Analysis-EU sustainability cutbacks make low-carbon leaders harder to spot

By Simon Jessop and Kate Abnett

LONDON, Dec 10 (Reuters) – A reduction in scope of the European Union’s sustainability disclosure rules may cut red tape for businesses but investors say less transparency will make it harder to identify which companies are genuinely moving toward low-carbon operations.

After months of pressure from companies and governments, the European ‍Union agreed on Tuesday to sharply scale back two flagship sustainability disclosure laws.

The changes affect the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) – the EU’s rulebook that requires large companies to publish detailed information on their environmental, social and governance performance, and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), which requires firms to check their supply chains