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Hosted by GAIL Europe

Omnibus at the Crossroads: Simplification or Charter-Proofing Failure?

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Omnibus at the Crossroads: Simplification or Charter-Proofing Failure?

Summary

New versions of the Omnibus package to reshape EU sustainability laws are surfacing almost weekly: a fifth Council draft landed on 17th June 2025, while Parliament’s rapporteur and the EPP group have tabled competing texts ahead of the 15 July 2025 ECON vote in the EU parliament. All aim to slim down CSRD reporting and CSDDD due-diligence rules. But can such roll-backs survive EU-Charter and European Convention scrutiny, and do they rest on solid environmental evidence?

This discussion, moderated by Professor Andreas Rasche (Copenhagen Business School, Professor of Business in Society) with sustainability-law specialist David Frydlinger (Partner, Cirio; author Rules of the Game for Sustainable Business) and environmental-science scholar Professor Beatrice Crona (Stockholm Resilience Centre; expert on science-based corporate sustainability reporting) is a concise, one-hour briefing where law and science converge.

Key issues addressed include:
• Whether the proposed omnibus rollbacks can withstand the necessary tests under EU Charter on Fundamental Rights and the European Convention for Human Rights.
• Which scientific and other data gaps undermine the “necessity & proportionality” cases—and could fuel annulment actions in court.
• Litigation scenarios: privileged actions vs NGO referrals, with realistic timelines to a European Court of Justice or European Court of Human Right ruling.
• How clearer legal duties, backed by science-based thresholds, can significantly cut administrative burden while safeguarding high sustainability ambitions.

Relevant for
EU officials, lawmakers, attorneys, corporate counsels, sustainability leads and journalists.

This event has passed. You can access a recording, slides and a knowledge brief through the links above.

Andreas Rasche (Moderator)

Professor of Business in Society at the Copenhagen Business School Centre for Sustainability

Andreas Rasche is Professor at Copenhagen Business School (CBS) and Associate Dean for the CBS Full-Time MBA Program. He has taught courses in the MBA and doctoral programs, chaired Executive Education programs, authored more than 60 academic articles and cases, and published seven books. He has collaborated with the United Nations and WHO on several projects and served on the United Nations Global Compact LEAD Steering Committee as well as Novo Nordisk’s Sustainability Advisory Committee. He joined CBS from Warwick Business School in 2012. More at: http://www.arasche.com

Beatrice Crona

Science director, Professor at Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University

Beatrice is a Professor in Sustainability Science at the Stockholm Resilience Center. She is also the Science Director of the center, as well as the Executive Director of Global Economic Dynamics and the Biosphere Program at the Royal Swedish Academy of Science.

Her expertise lies in integrating environmental considerations into investment decisions. She has led the Global Economic Dynamics and the Biosphere (GEDB) program, housed at the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, for 12 years. Under this program she pioneered research to uncover the links between financial institutions and key Earth System processes of importance for ensuring a stable climate and an environmentally sustainable future. She has co-developed tools and methodologies for assessing corporate and investment impacts on the Earth system—extending beyond carbon to include multiple Planetary Boundaries—and she co-leads the Mistra FinBio program to support the financial sector’s transition to a nature-positive economy.

Her work spans sustainability-linked investment mechanisms, corporate reporting standards, and identifying leverage points to redirect private capital toward climate and nature goals. As a knowledge partner to the TNFD and a member of the Nature Action 100 Science Council, she plays an active role in aligning finance with global sustainability frameworks.

David Frydlinger

Partner at Cirio Law Firm, GAIL Europe Board Member

David is partner at Cirio law firm in Stockholm. David is responsible for Cirio’s practice in sustainable business activities and impact and advises companies on issues such as sustainability reporting, sustainable supply chains, impact investing and sustainability matters in acquisitions.

David also heads Cirio’s practice for Vested and relational contracting at Cirio. He is a Certified Deal Architect in Vested and a lecturer in Collaborative Contracting at the University of Tennessee.

David is the author/co-author of seven books, including “Rules of the Game for Sustainable Business – Laws, Contracts and Morality” (Wolters Kluwer, 2024) about EU sustainability law and “Contracting in the New Economy” (Palgrave Macmillan, 2021) about relational contracts. He has also published articles in Harvard Business Review.