Directive sur le devoir de vigilance : une occasion manquée pour la finance

The CSDDD requires large companies to ensure their operations do not have disproportionate impacts on the climate, environment, biodiversity, and human rights. However, the document highlights a critical gap: financial services are excluded from due diligence requirements, meaning financial actors are only responsible for their non-financial activities (e.g., office supplies) rather than their investments in harmful projects. While the directive mandates climate transition plans for all covered entities, including financial actors, the document warns that relying on CSRD reporting standards may result in low-quality, non-prescriptive plans that fail to stop fossil fuel expansion.

• The CSDDD mandates that very large companies ensure their operations and activity chains do not cause disproportionate impacts on human rights, biodiversity, the environment, and the climate, with failure leading to potential criminal prosecution and a requirement to repair damages.
• Financial services are excluded from the directive's due diligence scope due to opposition from the EU Council and France, meaning financial institutions are only required to perform due diligence on non-financial activities, such as the sustainability of advertising paper or credit card plastic, rather than their investments in fossil fuels.
• The CSDDD introduces a mandatory requirement for companies and financial actors to adopt and implement climate transition plans compatible with European climate goals, including greenhouse gas emission reduction targets for scope 3.
• There is a risk that climate transition plans will be of variable quality because companies that publish a plan under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) are presumed to satisfy CSDDD obligations, yet the CSRD is focused on transparency rather than prescriptive requirements.

APA

Martin, L. (2024). Directive sur le devoir de vigilance : une occasion manquée pour la finance. Reclaim Finance. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/2024/04/26/directive-sur-le-devoir-de-vigilance-une-occasion-manquee-pour-la-finance/

Chicago

Martin, Léo. Directive sur le devoir de vigilance : une occasion manquée pour la finance. Reclaim Finance, 2024. https://reclaimfinance.org/site/2024/04/26/directive-sur-le-devoir-de-vigilance-une-occasion-manquee-pour-la-finance/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |last1=Martin |first1=Léo |title=Directive sur le devoir de vigilance : une occasion manquée pour la finance |publisher=Reclaim Finance |date=26 April 2024 |url=https://reclaimfinance.org/site/2024/04/26/directive-sur-le-devoir-de-vigilance-une-occasion-manquee-pour-la-finance/ |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{martin2024directive, author = {Martin, Léo}, title = {{Directive sur le devoir de vigilance : une occasion manquée pour la finance}}, publisher = {Reclaim Finance}, year = {2024}, month = apr, url = {https://reclaimfinance.org/site/2024/04/26/directive-sur-le-devoir-de-vigilance-une-occasion-manquee-pour-la-finance/}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }