Mounting pushback is growing across the Atlantic as U.S. policymakers, global energy leaders, and major companies warn that the European Union’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CS3D) threatens energy security, trade, and economic competitiveness.

Energy in Depth previously broke down what American companies and energy producers need to know about the EU’s extraterritorial ESG law, which will apply to most large American businesses and smaller partners in their supply chains. Here’s what’s new:

Energy Allies Warn of Supply Risks

On October 22, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright and Qatari Energy Minister Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi sent a joint letter to EU heads of state warning that CS3D would disrupt global energy trade and threaten Europe’s access to affordable LNG. They urged EU leaders to either repeal or significantly revise the law to avoid what they called “an existential threat to the EU’s competitiveness and industrial resilience.”

The letter also noted that 46 major European CEOs, led by the executives of Total and Siemens, urged Brussels to repeal or revise CS3D to restore industrial competitiveness and protect Europe’s manufacturing base.

Wright and Kaabi urged EU leaders to reopen dialogue with their global partners, writing:

“Such engagement is essential to ensuring a balanced, pragmatic, and workable approach that safeguards the EU’s energy security, long-term competitiveness, and the prosperity of its citizens.”

Global Energy Producers Raise the Stakes

Over the past month, major energy producers have issued similar warnings. Qatari Energy Minister Kaabi, who also serves as CEO of QatarEnergy, said the directive’s penalties of up to 5 percent of global revenue for noncompliance pose an unacceptable risk for his company. As Kaabi told Reuters:

“QatarEnergy will not be able to justify doing business in the EU… due to the significant risk it would be exposed to due to the overreaching nature of the proposed regulations, which will ultimately harm the European end consumers.”

Qatar currently supplies roughly 12–14 percent of Europe’s LNG through long-term contracts with Shell, TotalEnergies, and ENI, making its participation in the market essential to Europe’s energy security. Kaabi reiterated during the ADIPEC energy conference in Abu Dhabi that Qatar is prepared to halt gas shipments to Europe if the EU refuses to dial back or repeal CS3D.

His concerns were echoed by Alfred Stern, CEO of Austrian energy firm OMV, who urged EU leaders to reconsider the law or risk losing Qatar as a critical supplier. As Stern explained to Austrian media:

“If the tanker from Qatar no longer docks in Europe, we will have a huge problem.”

ExxonMobil CEO Darren Woods warned that the CS3D could make it “impossible” for companies to continue operating in Europe if Brussels tries to apply the law globally. He cautioned that the directive’s 1.5°C climate transition plan requirement is “technically unfeasible” and that its penalties—up to 5 percent of global revenue—would “suffocate economic growth” and accelerate Europe’s deindustrialization. Woods told Reuters:

“If they start to try to take their harmful legislation and enforce that all around the world where we do business, it becomes impossible to stay there.”

U.S., Global Business Groups Sounds the Alarm

CS3D will impose costs and litigation risk on American businesses beyond the energy industry. On October 29, a coalition of U.S. trade associations including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, National Association of Manufacturers, the International Franchise Association, and others, sent a letter to senior White House and cabinet officials urging stronger action against CS3D’s extraterritorial regulation.

The letter, which estimated compliance could cost American businesses more than $1 trillion in aggregate, cautioned that CS3D would make U.S. companies “legally liable under EU standards” and “subordinate U.S. legal frameworks to EU jurisdiction”—a breach of sovereignty that policymakers argue is unacceptable.

American businesses aren’t the only ones concerned about Brussels’s ESG overreach. On November 5, international business groups hailing from Australia, India, Japan, and Korea published a joint statement warning that Europe’s sustainability disclosure laws create conflicting legal obligations, overlapping lawsuits, and competitiveness risks for non-EU companies.

Bottom Line: Opposition to Brussels’s overreach is growing. Leaders are warning that the EU’s Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive risks undermining global energy security, trade, and economic growth. The message is clear: by trying to export its climate agenda beyond its borders, the EU is creating a global liability that threatens its own competitiveness and the world’s energy stability.