Sustainability has been high up on the EU's agenda especially over the last few years as we see clearly expressed in the EU Green Deal, and we have seen a range of initiatives, adopted legislative instruments and new proposals including the Public Procurement Directives, the Sustainable Finance initiative and its instruments, Circular Economy and its Sustainable Product Policy, the proposal for Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and the Sustainable Corporate Governance initiative. On 23 February the proposal under the latter initiative was finally released, and this seminar will discuss the proposal for the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive and its potential as a link between the other initiatives. What are the possibilities and remaining gaps and incoherencies? Are we finally moving towards policy coherence for sustainability?
We will have a keynote presentation by Salla Saastamoinen, Director of Civil and Commercial Justice in the DG Just of the European Commission. The event also includes experts from the Member States who have adopted their own variants of due diligence legislation concerning aspects of sustainability, which the proposal now seeks to harmonise, and experts on global value chains, sustainability and policy coherence.
The seminar will be followed by a closed workshop 17 March, 10 am - 2 pm CET, by invitation only, to discuss further work.
Programme
09.30-09.45: Welcome by Jukka Mähönen
09.45-10.30: Keynote: Presenting the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence, Salla Saastamoinen, with time for Q&A
10.30-11.15: Sustainability and sustainable due diligence as a point of connection in the regulatory framework, Beate Sjåfjell and Jukka Mähönen, with time for discussion
11.15-11.30: Convenience break
11.30-12.30: Due diligence initiatives in Member States in light of the proposed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, with Christophe Clerc (on France), Anne Mittwoch (on Germany), Anne Lafarre (on the Netherlands) and Kristel Tonstad (on Norway). Time for questions and discussion
12.30-13.30 Lunch break
13.30-14.15: Sustainability and global value chains: why and how we need to regulate, Jaakko Salminen, Klaas Eller and Mikko Rajavuori, with time for questions and discussion
14.15-15.15 The proposed Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive: Discussing the possibilities and the potential for improvement with speakers and audience, chairs: Jukka Mähönen and Beate Sjåfjell
15.15-15.30: Closing the seminar, Beate Sjåfjell
Presentation
Sustainability and sustainable due diligence as a point of connection in the regulatory framework - Sjåfjell/Mähonen, (presentation in .pdf)