Sustainability law: the complete overview for businesses

Sustainability law is not a separate code. It is the body of rules that determines what your business may emit, produce, purchase, finance and assert. Those rules come from treaties, European regulations, national legislation and case law, and they change quickly. In 2026 three movements came together: the Environment and Planning Act (Omgevingswet) has bedded in, the Omnibus I package lightened the reporting burden, and from 27 September 2026 stricter rules apply against misleading sustainability claims. This page sets out the whole and points you to the topic you are looking for.

The short answer

• Sustainability law brings together environmental, planning, corporate, trade, consumer and financial law around a common theme.
• The hard core consists of permits, notifications and prohibitions. Enforcement follows from it.
• The soft core consists of reporting, claims and contracts. Supervision and civil proceedings follow from that.
• Obligations are shifting from legislation to the supply chain. What you no longer have to report, your customer will ask for anyway.
• The commonest mistake is starting too late. Surveys, substantiation and record-keeping take months.

What is sustainability law?

Sustainability law is the whole set of legal rules steering the transition to a sustainable economy. What sets it apart is not a source of its own but a shared objective.

That explains why the field is so broad. A wind farm touches on nature conservation, on permitting, on procurement and on financing. A claim on a package touches on consumer law, on advertising law and on reporting. One and the same decision is therefore judged under several regimes.

In practice it helps to distinguish four layers.

1. Consent. May you carry out the activity, and on what conditions?
2. Performance. Which limits apply to emissions, waste, energy and nature?
3. Accountability. What must you measure, report and have audited?
4. Communication. What may you say about it to customers, investors and the public?

Most disputes arise in layer one and layer four. Layer one is about permits and enforcement. Layer four is about claims and liability.

Environment and nature

This is the oldest core of the field and in practice often the most decisive.

Environmental law governs emissions to air, water and soil, the management of waste and the handling of hazardous substances. Environment and planning law governs what is allowed where. Since 1 January 2024 the Environment and Planning Act applies, with the environment plan (omgevingsplan), the environment and planning permit (omgevingsvergunning) and the general rules in the implementing decrees.

Nature forms part of that same system. The Nature Conservation Act (Wet natuurbescherming) has been absorbed into the Environment and Planning Act. Projects that may have significant effects on a Natura 2000 site require a permit, as do works affecting protected species. On top of that come the European Nature Restoration Regulation of 2024 and the continuing nitrogen problem. See biodiversity.

Cross-border trade in protected animals and plants has a regime of its own. See trade in endangered animal and plant species.

Has your permit been refused, or do you want to challenge someone else’s permit? Then read objecting to an environment and planning permit.

Climate

The climate layer operates at three levels at once.

Internationally, it is a matter of the climate convention and the Paris Agreement. These impose obligations on states, not directly on companies, but they do set the pace of national legislation. See the international climate framework.

At company level, the European emissions trading system bites most directly. Anyone caught by that system must monitor and report emissions and surrender allowances to cover them each year. See emission allowances.

Then there are the courts. Over recent years, climate cases against states and companies have shaped this field more strongly than many legislative projects. On 12 November 2024 the Hague Court of Appeal recognised a duty of care on the part of Shell. It rejected a fixed reduction obligation. That case is now before the Supreme Court (Hoge Raad). See climate jurisprudence.

The company and accountability

Here the central question is what the board must weigh and what it must account for.

Corporate law provides that the board is guided by the interests of the company and the business connected with it. That concept leaves room to weigh sustainability interests, and sometimes imposes a duty to do so. The articles of association, the objects clause and the choice of legal form can widen that room.

At the level of policy and conduct, corporate social responsibility comes into play. International guidelines are not binding, but they work through in contracts, tenders and open norms.

Reporting is the most visible obligation. The CSRD requires large undertakings to report on sustainability in accordance with European standards. Since the Omnibus I package entered into force in March 2026, that group has become considerably smaller. The threshold for application lies at an average of more than one thousand employees and net turnover above EUR 450 million. Taxonomy reporting has been lightened as well.

For those who fall outside that threshold, the subject does not disappear. Banks, insurers and large customers continue to ask for the data. See ESG reporting.

Market, contract and communication

This layer is growing fastest and generates the most litigation.

Consumer law was tightened significantly in 2026. From 27 September 2026 the rules of Directive (EU) 2024/825 apply. Generic environmental claims without demonstrable excellent performance are prohibited. The same goes for claims of climate neutrality resting solely on offsetting, and for labels without independent certification. The Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets supervises compliance. See greenwashing and sustainability claims.

In the supply chain, the obligation shifts to the contract. Undertakings on emissions, provenance, working conditions and audit rights are recorded in clauses that must also be enforceable. See sustainability clauses in commercial contracts.

In international trade, market access, import requirements and product rules come into play as well. See trade law.

If you work with competitors on sustainability, mind competition law. Joint arrangements on purchasing, standards or phasing out products can engage the cartel prohibition. See the cartel prohibition and sustainability.

Money and innovation

Financing has become a layer in its own right. Subsidies, tax schemes and green finance carry their own conditions and their own risks, recovery among them. See financing.

The classification system behind it is the taxonomy. It determines when an economic activity counts as environmentally sustainable. The inclusion of gas and nuclear energy is the most contested part of it. In September 2025 the General Court of the European Union upheld that choice. See the taxonomy regulation.

With new technology, subsidy, state aid, intellectual property, room to experiment and procurement all come together. See innovation.

For the wider debate on regulatory burden, competitiveness and the significance of non-binding commitments, we refer you to the international sustainability debate.

How the parts relate to one another

A common mistake is to treat the parts in isolation. In practice they interlock, and that is precisely where the problems arise.

Three examples make this concrete.

A manufacturer wants to make a production line more sustainable. It applies for a subsidy, concludes a supply contract and communicates about the saving. The permit then turns out to need amending. The subsidy decision sets a delivery deadline, the contract contains a penalty clause, and the claim has already been published. A delay in the permit thus hits three regimes at once.

A second example. After Omnibus I a company falls outside the reporting obligation. Its largest customer falls within it and asks for the same data under contract. The obligation has not disappeared; it has moved from public law to private law. The sanction has changed with it: not a fine, but breach of contract.

A third example. Companies in a sector want to introduce a less polluting standard together. That is desirable from a sustainability point of view, but it engages the cartel prohibition. The form of the arrangement determines whether it is permissible.

The lesson is the same each time. Assess a plan from all four layers before you commit.

How to build a file

Sustainability law is to a large extent a matter of evidence. Anyone who cannot produce the substantiation is in a weak position, even where the substance is sound.

1. Map your obligations. Take stock of permits, notifications, reports and contractual undertakings.
2. Record the substantiation for each statement. Note the source, the measurement method, the reference date and the person responsible.
3. Watch the deadlines. Objection periods, subsidy deadlines and reporting deadlines are short and strict.
4. Update on change. A claim that was accurate in 2024 may be misleading in 2026.
5. Keep decision-making traceable. Minutes and reasoning are often decisive in proceedings.

What changes in 2026

When should you instruct a lawyer?

Four moments are decisive.

• Before the application. The design of the survey determines whether your permit will hold. See environmental planning law attorney.
• On an inspection or enforcement. What you state in the first few days carries weight later. See environmental law attorney.
• Before publishing a claim. Correcting after the event costs more than checking beforehand.
• In contract negotiations. Sustainability undertakings without a sanction or a measurement method are empty in practice.

Frequently asked questions

Does sustainability law apply to small and medium-sized businesses as well?
Yes. Permit requirements and claim rules carry no size threshold. Only the reporting obligations are confined to large undertakings.

We no longer fall under the CSRD. Can we stop measuring?
We would advise against it. Customers, banks and contracting authorities ask for the same data, now on a contractual basis.

Which topic deserves attention first?
Start with your permits and your public claims. That is where the greatest risks of enforcement and liability sit.

Would you like to know which rules apply to your business and in what order to tackle them? Contact Law & More in Eindhoven or Amsterdam. We map your obligations and guide you through permits, contracts, reporting and proceedings, in Dutch and in English.