European companies will not become “an inch” more competitive unless the EU radically simplifies environmental regulations, the boss of Siemens Energy has warned, as Donald Trump’s nationalist economic agenda heaps pressure on the bloc to respond.
Christian Bruch, chief executive of the German maker of wind turbines, power plant turbines and transformers for power grids, said the burden on businesses from rules intended to measure their impact on the environment was “disproportionate” to the benefits.
“Just making cosmetic changes to regulations will not move us one inch closer to becoming more competitive,” Bruch said on Wednesday, as he singled out the Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive, a rule the EU introduced in 2023 requiring companies to detail their environmental and social impact.