European Council and European Parliament Jump on the Omnibus, Trending Now in ESG

In its meeting of March 20, 2025, the European Council expressed its support of the so-called Omnibus Package proposed by the European Commission on February 26, 2025. The Omnibus Package includes significant changes to EU ESG laws with a particular focus on the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D). The Package contains a "Stop-the-Clock" proposal and a substantive proposal providing for changes to the CSRD and the CS3D. The European Council's formal conclusions of yesterday expressly urge the European Parliament and the European Commission to reach an agreement on the Package "as a matter of priority and with a high level of ambition". It is equally promising that Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, also stated that the Parliament is “set to adopt an urgency procedure” to adopt the “Stop-the-Clock”-Proposal in two weeks and that the work on the amendments to the CSRD and CS3D will start in April. Given that companies affected by both pieces of EU ESG legislation need clarity on the rules they are expected to comply with, this is welcome news. We will continue to monitor the legislative developments closely.