New EU rules requiring companies to check supply chains for environmental and social issues now appear in jeopardy, after Germany and Italy appear to have blocked them in a secret vote by diplomats. The draft Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive requires firms to ensure their business model is consistent with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius, and lets trade unions and non-government organisations bring legal claims for breaches. But “the necessary support wasn’t found” at a meeting of national ambassadors, said a post on X by the Belgian presidency, which is currently…