the survey.
Lets hear our spokespersons
« Our objective is to disseminate the results of this survey to european and national political leaders, the media and of course the Commission, and European Ministers of Economy and Finance. ", explain Alexis Kryceve, French spokesperson for the WeAreEurope collective. “The real opinion of European companies is really lacking and prevents us from having a rational exchange, which allows us to move away from posturing. »
For Markus Adler, German spokesperson for the collective : “By analyzing the landscape of European mid-sized companies, we can obtain a reliable understanding of their position vis-à-vis CSRD. To my knowledge, many German companies in this segment are not fundamentally opposed to the directive. They argue instead for a simplification of its requirements, rather than pure and simple deregulation. It is important that Members of the European Parliament understand this nuance. »
Researcher François Gemenne, also sponsor of the initiative, adds: “ I am participating in this project which seems decisive to me in preserving the spirit of the European system. I want to help push the proposals that will come out of this consultation. It is absolutely necessary to know the opinion of European companies on the CSRD and to disseminate it widely. »
The three spokespersons of the WeAreEurope collective can be contacted for interviews via
Marilou@haatch.fr +33 6 07 06 29 81
Alexis Kryceve: questions about the collective and its objectives
François Gemenne: link with research and the consultation project
Markus Adler: European point of view outside France
https://www.weareeurope.group/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/106556386/admin/dashboard/
.svg)
