13 November marked a turning point in Europe. The European Parliament, in an unprecedented and deliberate strategic alliance between the right and the far right, adopted a regressive legislation known as "Omnibus I", which dismantles the directive on corporate due diligence and even removes, in the midst of COP30, the obligation for multinationals to produce and implement "climate transition plans" aimed at complying with the Paris Agreement. 

Today, an international collective of more than 250 leaders from civil society organisations, trade unions, responsible businesses, academics, lawyers and climate activists is calling on the 27 European Member States to resist the wave of deregulation demanded by Donald Trump, Qatar and the fossil fuel lobbies, and to fully restore corporate civil liability and climate transition plans in the European Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D). 

This letter, signed by union leaders from France, Spain, Belgium, Italy; Goldman Prize laureates from India, Russia, Germany and France; as well as NGO directors, business leaders, climate activists, academics, lawyers, arrives on the opening day of the 'trilogue', which this evening will bring together the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU to begin the finalisation of an agreement on this first legislative deregulation package, Omnibus I.

 At stake are two measures which loss would spell the end of the European directive on the corporate due diligence, despite its adoption by the EU in spring 2024: corporate civil liability (Article 29) and climate transition plans (Article 22). Their dismantling or removal would signal the political institutions' clear bias towards irresponsible financial powers. 

The collective of signatories from more than 30 countries including Spain, France, Germany, India, Russia, Albania, Belgium, Finland, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Kazakhstan, the United Kingdom, the Uyghur diaspora, and Cameroon, calls on EU Member States to take a democratic and ethical stand. 

On 13 November, in the midst of COP30, the European Parliament adopted regressive legislation, known as "Omnibus I", which significantly reduces the European Union's requirements for corporate accountability, in particular the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D). 

This vote, if not contested by EU Member States, will have a global impact. Large companies operating within the EU will no longer be required to align their strategy with the objectives of the Paris Agreement or to ensure respect for human rights and the environment in their value chains around the world. 

An unprecedented alliance between the right and the far right in the European Parliament 

The adoption of the Omnibus by the European Parliament is the result of an unprecedented alliance between the conservative right and the far right, a direct response to industrial lobbies, Qatar and the Trump administration. Oil and gas giants such as TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil have repeatedly called for a reduction in corporate climate and sustainability obligations, while Qatar and the Trump administration have also asked European heads of state to repeal the Corporate Due Diligence Directive or, failing that, to remove some provisions, such as corporate climate liability and civil liability. 

Right-wing and far-right MEPs complied with this request and removed provisions that required companies to adopt and implement climate transition plans aligning their strategies and business models with the goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. They also significantly weakened the provisions on civil liability, which allowed victims, citizens, NGOs and trade unions to hold multinationals accountable for their global supply chains in EU courts. 

The White House and lobbyists welcome the scrapping of the Green Deal 

Following the European Parliament's vote, MEDEF (the French Business Confederation), White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt, and US Secretary of National Resources Doug Burgum welcomed the destruction of this European legislation. 

The mobilisation of civil society ahead of the trilogue 

The final negotiation process between the European institutions, bringing together the Parliament, the European Commission and the Council of the EU in a trilogue, begins on Tuesday 18 November 2025 in the evening and could be concluded as early as the beginning of December. 

In this context, more than 250 prominent figures from some thirty countries, including NGO directors, activists, trade union leaders, academics, lawyers and committed entrepreneurs, wrote to the twenty-seven Member States of the European Union ahead of the trilogue, calling on them to 'uphold the corporate due diligence directive they adopted in spring 2024' and 'show the world, and not just the EU, that the fight against climate change and human and social rights violations cannot rely solely on market forces'. 

The signatories, from France, Germany, India, Russia, Albania, Belgium, Finland, Ivory Coast, South Africa, Kazakhstan, the United Kingdom, the Uyghur diaspora, and Cameroon, among others, call on EU Member States to restore full civil liability for large companies and the obligation to develop and implement climate transition plans, in order to ensure that companies operating in the European market are accountable for their impacts throughout their global value chains. 

The Omnibus I legislation is only the first step in the destruction of the Green Deal initiated by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Nearly a dozen "Omnibus" procedures are already underway in Brussels, which could lead to the dismantling of European social, environmental and climate law.