go to the original language article
The majority of companies in Europe can look forward to being relieved of a number of burdens and costs related to sustainability reporting, after an agreement was reached during the night to Tuesday.
The agreement means that only companies with more than 1,000 employees and an annual turnover of over 450 million euros – equivalent to 3.36 billion kroner – must report on sustainability.
“A major agreement with massive burden reductions for Danish and European businesses has now been reached. Burdens amounting to billions (of kroner, ed.) will now disappear. The Danish EU Presidency has secured the agreement,” says Minister for Business Morten Bødskov (S) in a press release.
The relaxations come after concerns that EU bureaucracy could hamper competitiveness compared with rivals. For Danish companies, the amount of burdens shrinks by 95 percent compared with the original proposal.
In Denmark alone, this means that Danish companies will in future save at least six billion kroner in administrative costs per year.
The rules for reporting sustainability will become simpler with fewer data points. This will make the data more number-based, simple, and easy to compare.
This will allow green companies to show that they are green, because their data can be compared with others’.
“Today we fulfilled our promise to remove more burdens and rules and to strengthen the EU’s competitiveness. This is an important step towards our common goal of creating better conditions for businesses, so companies can grow and innovate,” says Minister for European Affairs Marie Bjerre (V) in the statement.
The agreement states that only companies with more than 5,000 employees and an annual turnover of 1.5 billion euros – equivalent to 11.2 billion kroner – must carry out due diligence.
Due diligence is a process in which companies examine the consequences of their activities in relation to sustainability.
The agreement between the European Parliament and the EU countries is intended to strengthen the competitiveness of European companies in international trade markets. It must be approved by Parliament.
Strengthening competitiveness has been an important agenda for the current Danish EU Presidency. Denmark has soon held the presidency for half a year, and it expires at the turn of the year.
The report from Mario Draghi in 2024 shook the EU system and pointed out that more and more rules from Brussels are on the verge of strangling European companies.
The Danish business organizations Dansk Industri (DI), Dansk Erhverv and SMVdanmark have repeatedly called for less EU bureaucracy to secure future prosperity.
The Omnibus 1 proposal has, during the legislative process, met resistance in the European Parliament, where the Greens and the Left have expressed concern that the simplification of rules will come at the expense of the green agenda.