The Business & Finance ESG Awards 2025, hosted in partnership with Grant Thornton, were held on 10 April in the Mansion House in Dublin. The awards acknowledge the achievements of businesses committed to a sustainable future. This year’s ceremony highlighted 20 categories.
Tracey Carney, managing director of Business & Finance, and Sarah Freeman, Managing Editor, hosted the event, welcoming attendees to the fourth ESG Awards and noted headline partner Grant Thornton’s commendable dedication to supporting clients throughout their sustainability journey, and also acknowledged Unicef, the business for good partner, for their valued support.
Janice Daly of Grant Thornton addressed attendees: “We are proud to sponsor these awards. Supporting this event reflects our deep belief that purpose-driven business is not just good for society, it’s good for performance. And we see this first-hand in the work we do with our clients across industries – businesses that are embedding ESG into their strategies, investing in innovation and leading with integrity even amid growing pressures.”
Winners
Food services company Sodexo won the net zero carbon award. Julianne Forrestal, food transformation director at Sodexo, said they were “delighted” with the win.
Kerry Group won the sustainable procurement award. Róisín Redmond, the company’s European director for ingredients, said the team has done tremendous work in the area of sustainability.
Auticon took home the diversity, equity and inclusion initiative award. Yvonne Brewer, country manager for Ireland said the win is “a real testament to the work that we’re doing with our clients”.
The grand prix award was awarded to An Post. The postal and logistics provider also secured the sustainable logistics excellence award for its pioneering efforts in reducing carbon emissions through large-scale EV deployment and alternative fuels.
With nearly 40 per cent of its fleet now alternatively powered, including more than 1,400 EVs, An Post cut over 1,780 tonnes of CO2 in 2024 alone and continues to lead in sustainable logistics innovation through EU-funded collaborations and infrastructure investment.
Amanda Ward, partner and co-head of consulting at Grant Thornton, said: “In an era of accelerating climate impacts and rising stakeholder expectations, ESG is integral to long-term business resilience.”
Partners
The ESG Awards were adjudicated by an independent panel of expert judges and supported by a diverse group of partners, including Grant Thornton, SSE Airtricity, Sia, Ibec, Miagen, Energia Group, Unicef Ireland, UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, Olytico, Aspire and Onclusive.
Mary Robinson, ESG leader
Also honoured at the ceremony was Mary Robinson, who received the ESG leader award (special recognition) for her lifelong contribution to climate justice, sustainability and human rights.
A trailblazer in law and politics, Robinson was appointed Reid Professor of Criminal Law at Trinity College Dublin at the age of 25 and later co-founded the Irish Centre for European Law.
She served as a senator for two decades before making history as Ireland’s first woman president from 1990 to 1997. Robinson went on to lead global human rights efforts as UN high commissioner and played a pivotal role in climate advocacy as chair of The Elders.
One of the world’s most respected voices on climate justice, Robinson has dedicated her career to championing human rights, gender equality, and sustainability. She has served as the UN secretary general’s special envoy on climate change and sits on numerous boards, including the European Climate Foundation.
Frances Ruane, chair of the National Competitiveness Council and former director of the ESRI, introduced Robinson to attendees.
“It is also a particular great pleasure to introduce Mary Robinson as my links to her go back to when we were young academic colleagues at Trinity College in the late 1970s,” she said.
Mary Robinson was presented the ESG Leader Award by Ian Hyland, President of Ireland INC, and Janice Daly of Grant Thornton.
“I don’t need any more awards,” Robinson said upon accepting. “But this is quite special because it’s an award that’s very meaningful to me, an ESG leadership award, and I’m so glad to be in the company of so many people who affirm the importance of the values that we’re celebrating here.”
Robinson continued by noting that we are in a time of immense pushback “on the very values that we’re celebrating at this lunch”. She suggested we replace the acronyms ESG and DEI with the words that compose them, because “the words are much better”.
“The acronyms can be easily dismissed,” she said, “because they can become box-ticking kind of things.”
Speaking on events unfolding across the United States, Robinson said: “The current US administration, under its leader, has provided an executive order preventing federal agencies, federal government from using in any way the wording ‘diversity, equity [and] inclusion’. How backward is that? And of course, this has had a chilling effect also on ESG and it’s gone into business, it’s gone to universities.”
“It’s really, really serious,” Robinson stressed.
“It’s also matched by something equally serious, pulling out again on the Paris climate agreement ... negating the science and debating the health science ... I have a great empathy for the many, many in the United States who don’t agree with this, and I know them and they’re my friends.”
Robinson spoke about the impact on Europe: “Ireland is in a space, as we all know, of large tech companies and large pharma companies bringing perhaps a different way of responding to what’s happening in the United States, more compliant. And the European Union, I’m sorry to say, seems to be becoming a bit more compliant.”
“The only way to stand up to a bully is to stand up to a bully, and to speak out and to be firm, and I think we need to know that these are values for the future, for future generations ... We have to move forward, we have to believe in the climate and nature crisis as a crisis, believe that future generations depend on us.”
Now going into its fifth year, the Business & Finance Awards 2026 will re-open for entries in November 2025
