Střety zájmů při ochraně biodiverzity a klimatu

1. Introduction Sustainability due diligence has become a hot topic of debate and a pressing legal issue. 2 It may be described as an on-going process through which especially businesses identify, assess and manage sustainability risks related to their activities, i.e. the actual and potential impacts of their activities on human rights, the environment and good governance. The timeliness and urgency of introducing due diligence in the area of sustainability is the result of many different forces. In part, it is undoubtedly a response to the reali ties of globalization, which has significantly changed the functioning of value chain as well as the functioning of our society and its relationship to the environment. 3 However, globalization is by no means a new phenomenon. Despite the undeniable benefits it has brought, for many years we have been witnesses to its negative impacts on human rights, the environment and other protected values. The fact that due diligence is now becoming one of the most controversial topics in public regulation is probably related to the intensifying efforts to make it a truly effective tool for preventing negative impacts on human rights, the environment and other areas. Strengthening due diligence naturally entails a greater degree of regulation and higher costs, which unsurprisingly leads to calls for deregulation. 4 The future and prospects of sustainability due diligence are therefore very uncertain at present and will undoubtedly depend on overall political developments around the world. Due diligence is business regulation and therefore affects significant economic interests, so it will always be subject to pressure from many different sides. 5 In this sensitive regulatory environment, it is necessary to seek an approach to due diligence which will be able to gain sufficient political and social support, while also being viable and effectively preventing negative impacts on human rights, the environ ment, and other interests associated with activities across value chains. To this end, it is necessary to understand correctly what due diligence in value chains actually is, how 2 Cullen uses the term “irresistible rise”: CULLEN, Holly. The irresistible rise of human rights due dili gence: conflict minerals and beyond. The George Washington International Law Review . 2016, Vol. 48, No. 4, pp. 743780. 3 WEBSTER, Emily. Regulating humanity’s impact on the Earth: the promise of transnational envi ronmental law. Global Policy . 2022, Vol. 13, No. S3, pp. 38-48. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/1758 5899.13108. 4 See e.g. Proposal for a DIRECTIVE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL amending Directives 2006/43/EC, 2013/34/EU, (EU) 2022/2464 and (EU) 2024/1760 as regards certain corporate sustainability reporting and due diligence requirements, 26. 2. 2025, COM/2025/81 final, CELEX: 52025PC0081. 5 ENRIQUES, Luca – GATTI, Mateo – SHAPIRA, Roy. How Political Shifts Could Water Down the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive. Online. Oxford Business Law Blog . 6. 5. 2025. Available at: https://blogs.law.ox.ac.uk/oblb/blog-post/2025/05/how-political-shifts-could-water-down-corporate- -sustainability-due-diligence [citováno 2025-08-31].

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