The regulation would apply to companies with at least a thousand employees and a turnover of 450 million.
The corporate responsibility directive of the European Union, which was in the crosshairs, received the support of a qualified majority of the EU member states, says the Ministry of Labor and Economy (TEM) in its press release. The Committee of Permanent Representatives of the Council of the EU discussed the issue today.
Finland supported the proposal made by the Belgian presidency. Prime minister Petteri Orpo (collective) said last week that Finland passed essential changes to the article on class action and moved to the position of the directive.
Several other changes were also made to the directive at the proposal of the Belgian Presidency. The directive applies to companies with at least one thousand employees and whose turnover is EUR 450 million.
In the previous proposal, the directive would have been applied to companies with at least 500 employees and a turnover of 150 million euros and, in addition, to smaller companies in certain risk sectors. Now companies in risky sectors are no longer involved. The risk sectors will be examined later as part of the reassessment of the regulation.
“Changing the world for the better”
The non-governmental organization Finnwatch, which followed the matter, considers the directive a significant step forward, even though the directive became looser than the original along the way.
With the directive, large companies are obliged to draw up and implement climate-related transition plans, which change their strategy and business models to meet the climate goal of one and a half degrees.
– Many responsible companies have already acted in this direction. Now the companies that sought a competitive advantage through irresponsibility are forced to do the same. This changes the world for the better in a tangible way, says Finnwatch’s executive director in the press release Sonja Finér.
The matter will proceed to the votes of the European Parliament.