US demands on CSDDD echo corporate lobbying campaign

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🗞️ Driving the news: Washington's latest demands to weaken the EU's Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive closely mirror those made by companies running a sophisticated lobbying campaign over the past two years, according to Sustainable Views
• Public records show continued ExxonMobil lobbying on both sides of the Atlantic
• The company said in February that the CSDDD had been modified "because of our advocacy"

🔭 The context: Research by SOMO, drawing on more than 170 pages of leaked documents, found ExxonMobil lobbying EU governments to pause or withdraw the directive as early as September 2024, before the Commission announced the Omnibus package
• Three of the company's four stated priorities for weakening the CSDDD appeared in the Commission's Omnibus proposal
• ExxonMobil discussed the directive in at least 25 meetings with EU institutions between January 2024 and July 2025
• CEO Darren Woods lobbied President Trump directly at Mar-a-Lago and the White House in early 2025 on using trade negotiations as leverage; the August 2025 US–EU trade agreement committed to at least three of those priorities. Omnibus I entered into force on 18 March 2026.

🌍 Why it matters for the planet: The CSDDD is the EU's principal mechanism obliging large companies to identify and address environmental harms across their value chains
• Diluting it narrows due diligence toward direct suppliers, leaving deeper-tier deforestation, pollution and emissions outside legal obligation

⏭️ What's next: DeSmog reported in January that the American Petroleum Institute is pursuing further dilution in 2026, despite concessions already made
• SOMO researcher David Ollivier de Leth has urged the EU to resist additional interference

💬 One quote: "It's extremely worrying that the API appears to continue its campaign against the CSDDD in 2026 and wants to water it down even further, despite the massive concessions the EU adopted already following intense lobbying by U.S. fossil fuel companies" — David Ollivier de Leth, researcher, SOMO.

📈 One stat: At least 25 meetings on the CSDDD and Omnibus between ExxonMobil and EU institutions from January 2024 to July 2025, making it the most active company on the issue.

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