ESG

Brussels has taken a noticeable step back from some of its most far-reaching sustainability ambitions. After a marathon round of negotiations, EU lawmakers reached a provisional deal to trim down the scope of the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), a course correction shaped by delays, industry pressure, and a shifting political mood.

Climate has dominated ESG discourse for years. Carbon pathways, transition plans, emissions reporting have all become standard boardroom topics. Yet the most fundamental risk is one that companies often only notice once it’s too late, which is the natural systems that businesses depends on every single day.

The EU’s deforestation law, already the subject of years of political wrangling and industry pushback, is heading for yet another delayed start and a more streamlined design, after Parliament and Council negotiators reached a provisional agreement to postpone and simplify its core requirements.

Dutch financial institutions are beginning to show how they plan to align their business with a climate-safe future, and regulators say the early progress is encouraging, even if the road ahead is long. In a new review, the Netherlands Authority for the Financial Markets finds that eight of the country’s largest banks and insurers are reporting on their climate transition plans and financed-emissions data in a more structured and transparent way than ever before.

The UK is stepping deeper into the sustainable finance arena. The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) has put forward plans to regulate ESG ratings (the scores that influence trillions in investment decisions) in an effort to make them far more transparent, reliable and comparable than they are today.

EU governments have agreed on their starting position for revising the EU Deforestation Regulation, signalling that the legislation may not apply as early as previously planned. Member States endorsed a one-year postponement alongside several changes aimed at easing administrative pressure on companies and national authorities.

Deloitte Global’s 2025 C-suite Sustainability Report suggests that corporate sustainability is sharing the front row with technology adoption and artificial intelligence, not just holding steady in a crowded field of business priorities. Now in its fourth year, Deloitte’s survey of more than 2,100 executives across 27 countries paints a picture of organizations still pushing toward long-term sustainability goals even as the operating environment shifts under their feet.