On 13 November 13 2025, the European Parliament adopted a negotiating proposal on the "Omnibus I" package aimed at amending the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). The amendments weakened the Green Deal package with the objective of strengthening the EU companies’ competitiveness.
Passed with 382 in favour, 249 against and 13 abstentions, the centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) decided to forgo its alliance with traditional centrist allies for the far-right - ECR (European Conservatives and Reformists), Patriots for Europe (PfE), and Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) - to move ahead with deregulation. This conclusion was initially threatened by EPP lawmakers already in October, when the socialists and liberals opened to the possibility of voting an alternative simplification package with lower thresholds.
The amendments to the CSRD and CSDDD
The CSRD is an EU law that requires companies to report in a detailed, standardized, and audited way on their environmental, social, and governance (ESG) impacts. It significantly expands and replaces the previous Non-Financial Reporting Directive (NFRD).
The adopted proposal will increase the application thresholds of CSRD to companies with over 1,750 employees and €450 million net turnover. This is a significant increase, compared to the current thresholds which are set at €50 million in net turnover, €25 million on the balance sheet and 250 employees. Also, companies will be prohibited from seeking to obtain information from undertakings in their value chain which have less than 1,750 employees and a net turnover of €450 million, except for the information to be specified in the sustainability standards for voluntary use.
On the other hand, focused more on corporate behaviours, the CSDDD is an EU law that requires large companies to identify, prevent, stop, and remedy human rights and environmental harms in their own operations and across their global value chains.
The proposed amendment to the CSDDD would increase the thresholds to EU companies with more than 5,000 employees and a net worldwide turnover of more than € 1.5 billion; and non-EU companies with more than €1.5 billion in net turnover in the EU. CSDDD requires companies to identify and assess actual or potential adverse impacts. The proposed amendment would require this to consist of a risk-based approach taking account of risk factors such as “geographical and contextual risk factors, such as the level of law enforcement; sectoral, product or service risk factors” and “business operation or business partners risk factors”, including whether the business partner is covered by CSDDD.
Reactions from civil society
According to Climate Kic, the EU’s 2040 target already threatens to undermine transition work on the ground just when it needs to scale. The Omnibus vote deepens that erosion, hollowing out the EU’s sustainability framework by weakening due diligence, shrinking reporting obligations, and signalling to industry that accountability is optional. Carbon Market Watch estimates the offset provision could lead to 50% more emissions and cost as much as €48.9 billion, burdening EU taxpayers while delaying transition.
According to Swann Bommier, advocacy director at Bloom: “For all human rights and environmental defenders, this vote, in the midst of Cop30, constitutes an absolute moral failure. For multinationals, it guarantees handsome profits. For the European industrial fabric, it heralds unbridled unfair competition and an economic disaster waiting to happen.”
What happens next?
The text including all amendments voted in plenary has now become the EP’s formal position for negotiations with the Council. For Omnibus I, the Council will soon adopt its general approach, paving the way for interinstitutional dialogue: the Trilogue between Commission, Parliament, and Council. After negotiations, Parliament and Council will agree on a text on which express their final vote.
This vote marked a turning point for EU environmental governance. By relying on an alliance with the far-right groups, the EPP fractured the alliance that led to the Green Deal and its developments. The Omnibus I package does not dismantle it, but represents the first significant shift from ambition to retrenchment. This development weakens the EU’s role as a global standard-setter on sustainability and suggests a new phase in which climate and environmental policy will be shaped by more conservative and right-wing populist policies. This vote is a valid example of the political opposition to sustainability that Trans4demo aims to investigate.
Photo: © European Union 2025 - Source : EP/Fred MARVAUX