Welcome to the first edition of Sustainability Round Up! Every Thursday, we bring you the world’s most urgent and actionable sustainability stories, always up to date and rigorously sourced helping you navigate the forces shaping people, planet, and profit. 🌱✨
This week, we spotlight the EU’s debate on relaxing green regulations, cocoa suppliers’ concerns about new deforestation rules, and shifts in corporate due diligence. Explore how Berlin Water Company uses the Sustainability Balanced Scorecard and discover the latest must-read on planetary boundaries and weigh in on our EU sustainability poll.
1. EU Weighs Simplifying Environmental Rules Amid Business Pushback 🇪🇺
The European Commission has launched a public consultation to simplify sustainability mandates, including lighter reporting thresholds under the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and changes to due diligence requirements. While the reforms aim to ease the compliance burden after industry complaints, critics warn this could weaken key environmental safeguards and investment frameworks. The EU ombudsman has started an investigation into whether the process neglected adequate public input.
2. Ivory Coast Cocoa Suppliers Warn of EU Deforestation Rules’ Impact 🍫🌳
Ahead of the EU’s landmark deforestation-free regulation taking effect in December, Ivory Coast cocoa cooperatives warn that compliance costs may drive small suppliers out of business within two years—unless governments offer financial and technical support. Despite digitized traceability plans, the burden (averaging ~200 CFA francs/kg) raises fears about social equity in global supply chains.
3. EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) Watered Down After Lobbying Pressure 📉
Once celebrated as a breakthrough in sustainable corporate governance, the EU’s CSDDD has been diluted: key compliance provisions are pushed back to 2028, due diligence now covers only direct suppliers, and EU-wide civil liability clauses have been removed. NGOs and sustainability investors warn these rollbacks could undermine supply chain accountability and weaken real-world impact.
Framework Spotlight: Sustainability Balanced Scorecard (SBSC)
The SBSC integrates environmental and social priorities into every facet of business strategy—across financial, customer, internal process, and learning/growth objectives—making sustainability a driver of both performance and resilience.
Case Study: Berlin Water Company 💧
By adopting the SBSC, Berlin Water Company tied energy efficiency and waste reduction directly to core business KPIs. The results: lower emissions, regulatory compliance, enhanced trust, and improved financials—proving that sustainability IS smart business.
Read a full guide on Sustainability Balanced Scorecard here.
Watch Nobel Laureate Al Gore dismantles fossil fuel industry narratives and highlights the global surge in renewables, EVs, and the policy shifts making climate action inevitable.
This was really insightful! It’s interesting to see how Europe is trying to balance climate action with the economy.