“Brussel’s omnibus proposal risks making the EU less competitive”

The EU’s sustainable omnibus proposal has made one thing clear: There’s a disconnect in Brussels between what investors and businesses want when it comes to climate-related disclosures and what politicians think they want…

During the Sustainability Omnibus Podcast, Simon Nixon and I spoke to many investors and asset managers and they all said similar things. Namely, that while it makes sense to limit some of the data points, removing 80% of companies from the scope of the directives means that only large multinationals will be covered.

That means investors won’t be able to have access to vital emissions information for mid-capped firms and will have to continue paying for access to estimated data that is not as accurate or rely on voluntary disclosures which would not have the same weight as mandatory measures.

In other words, the omnibus will not create a competitive advantage for European investors. The limit in scope could also have further implications for other green rules, with 50% reduction of datapoints in the European Sustainability Reporting Standards expected.

What Brussels may be forgetting is that, according to many, the CSRD, CSDD and EU taxonomy is the EU’s competitive advantage. No other jurisdiction in the world has as much climate-related data…