More than 80% of French citizens think multinational companies should be required to prevent damaging social, environmental, and climate impacts, including those of their subcontractors. This is the finding of a new OpinionWay survey conducted for Reclaim Finance and the Citizens’ Forum for Economic Justice released today (1). The survey comes shortly after Emmanuel Macron proposed scrapping the European Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD) – a key piece of legislation regulating multinationals. Civil society organisations are calling on the French government to listen to public opinion and support both the CSDDD and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which are currently under review as part of the European Union’s Omnibus proposal.
According to the OpinionWay survey for Reclaim Finance and the FCJE: (2)
- 8 out of 10 French citizens (81%) think multinational corporations should be held accountable for their social, environmental, and climate impacts, and for those of their partners and subcontractors.
- 86% believe that companies should be regulated to make them more transparent and to ensure they prevent such impacts, even if it entails additional costs for their business.
- 90% want multinationals to actively contribute to the fight against climate change and be required to adopt and implement transition plans aligned with the goal of limiting global warming to +1.5°C. (3)
These findings confirm that the French public strongly supports ambitious regulation to ensure corporate transparency and accountability in terms of human rights, environmental protection, and climate action. Yet these regulations are currently at risk from the French president,(4) who has proposed scrapping the European due diligence directive, and from the government, which supports the European Commission’s proposed “Omnibus” directive.
The Omnibus proposal seeks to roll back both the CSRD and CSDDD, notably reducing by 80% the number of companies required to disclose social and environmental information and undermining the implementation of climate transition plans.(5) The Council of the European Union is expected to take a position on the proposal before the end of June.
Reclaim Finance and the Citizens’ Forum for Economic Justice member organizations are calling on the French government to heed the concerns of the French public—concerns also shared by many companies, economists, and financial actors – (6) and to stop its attack on these key texts for the climate, the environment, and human rights.
Press release from:
Sherpa, Amis de la Terre France, Amnesty International France, Bloom, CCFD-Terre Solidaire, Collectif Ethique sur l’Étiquette, Fédération internationale pour les droits humains, Ligue des droits de l’Homme, Notre Affaire à Tous, Oxfam France, Reclaim Finance.
For more information : presse@asso-sherpa.org
