10/10/2025
Corporate lobbying is quietly reshaping the future of Europe’s sustainability ambitions, according to new research by Social LobbyMap. The study maps the political pressure behind recent EU proposals to weaken corporate due diligence rules, revealing who is driving the rollback of human rights and environmental safeguards, and how. The research, “The Lobbying Effect: How Corporate Influence Shaped the EU’s Sustainability Omnibus Proposal”, finds that trade associations representing powerful sectors such as energy, finance, and oil and gas have pushed to dilute key human rights and environmental provisions in the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD).
What the research shows
The report examines the lobbying activities of 109 companies and trade associations in various sectors, including food, clothing, oil and gas, energy and finance. Drawing on responses to consultations, position papers and freedom of information requests, it assesses and maps policy engagement on key human rights and due diligence issues.
Here are some of the key findings:
- Trade associations remain more opposed than individual companies. While large companies such as Nestlé, Unilever and L’Oréal have expressed their support for strict due diligence rules, many of their trade associations continue to lobby against them.
- Trade associations lobby much more intensively than companies, which means that their negative messages often dominate the political debate.
- The food and clothing sectors are most supportive of rigorous due diligence, due to their public exposure to supply chain risks, while cross-sector, energy, oil and gas, and financial associations are most resistant.
- In contrast to the argument that due diligence is too burdensome for small businesses, a coalition of German SMEs has opposed the weakening of standards, advocating for strict EU-wide rules to ensure a level playing field.
The most controversial issues remain civil liability and the scope of the value chain, in particular whether companies should be required to terminate harmful business relationships when impacts cannot be mitigated.
A pivotal moment for corporate responsibility in Europe
The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, adopted in April 2024, aimed to ensure that EU companies take responsibility for human rights and environmental impacts throughout their supply chains. However, less than a year later, the European Commission’s ‘Omnibus Simplification’ package reopened the debate on this law, proposing changes that could significantly weaken its ambition. These proposals for a step backwards include limiting due diligence to tier 1 suppliers, removing civil liability provisions and extending monitoring intervals from one to five years. In the context of the Draghi report and the drive to ‘simplify’ European regulation, this change has raised concerns among investors, civil society and responsible businesses. Social LobbyMap‘s analysis comes at a crucial moment, revealing how corporate lobbying is influencing the debate and who is pushing to move things forward or backward.
A broader question of accountability
The findings reveal more than just statistics on lobbying; they raise a broader question about the actors shaping EU sustainability policy. As trade associations amplify the voices of their most conservative members, progressive companies risk being silenced. Transparency in political engagement is crucial to ensuring democratic accountability and upholding the EU’s human rights commitments. The next phase of Social LobbyMap’s research will focus on corporate lobbying in the mining sector and global engagement on the implementation of core labour standards, continuing its mission to hold public authorities accountable in the development of sustainable development policy. As the European Parliament prepares its general approach to the Omnibus in October and trilogue negotiations follow, the Social LobbyMap report is a timely reminder that corporate influence must align with human rights, not erode them.