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CEOs of TotalEnergies, Siemens wrote letter on behalf of

46

European companies

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The EU law one of most politically contested parts of EU

green

agenda

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EU already consulting on large-scale cuts to rules

By Kate Abnett and Virginia Furness

LONDON, Oct 9 (Reuters) - TotalEnergies and

Siemens have called on European governments to

abolish one of the EU's flagship corporate sustainability laws

in order to boost the continent's competitiveness, a letter seen

by Reuters shows.

TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanne and his Siemens AG

counterpart Roland Busch wrote the letter to French President

Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, on behalf

of 46 European companies.

Abolishing the rules would be a "clear and symbolic signal

to European and international companies that the governments and

the Commission are really engaged to restore competitiveness in

Europe," the letter dated October 6 said.

Siemens and Total did not immediately respond to requests for

comment.

The European Union's corporate sustainability due diligence

directive was adopted last year and requires companies to fix

human rights and environmental issues within their supply

chains, or face fines of 5% of global turnover.

It has become one of the most politically contested parts of

Europe's green agenda, and Brussels is now negotiating

changes to simplify the rules for European companies, after

pushback from Germany and France - as well as the United States

and Qatar, and companies including Exxon Mobil (XOM.N).

Siemens and Total's calls to scrap the rules entirely go further

than plans already being negotiated by EU lawmakers and

countries to scale them back and exempt more companies from the

law.