“Communities can fight back and say no.” Nick Omonuk.
In May 2024, the European Union took a significant step towards greater corporate accountability. The new Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) introduces new rules for big corporations to identify and mitigate risks to human rights and the environment in their chain of activities.
The new law is the result of a hard-fought campaign by civil society in the face of years of fierce industry lobbying, political backsliding and broken promises. While the legislation is a sign that the EU recognises it must do more to hold corporations to account, the deeply unfair political process and remaining loopholes are a testament to the struggle civil society faces in securing true transformative corporate justice.
This is the story of the campaign to hold European corporations to account and secure a path to justice for victims of corporate abuse. It’s a story of how corporate lobbying and political games continue to jeopardise the wellbeing of people and planet for the sake of private gain.
But it’s also a story of how solidarity between activists and communities across the globe can shift the needle on ‘business as usual’.
The CSDDD is just the beginning for stronger international standards for business conduct. With EU Member States set to transpose the legislation into national law before July 2026, they must now close the CSDDD’s loopholes, secure access to justice for all victims of corporate exploitation and hold large companies accountable for their contribution to the climate crisis.
Civil society will be watching.
