Corporate governance and business have an important role to play in the green transition and sustainability. There are however serious risks tied to the enforcement of corporate governance standards that are not carefully crafted, such as parts of the COM:s proposal for a Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. There was a discussion on whether certain provisions, particularly the corporate governance related provisions (article 15.3, 25 and 26) would be counterproductive from a sustainability perspective, as well as damaging businesses and their access to capital. It is now agreed that these will be deleted, but whether there will be an agreement and what the final directive will look like remains uncertain.

Speech by Rolf Skog given at the conference “Sustainable Development and Supply Chain Governance”
University of Trento, 30 March 2023.