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Emma Sawatzky

Emma Sawatzky advises clients on a range of human rights and sustainability issues and supports them in evaluating and addressing potential legal, operational, and reputational risks across geographies and sectors.

As a member of Covington’s Business and Human Rights and Sustainability Practice Groups, Emma advises clients on the rapidly evolving legal and enforcement landscape. Emma has experience with preparing clients for modern slavery and sustainability reporting; conducting gap assessments and developing action plans for sophisticated compliance programs; formulating human rights policies; conducting BHR-related investigations and implementing remediation strategies; advising on human rights-related OECD proceedings; developing responsible sourcing frameworks (including risk assessments, traceability exercises, and supplier engagement strategies); and advising on the potential human rights impacts of downstream product and service use. Emma also assists clients with white collar investigations.

The UK is moving forward with its ambition to become a “world leader for sustainable finance” with two connected projects designed to increase the availability of “high‑quality, decision‑useful” sustainability‑related information for investors and other users of financial statements and sustainability reports.  First, the UK government has officially endorsed new voluntary

Continue Reading Movement in the UK on Sustainability Reporting

On February 26, 2026, the European Union published Directive (EU) 2026/470 on the simplification of the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (“CSDDD”) and the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD”) in its Official Journal, clearing the final step in the Omnibus I legislative process.

This blog post: (i) summarizes the substance

Continue Reading EU CSDDD/CSRD Omnibus Published in Official Journal: Transposition, Delegated Acts, and Guidelines Are Next

After months of uncertainty, the outlook for key EU sustainability laws is far clearer.

On November 13, 2025, the European Parliament adopted its negotiating position on the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD”) and the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (“CSDDD”) Omnibus simplification. This follows the European Commission’s Omnibus proposal in

Continue Reading The CSRD/CSDDD Omnibus Endgame: Key Points for Companies

On June 23, 2025 the Council of the EU, which represents the 27 EU Member States, agreed on its negotiating mandate for the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (“CSRD”) and Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (“CSDDD”) omnibus simplification.

This follows the European Commission’s omnibus proposal from February and is the next

Continue Reading EU Member States Agree on CSRD/CSDDD Omnibus Negotiating Mandate

After its 12-month deferral, the EU’s Deforestation Regulation (“EUDR”) is set to apply from December 30, 2025.  Many companies are therefore refocusing EUDR compliance efforts. This blog provides an update on the rules and guidance and key, practical takeaways for companies.

The European Commission (“Commission”) recently provided new and updated

Continue Reading EUDR Back on the Horizon: Preparing for December 2025 Compliance

In the early hours of December 14, 2023, the Council of the EU (“Council”) and the European Parliament (“Parliament”) reached a provisional political agreement on the Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (“CSDDD”). Described as a “historic breakthrough” by Lara Wolters, who has led this file for the Parliament, the CSDDD will require many companies in the EU and beyond to conduct environmental and human rights due diligence on their global operations and value chain, and oblige them to adopt a transition plan for climate change mitigation.

Given the CSDDD’s relevance for companies’ ongoing compliance planning on environmental and human rights matters, this blog aims to advise clients on the basic elements of the CSDDD agreement based on press releases from the Council, Parliament, and the European Commission (“Commission”), even if much uncertainty remains. Although a political agreement has been reached, the text of the agreement is not publicly available and a number of details of the legal text will need to be finalized in follow-up technical meetings. Covington will publish a more detailed alert on “how to prepare” for the CSDDD once the full text is available (likely in early 2024).

Continue Reading Provisional Agreement on the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD): Key Elements of the Deal