The ESG Digest: Insights into the European Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive – Key Challenges for Companies
ESG Digest | July 8, 2024
The Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), one of the most debated pieces of European legislation of recent times, establishes far-reaching mandatory human rights and environmental obligations on companies of a certain size operating in the European Union—obligations that extend to their subsidiaries and even to their suppliers. In our two-episode podcast The ESG Digest: Insights into the European Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive, Gibson Dunn lawyers and clients discuss the impact and implications of the new directive.
In our second episode, Gibson Dunn partner Markus Rieder (Munich) and Juergen Gleichauf, chief compliance officer and chief human rights officer at Mercedes-Benz, discuss the challenges for companies in meeting the mandatory human rights and environmental obligations established by the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD). These include transitioning from national laws to the newly established European directive, and managing risks and setting up remediation measures in a complex supply chain. Juergen also shares examples of how companies can effectively implement a human rights-led corporate strategy.
HOSTS:
Markus Rieder is a partner in the Munich office of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and co-chair of the firm’s Transnational Litigation practice. He is also a member of the firm’s Class Actions, Securities Litigation and International Arbitration Groups. Markus focuses his practice on complex commercial litigation, both domestic and cross-border, and national and international arbitration, as well as on compliance and white collar defense. He has substantial experience in the automotive, industrial and manufacturing sectors. He also advises related to the increased risks of ESG litigation, encompassing a variety of issues including climate and environmental protection matters, human rights and the new German Supply Chain Due Dilligence Act, and represents clients in major cutting-edge issues such as climate protection lawsuits.