Spain Urges Brussels Not to Ease Environmental Obligations for Businesses Amid Simplification

On Tuesday, the Spanish government urged the European Commission through a letter not to ease environmental obligations for businesses in favour of administrative simplification, to avoid jeopardising the EU's green ambitions.

This message was conveyed to the European Executive by the Third Vice President and Minister for Ecological Transition, Sara Aagesen, and the Minister of Economy, Trade and Business, Carlos Cuerpo. They request that the bloc's climate goals not be compromised in the new package aimed at reducing bureaucracy, scheduled for February 26.

"While implementation and simplification exercises are essential, so are robust climate information requirements," states the letter addressed to European Commissioners for Clean Transition, Teresa Ribera; Industrial Strategy, Stéphane Séjourné; Economy, Valdis Dombrovskis; and Financial Services, María Luís Albuquerque.

Thus, the ministers have called for maintaining the obligations for companies to assess the impact of climate change on them, as well as the impact of their activities on the environment and society, based on the "double materiality" principle included in corporate sustainability reporting standards, to provide investors with accurate and comparable information for informed decision-making.

"We believe that all companies, including those in this category, should be subject to climate reporting obligations, albeit proportionately," the letter indicates.

The government also highlights the EU taxonomy regulation—which establishes the classification of sustainable economic activities—as the "cornerstone" of the EU's sustainable finance framework, with direct links to the Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation, the EU Green Bond Standard, and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, which together form an "interconnected system."

In this regard, Aagesen and Cuerpo call for the simplification agenda to reinforce the "crucial" role of taxonomy in mobilising capital flows towards sustainable investment, a task they believe can be achieved without reopening the framework legislation and only reviewing the delegated acts that detail it.

The letter also underscores the importance of the due diligence directive, which requires companies and parent companies with more than 1,000 employees and a global turnover exceeding 450 million euros to prevent, end, or mitigate their negative impact on human rights and the environment.

Ultimately, the government points out that "the removal of certain existing obligations would not necessarily improve the EU's competitiveness," warning that, on the contrary, "it could send a dangerous signal of backtracking on European values and ambitions."