EU Omnibus package: insurers back European Commission’s proposal delay to sustainability rules
The insurance industry backs the European Commission’s proposal to temporarily suspend putting into law the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) until 2028 while the rest of the omnibus package is negotiated.
In a paper published today sharing its views on the Omnibus package, Insurance Europe reaffirmed the industry’s commitment to tackling climate change and its support for the EU’s sustainability goals.
As part of the ‘Stop-the-clock’ mechanism within the EU’s first Omnibus package, large companies who have yet to begin CSRD reporting and listed SMEs would see a two-year delay, while the CSDDD’s transposition and first phase would be postponed by one year.
In line with the European Commission’s commitment to reducing reporting burden and simplifying its laws, the industry stresses that more time is needed to sufficiently assess the impact of the two legislations, ensuring that excessive regulatory burden avoided being diverted from real action on sustainability.
In the paper, it makes the following recommendations:
1. Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD)
• Commit to review and reduce the current reporting standards
• Remove the requirements to introduce further, more detailed (sector-specific) reporting
• Keep assurance requirement at the current level
• Keep mandatory reporting for the largest companies
• Make sure the proposed Omnibus improvements cover the requirement and timing for developing electronic tagging
2. Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive
• Welcome the removal of an EU-level civil liability regime
• Remove the review clause on inclusion of financial services
• Postpone the transposition deadline and the date of first application by one year
• Delete Article 1(2) on maintaining existing national levels of protection
3. EU Taxonomy
• Remove the underwriting KPI
• Keep the proposal to introduce a 10% materiality threshold
• Keep the significant reduction of the specific reporting templates
• Simplify the Do No Significant Harm (DNSH)
4. Solvency II
• Remove the requirement to develop Sustainability Risk Plans (SRPs) under Solvency II