'How Big Oil kills sustainability and climate legislation'

...Key findings

• While ExxonMobil has repeatedly opposed the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) in media interviews in recent months, this investigation shows that the American oil and gas giant has been a driving force behind the gutting of the CSDDD since late 2023...
• ExxonMobil’s intense lobbying campaign appears to have worked: three of the oil giant’s four priorities for weakening the CSDDD ended up in the European Commission’s Omnibus proposal, as well as in the positions of the Council and European Parliament rapporteur Jörgen Warborn.
• ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods successfully lobbied US President Trump about using the US-EU trade negotiations to attack the CSDDD at meetings at Mar-A-Lago and the White House in early 2025. The August 2025 US-EU trade agreement includes a commitment to at least three of ExxonMobil’s priorities for the CSDDD.
• ExxonMobil repeatedly pressured the EU by threatening not to spend any of its $20 billion investment package in the EU if the CSDDD was not withdrawn or revised.
• ExxonMobil discussed the Omnibus proposal and the CSDDD in at least 25 meetings with the European Commission and Parliament between January 2024 and July 2025, making it the most active company on this issue. The company has also sponsored think tanks and media events, which have promoted the same anti-CSDDD narrative the company holds...

FT Sustainable Views ('Exxon is the most active lobbyist against CSDDD, claims non-profit report', by Elizabeth Meager and Philippa Nuttall) covered the SOMO report and included comments from the company [subscription needed for full article access]:

...“We’ve been consistently clear on the CSDDD. While we support its human rights and sustainability goals, this directive is fundamentally flawed,” an Exxon spokesperson tells Sustainable Views.

“We’ve openly stated that it adds layers of uncertainty and bureaucracy at a time when Europe should be cutting red tape and protecting industries that are shedding jobs.”...