All change: the end (of the route) is nigh

The omnibus, the daddy of all sustainability reporting legislation, looks like it’s finalised—with many concerned that its original aims have been dramatically undermined.

For those not tuned in, the omnibus was a process to review sustainability and due diligence reporting in the EU.

In the end, debate focused on just how many companies would caught be the legislation in the future.

The scope of the CSRD (Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive) was cut to companies with 1,000 employees or more and turnover of €450m. For CSDDD (the due diligence directive) the scope is now 5,000 employees and turnover of €1.5bn.

The campaigning law firm Frank Bold declares that the EU “surrenders climate ambition”.

Frank Bold’s Julia Otten says: “The final omnibus agreement reflects short-sighted political decision-making, forced through with the far right, at a time where the EU needs to stand firm and speed up the transition for its own strategic interests.”

Meanwhile, the Danish ministry for industry, business and financial affairs said: “For years, European businesses have faced wave after wave of red tape. This has slowed green investments and weakened our competitiveness. Now we are taking a big and important step in the right direction.”

We shall see.

AI change: the end (of 2025) is nigh

It’s the end of the year and the predictions for next year have started. A first one to note may be that of Sergei Guriev, dean of London Business School.

“By 2026, AI will permeate every business function. This will impact the jobs market for new graduates, but it will also reshape roles and accelerate demand for human skills that AI cannot replicate: judgment, ethics, creativity and stakeholder leadership.”

All good if you can judge, create and lead.

Everything changes: a challenging time

If you’re worried change is coming all too quickly, you’re not alone.

A survey by Deloitte and Fortune shows that so too are many CEOs (mostly in the US but also around the world).

The CEO Outlook study concluded: “The top challenges for CEOs centred on the pace and degree of change; one CEO shares, ‘unprecedented degree of unprecedented changes’. While another is concerned about ‘employees coping with the level of change’.

“Uncertainty also remains top of mind for surveyed CEOS, especially regarding the policy and geopolitical landscape.”

Yes, that’s what we had in our notes too.