SUSTAINABILITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS BY MANDATE - THE PROMISE AND PITFALLS OF THE CSDDD

Abstract

The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) represents a central pillar of the European Green Deal’s effort to integrate sustainability and human rights obligations into corporate governance. By imposing mandatory due diligence obligations on large EU and non-EU companies operating within the internal market to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for adverse human rights and environmental impacts of their activities, subsidiaries, and value chains, the CSDDD marks a paradigm shift from voluntary corporate social responsibility frameworks toward enforceable legal duties. However, its adoption has been significantly shaped by the introduction of the so-called Omnibus I package, which recalibrated the scope, obligations, and enforcement mechanisms of the original Commission proposal. The analysis in the first part of the paper shows how the Omnibus I adjustments influenced the final adopted text of the CSDDD, assessing the implications for regulatory ambition, legal certainty, and corporate accountability. Based on a theoretical analysis of legislative documents and a comparative evaluation of pre- and post-Omnibus provisions, the paper argues that while the adopted CSDDD maintains the Green Deal’s core objectives, Omnibus I reflects a pragmatic move toward regulatory simplification and political feasibility. The second part of the paper examines the normative and practical implications of both legislative instruments, emphasizing the mechanisms through which they operationalize the protection of human and environmental rights. Further, it explores the challenges and opportunities associated with their implementation, including corporate compliance, liability and the intersection of EU law with international human rights norms. The analysis underscores the importance of integrating legal mandates with corporate governance to achieve tangible reductions in environmental degradation and human rights violations, thereby advancing the EU’s strategic objectives of sustainable and responsible economic development. The paper concludes that the CSDDD, even modified through Omnibus I, represents a significant step toward integrating sustainability, human rights and environmental protection into the core of EU corporate law, though its ultimate effectiveness will depend on careful legislative design and robust implementation. Together, these instruments address the historical inadequacies in corporate accountability that have often resulted in the reduction or violation of human rights and environmental rights.