Now we know that we know nothing, with these words at the Lider Conference ESG Sustainable Future Vali Marszalek, the director of ESG at Forvis Mazars, announced the regulatory changes that the European Commission’s Omnibus will bring. Namely, it should not be forgotten that regulatory obligations and burdens have become an obstacle to economic growth over the past few years, prompting the Commission to ease them by introducing the Omnibus, a package of proposals for simplifying and postponing certain directives and regulations related to Green business, especially those concerning ESG. Just when domestic entrepreneurs began to seriously prepare, work, and take concrete steps to report clearly and precisely on their business based on ESG criteria, news of a postponement emerged, and we unexpectedly gained more time.
– And then the Omnibus came at the end of February and turned everything upside down – emphasized Marszalek, noting that at the beginning of this month, France passed a ‘stop the clock’ law, Luxembourg will soon follow, and we are all awaiting this. The goal of the Omnibus is precisely to stop the clock that was counting down to the introduction of new obligations in non-financial reporting, and now there will be changes to numerous regulations, such as the taxonomy regulation and two directives that, immediately after their introduction, made it clear that they would impose very challenging requirements on European companies in non-financial reporting. These are the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). However, one of her statements after the sentence that now we truly know that we do not know when they will be set again caused a real shock among the audience.
– One of the proposals was to postpone all directives until 2040 – said Marszalek to the general dismay of the audience, adding that the postponement is realistic, although it is not known for how long, and that we certainly have time to prepare.
– Now everything is really on the table – said Marszalek.
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At the conference, Roberta Pozzato, an ESG expert at the Italian industrial company Rubinetteria Paffoni, spoke about the company’s path to sustainability, presenting their know-how. The company decided to use eco-friendly packaging for its products, reducing waste and packaging to improve production efficiency and protect the environment. In accordance with EU Directive 2018/852, which stipulates that packaging must be recycled and use recycled materials, Paffoni uses green packaging made from 100 percent recycled paper and cardboard, with eco-friendly inks. This approach not only reduces environmental impact but also allows end-users to dispose of packaging easily with minimal environmental impact.
A panel followed on practical experiences featuring Vladimir Sabo from E.On’s EIS for the markets of Croatia and Slovenia, Judita Cucilić Župa from the European Commission, Carlotta Logli from another Italian company Valvitalia, and Antonija Mršić Radas from BAT.
As the global business community faces various geopolitical and trade challenges, regulatory burdens are becoming an increasing obstacle for many companies. The European Commission heard this message, emphasized Cuculić Župa at the very beginning of the panel. However, instead of abandoning the set goals, the Commission and the European Parliament decided to simplify processes and ease their implementation to preserve competitiveness, but this does not mean that they have given up on sustainability.
