Planetary Boundaries for Business

In this brief, published jointly with BUND, we examine cases of environmental degradation in value chains of European companies.

The brief covers primarily:

• - The disastrous effects of intensive land use around the Mar Menor in Spain, Europe’s largest saltwater lagoon, where large amounts of fertilisers have led to mass casualties among the ecosystem’s fauna.
• - The production and export of pesticides with disastrous effects on biodiversity, often banned in the EU.
• - The impacts of oil and gas company Perenco in the Democratic Republic of Congo, which not only affect local communities but also damage ecosystems and contribute to climate change.

The brief includes analyses of how proposals for the EU Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive cover these impacts.

The authors conclude that only the position of the European Parliament would have the potential to put an end to these disastrous environmental impacts. The Parliament proposes a comprehensive definition of environmental impacts in line with the international standards of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).