What do the EU’s new rules on corporate due diligence mean for Sámi rights and mining in Sweden?

The paper assesses how the EU's CSDDD may address gaps in Swedish national legislation regarding the human rights of Sámi reindeer herding communities affected by mining. While the CSDDD introduces mandatory due diligence and civil liability, the authors note it lacks explicit references to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) and relies on a risk-based approach that leaves significant room for corporate interpretation.

• Swedish national legislation is currently insufficient in protecting Sámi human rights during mineral licensing, characterized by a lack of meaningful participation in decision-making and a reliance on voluntary corporate human rights due diligence.
• The CSDDD introduces mandatory obligations for large companies to identify, prevent, and remediate adverse human rights impacts, which could strengthen Sámi rights protection compared to the current Swedish framework where environmental impact assessments focus on economic interests rather than human rights.
• A significant limitation of the CSDDD is its lack of direct references to Indigenous Peoples' rights and the right to Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) in its final text, despite these being included in earlier proposals.
• The CSDDD establishes two enforcement mechanisms: administrative supervision by designated national authorities—who can impose financial penalties of up to 5% of a company's worldwide net turnover—and a civil liability regime allowing affected parties to sue for damages.
• The case of LKAB's proposed rare earth element mine near Giron (Kiruna) illustrates potential CSDDD compliance gaps, as the company's risk assessment has excluded human rights and social-cultural impacts, and it has not proposed measures to prevent adverse impacts on the Gabna reindeer herding community.
• The effectiveness of the CSDDD is constrained by its 'risk-based approach' and general terminology regarding 'appropriate measures,' which may allow companies to retain significant discretion and continue selective application of the rules.

APA

Mazzoleni, C., & Larsen, R. K. (2024). What do the EU’s new rules on corporate due diligence mean for Sámi rights and mining in Sweden? Stockholm Environment Institute. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/sei-working-paper-sami-rights-mining-csddd-2024.pdf

Chicago

Mazzoleni, Carlo, and Rasmus Kløcker Larsen. What do the EU’s new rules on corporate due diligence mean for Sámi rights and mining in Sweden? Stockholm Environment Institute, 2024. https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/sei-working-paper-sami-rights-mining-csddd-2024.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Mazzoleni |first1=Carlo |last2=Larsen |first2=Rasmus Kløcker |title=What do the EU’s new rules on corporate due diligence mean for Sámi rights and mining in Sweden? |publisher=Stockholm Environment Institute |date=October 2024 |url=https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/sei-working-paper-sami-rights-mining-csddd-2024.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{mazzoleni2024what, author = {Mazzoleni, Carlo and Larsen, Rasmus Kløcker}, title = {{What do the EU’s new rules on corporate due diligence mean for Sámi rights and mining in Sweden?}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2024}, month = oct, url = {https://www.sei.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/sei-working-paper-sami-rights-mining-csddd-2024.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }