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Juridiken som styrmedel för en hållbar framtid – EU-direktivet om företagens hållbarhetsrapportering och dess påverkan på svensk rätt

Fredriksson, Noemi LU (2025) JURM02 20251
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract
In recent years, sustainability issues have become increasingly prominent in the public debate. What was previously largely regulated through soft law, such as guidelines and self-regulation, has increasingly become subject to binding regulation. The climate change and other global challenges have contributed to both the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) developing international agreements, guidelines and legal acts in the field, to guide society's development towards the goals formulated in, among others, the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement and the EU Taxonomy Regulation. Through these global initiatives, the aim has been to achieve comprehensive transparency on the sustainability performance of companies. This transparency... (More)
In recent years, sustainability issues have become increasingly prominent in the public debate. What was previously largely regulated through soft law, such as guidelines and self-regulation, has increasingly become subject to binding regulation. The climate change and other global challenges have contributed to both the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) developing international agreements, guidelines and legal acts in the field, to guide society's development towards the goals formulated in, among others, the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement and the EU Taxonomy Regulation. Through these global initiatives, the aim has been to achieve comprehensive transparency on the sustainability performance of companies. This transparency has become particularly important in the financial markets, where investors more often consider a company's sustainability profile as a key factor in investment decisions.

A clear expression of this change is the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which entered into force on 1 January 2024. The directive is a key element of the EU's sustainability strategy and aims to create more structured, comparable and reliable sustainability reporting. Compared to previous regulation, the CSRD represents a significant expansion of both the reporting requirements and the number of companies covered. In July 2024, the Swedish implementing legislation entered into force, resulting in amendments to 13 different laws. However, this thesis focuses in particular on the changes to the Companies Act and the Annual Accounts Act and analyzes what these mean for Swedish limited liability companies. In Swedish company law, Chapter 3, Section 3 of the Companies Act contains a profit motive, which states that the activities of a limited liability company shall be conducted with the aim of making a profit for the shareholders, unless otherwise stated in the articles of association. This leaves room for limited liability companies to have a purpose other than making a profit. The new sustainability reporting rules introduced by the CSRD may thus provide a legal incentive for companies to broaden their purpose beyond profit maximization, which may ultimately have a fundamental impact on the corporate governance of limited liability companies.

Although the CSRD has not yet been fully implemented, the directive has already faced significant criticism, including through the Commission's proposed amendments in the Omnibus I proposal. In particular, the directive is criticized for imposing extensive requirements on small and medium-sized enterprises, which in many cases lack the resources needed to comply with the new reporting standards. It is argued that the requirements may be perceived as disproportionate and administratively burdensome. Whether and in what form the Omnibus I proposal is adopted remains to be seen, but its consideration is likely to influence future legal developments and the practical application of CSRD, both in the EU and in Sweden. (Less)
Abstract (Swedish)
Under de senaste åren har hållbarhetsfrågor fått en alltmer framträdande roll i samhällsdebatten. Det som tidigare till stor del reglerades genom så kallad soft law, såsom riktlinjer och rekommendationer, har i ökande utsträckning börjat omfattas av bindande reglering. Klimatförändringarna och andra globala utmaningar har bidragit till att både Förenta nationerna (FN) och Europeiska unionen (EU) har utvecklat internationella avtal, riktlinjer och rättsakter på området, för att styra samhällets utveckling mot de mål som formulerats i bland annat FN:s Agenda 2030, Parisavtalet och EU:s taxonomiförordning. Genom dessa globala initiativ har syftet varit att uppnå en omfattande transparens kring företagens hållbarhetsarbete. Denna transparens... (More)
Under de senaste åren har hållbarhetsfrågor fått en alltmer framträdande roll i samhällsdebatten. Det som tidigare till stor del reglerades genom så kallad soft law, såsom riktlinjer och rekommendationer, har i ökande utsträckning börjat omfattas av bindande reglering. Klimatförändringarna och andra globala utmaningar har bidragit till att både Förenta nationerna (FN) och Europeiska unionen (EU) har utvecklat internationella avtal, riktlinjer och rättsakter på området, för att styra samhällets utveckling mot de mål som formulerats i bland annat FN:s Agenda 2030, Parisavtalet och EU:s taxonomiförordning. Genom dessa globala initiativ har syftet varit att uppnå en omfattande transparens kring företagens hållbarhetsarbete. Denna transparens har blivit särskilt viktig på finansmarknaden, då investerare i allt fler fall betraktar ett företags hållbarhetsprofil som avgörande vid investeringsbeslut.

Ett tydligt uttryck för denna förändring är EU-direktivet om företagens hållbarhetsrapportering, Corporate Sustainable Reporting Direktive (CSRD), som trädde i kraft den 1 januari 2024. Direktivet utgör en central del i EU:s hållbarhetsstrategi och syftar till att skapa en mer strukturerad, jämförbar och tillförlitlig hållbarhetsrapportering. Jämfört med tidigare reglering innebär CSRD en väsentlig utvidgning av såväl rapporteringskraven som antalet företag som omfattas. I juli 2024 trädde den svenska genomförandelagstiftningen i kraft, vilket resulterade i ändringar av 13 olika lagar. Uppsatsen fokuserar dock särskilt på förändringarna i aktiebolagslagen och årsredovisningslagen och analyserar vad dessa innebär för svenska aktiebolag.

I svensk aktiebolagsrätt återfinns i 3 kapitlet 3 § aktiebolagslagen ett vinstsyfte som anger att ett aktiebolags verksamhet ska bedrivas i syfte att bereda vinst till aktieägarna, så länge inget annat anges i bolagsordningen. Denna formulering av syftesbestämmelsen ger därför utrymme för aktiebolagen att ha ett annat syfte än att ge vinst. De nya reglerna om hållbarhetsrapportering som CSRD medfört kan därmed ge ett rättsligt incitament för bolag att bredda sitt ändamål bortom vinstmaximering, vilket i förlängningen kan påverka aktiebolags bolagsstyrning i grunden.

Trots att CSRD ännu inte har börjat tillämpas fullt ut har direktivet redan mött betydande kritik, bland annat genom EU-kommissionens förslag till ändringar genom Omnibus I-förslaget. Kritiken riktas särskilt mot att direktivet ställer omfattande krav på små och medelstora företag, som i många fall saknar de resurser som krävs för att leva upp till de nya rapporteringsstandarderna. Det framhålls att kraven kan uppfattas som oproportionerliga och administrativt betungande. Om och i vilken form Omnibus I-förslaget antas återstår att se, men dess behandling kommer sannolikt att påverka den framtida rättsutvecklingen och den praktiska tillämpningen av CSRD, både i EU och i Sverige. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Fredriksson, Noemi LU
supervisor
organization
alternative title
Law as an instrument for a sustainable future – The EU Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive and its impact on Swedish law
course
JURM02 20251
year
type
H3 - Professional qualifications (4 Years - )
subject
keywords
Associationsrätt, EU-rätt, CSR, CSRD, Hållbarhet, Vinstsyfte
language
Swedish
id
9188915
date added to LUP
2025-06-05 11:38:18
date last changed
2025-06-05 11:38:18
@misc{9188915,
  abstract     = {{In recent years, sustainability issues have become increasingly prominent in the public debate. What was previously largely regulated through soft law, such as guidelines and self-regulation, has increasingly become subject to binding regulation. The climate change and other global challenges have contributed to both the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU) developing international agreements, guidelines and legal acts in the field, to guide society's development towards the goals formulated in, among others, the 2030 Agenda, the Paris Agreement and the EU Taxonomy Regulation. Through these global initiatives, the aim has been to achieve comprehensive transparency on the sustainability performance of companies. This transparency has become particularly important in the financial markets, where investors more often consider a company's sustainability profile as a key factor in investment decisions.

A clear expression of this change is the EU's Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD), which entered into force on 1 January 2024. The directive is a key element of the EU's sustainability strategy and aims to create more structured, comparable and reliable sustainability reporting. Compared to previous regulation, the CSRD represents a significant expansion of both the reporting requirements and the number of companies covered. In July 2024, the Swedish implementing legislation entered into force, resulting in amendments to 13 different laws. However, this thesis focuses in particular on the changes to the Companies Act and the Annual Accounts Act and analyzes what these mean for Swedish limited liability companies. In Swedish company law, Chapter 3, Section 3 of the Companies Act contains a profit motive, which states that the activities of a limited liability company shall be conducted with the aim of making a profit for the shareholders, unless otherwise stated in the articles of association. This leaves room for limited liability companies to have a purpose other than making a profit. The new sustainability reporting rules introduced by the CSRD may thus provide a legal incentive for companies to broaden their purpose beyond profit maximization, which may ultimately have a fundamental impact on the corporate governance of limited liability companies.

Although the CSRD has not yet been fully implemented, the directive has already faced significant criticism, including through the Commission's proposed amendments in the Omnibus I proposal. In particular, the directive is criticized for imposing extensive requirements on small and medium-sized enterprises, which in many cases lack the resources needed to comply with the new reporting standards. It is argued that the requirements may be perceived as disproportionate and administratively burdensome. Whether and in what form the Omnibus I proposal is adopted remains to be seen, but its consideration is likely to influence future legal developments and the practical application of CSRD, both in the EU and in Sweden.}},
  author       = {{Fredriksson, Noemi}},
  language     = {{swe}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Juridiken som styrmedel för en hållbar framtid – EU-direktivet om företagens hållbarhetsrapportering och dess påverkan på svensk rätt}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}