By Business & Finance 
The 2021 Business & Finance Awards, in association with KPMG Ireland, have opened nominations for the new Environmental, Social & Governance Award.
Business & Finance was launched in 1964 as Ireland’s first business magazine with the Awards programme established a decade later. The Business & Finance Awards is Ireland’s premier business awards programme and includes among its previous honorees outstanding leaders of our time across business, politics and wider society. This includes former United States President Bill Clinton, former British Prime Minister Sir John Major, former President of Ireland Mary Robinson, former Secretary-General of the United Nations Kofi Annan, President Michael D. Higgins, former ECB President Mario Draghi, former Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Senator George Mitchell, and Sir Bob Geldof, among others.
The awards programme is open for nominations for a number of prestigious awards which honour and celebrate the very best in Irish and International business. The six categories across the programme include The 2021 Company of the Year in association with KPMG; Business Person of the Year in association with KPMG; Elevation Award in association with Enterprise Ireland; FDI of the Year in association with IDA Ireland, the Diversity, Equality & Inclusion Award, now in its third year, and the newly introduced Environmental, Social & Governance category.
Environmental, Social & Governance Award
The ESG Award recognises companies making exceptional contributions across ESG by having a clear strategy across environmental, social and governance indicators. The ESG Award seeks to highlight that ESG is now a core component of business strategy and will recognise companies who have shown a track record in designing and implementing a coordinated ESG strategy.
The judging process is as follows:
(i) All submissions will be reviewed by the sub-judging panel.
(ii) A shortlist will be selected to present before the Business & Finance judging panel.
Please see below the criteria used to evaluate the 2021 ESG Award:
All criteria relate to performance in 2021.
Please use the following headings in your submission. (Max 350 words per section)
- A clear illustration of the company’s environmental strategy, contribution to various environment-friendly initiatives to improve conservation, restoration, sustainable use of the terrestrial ecosystems and reduction of carbon footprints.
- Demonstrate how the company upholds this strategy throughout their supply chain, and core business activities.
- How do the company’s ethics impact the livelihood of key stakeholders, community activities and employees.
- What is the company’s approach to governance and ensuring transparency at every level?
- What actions have been implemented to date as part of this ESG strategy?
- Demonstrate clear and concise results and metrics. With measurable evidence of innovation, impact and scalability, with demonstrable, long term commitment to a sustainable transformation.
Seamus Hand, Managing Partner, KPMG Ireland, said of the awards: “It has been really amazing to witness the resilience and determination but also the innovation and ambition of so many Irish based companies that, notwithstanding a challenging environment, have enjoyed tremendous success over the course of the last 18 months. At KPMG we admire these companies, their teams and the leaders that drive them and are privileged to be associated with these awards that recognise their achievements. We look forward to being able to celebrate all of these stories of success and send our best wishes to each of the awards participants.”
The esteemed judging panel includes Seamus Hand, KPMG, Anne Heraty, CPL plc., Danny McCoy, Ibec, Kevin Sherry, Enterprise Ireland and Mary Harney, Former Tánaiste.
Gala Awards Ceremony April 2022
On 12th April 2022, the Awards Programme will welcome the executive business community to the Convention Centre Dublin to honour the businesses leaders and corporations that have persevered across an extraordinary 2021. The Gala Awards Ceremony will include contributions from a range of Irish and International business, political and social leaders.
In 2019, Dalata Plc was the recipient of the ‘Company of the Year’ award. Pat McCann, the company’s CEO, in an interview with Business & Finance, said winning ‘Company of the Year’ gave Dalata the “stamp of approval,” and helped them view their business objectively: “The problem is that when you’re in a business, you’re always looking at it from an inside view, but what do people on the outside think of your business? So of course when you get something like this, it does give you a little bit of a pep in your step to continue on and to actually improve what you’re doing.”
Ian Hyland, publisher of Business & Finance, welcomed the launch, saying: “The 2021 Business & Finance Awards Programme will embrace and reflect the dynamic global market in which Irish businesses operate, particularly in a post-COVID world. This year’s awards will follow and recognise outstanding entrepreneurs, business leaders and leadership teams on their journey into what is now a new normal for business.”
Nominations
Nominations for this year’s Awards Programme are now open until the 4th November. Nominations are chosen as part of the Business & Finance monthly acknowledgements of Company of the Month, Business Person of the Month and FDI of the Month as well as nominations from our judging panel. If you wish to submit a nomination contact you can find the nomination form on the website.
Attend the Awards
The award ceremony holds an important date for Irish business and political leaders as we recognise those paving the way for business excellence on the Island of Ireland. To attend the gala awards ceremony please contact aideen.buggy@businessandfinance.com.
To align your company with the Business & Finance executive audience we have a limited number of partnership opportunities available. To find out more information please contact brian.kearns@businessandfinance.com.
For more information on the 47th annual Business & Finance Awards see www.businessandfinanceawards.com.
