CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES
Corporate sustainability reporting and due diligence are two essential pillars of sustainable finance, and supported extensive regulatory developments under the previous European legislature. However, in September 2024, the Draghi report identified the EU sustainability reporting and due diligence framework as a major source of regulatory burden. According to the report, the current framework hinders the international competitiveness of EU companies, and needs to be simplified.
As a result, the Commission’s Competitiveness compass presented in January 2025 introduced the concept of “omnibus proposals” in order to simplify the rules on sustainability and EU investments. The first omnibus package would address the sustainability framework: the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the first set of European Sustainability Reporting Standards (ESRS), the Taxonomy Disclosures Delegated Act, the Taxonomy Climate and Environmental Delegated Acts, and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D). On 26 February 2025, the Commission published a proposal for a directive amending the CSRD and the CS3D and a draft delegated regulation amending the 3 delegated acts of the taxonomy.
At the request of business and industry groups, the Commission also proposed to “stop the clock”, i.e. to postpone the application of the CSRD reporting requirements by 2 years, and the application of the CS3D by 1 year, the time needed to modify their contents and allow companies to prepare for them. This proposal was voted and endorsed by the European Parliament via a fast-track procedure on 3 April 2025.
The initiative is nonetheless controversial among some players in sustainable development and sustainable finance, who are concerned about the loss of data and the legal uncertainty they believe it could create.
The conference aims at giving the members of the Federal Council for Sustainable Development the opportunity to express their views on the various proposals in the Omnibus 1 package. During the first part of the conference, you will receive detailed information on all these proposals, which will give you an idea of their implications for the transition to a climate-neutral and sustainable economy and its financing.
For each session, the speaker’s presentations will be followed by time for Q&As.
PROGRAMME AND SPEAKERS
Chairman of the conference: Prof. Jean-Pascal VAN YPERSELE (UCLouvain)
08:30 – 09:00 Welcoming the participants
09:00 – 09:05 Introduction
- Jean-Pascal VAN YPERSELE
09:05 – 09:50 Sustainability reporting rules
- Amendments proposed by “Omnibus 1”, FRDO-CFDD Secretariat
- Sustainability reporting and SMEs, Isaac DE COSTER and Tom VAN DEN BERGHE (Febelfin)
09:50 – 10:30 Sustainability due diligence rules
- “Omnibus 1” proposed amendments to the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D), Dan DIONISIE and Ralf SAUER (EU Commission, DG JUST)
10:30 – 10:50 Coffee break
10:50 – 11:20 Implications for sustainable investors
- Implications for sustainable investors, Aleksandra PALINSKA (Eurosif)
11:20 – 12:50 Stakeholder perspectives
- Yelter BOLLEN (Bond Beter Leefmilieu)
- Lora VERHEECKE (Centre national de coopération au développement – 11.11.11)
- Isabelle SCHÖMANN (European Trade Union Confederation)
- Vanessa BIEBEL and Rodolphe MOURIAU (Fédération des Entreprises de Belgique – Verbond van Belgische Ondernemingen)
12:50 – 13:00 Conclusions
13:00 – 14:00 Networking lunch
PRACTICAL INFORMATION
- The conference will take place on 6 June 2025 from 8.30 A.M. to 2 P.M. This is an exclusively face-to-face event.
- Pacheco Center, Finance Tower, Bd Pacheco 13, 1000 Brussels : plan d’accès
- The conference will be conducted in EN, NL and FR. There will be no translation service.
- Participation is free, but you are required to register in advance via this link.
- It will not be possible to follow the conference online. The power point presentations and a report will be published on the FRDO-CFDD website.
- If you have any questions about the content of the conference, please contact: Nathalie.Boucquey@frdo-cfdd.be
- If you have any practical questions, please contact: Sven.Vermassen@frdo-cfdd.be