EU: "Unprecedented" lobbying from financial sector left industry "largely exempt" from CSDDD, says report; incl. co. non-response
...The financial lobby at the European level managed to largely exempt the financial sector from the supply chain law. This unprecedented lobbying success should be undone as part of the ongoing revision of European rules for sustainable financial markets...Finanzwende
In March 2025, Finanzwende published a report alleging the French government secured large-scale exemptions for the financial sector in the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive in response to lobbying from companies and banking groups.
The report says that, initially, the CSDDD proposal included the financial sector, requiring them to conduct due diligence on companies they finance or invest in. The report says this received support from several industry bodies (with conditions), including the European Banking Federation, the Dutch Banking Federation and the Germany Investment Funds Association.
However, the report says “intense lobbying” by BlackRock and “influential lobbying groups” led to the removal of due diligence obligations for asset managers from the Directive. It says lobbying occurred despite the fact the financial industry was “split on the issue of CSDDD”, with some groups arguing for a “more nuanced” approach than others.
The report says this exemption later expanded to cover banks and insurance companies. Banks, insurance companies and asset managers therefore were required to assess risks in their own supply chains rather than the companies they finance. The report said this left the financial sector largely “unaccountable for the environmental and human rights risks associated with its core business”.
...This is a disgraceful example of how special interest groups can secure significant carveouts in European legislation, despite the objections of a majority of members of parliament and member states...Finanzwende
The report highlights concerns that the European Commission’s “Omnibus package” plans to make the financial sector’s exemption permanent, by removing the CSDDD’s review clause which required considering the finance exemption after two years.
In April 2025, the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre invited BlackRock to respond to the report. It did not respond.