By Business & Finance 
Paul Murphy is CEO of Climeaction, a business that assists large organisations to reduce their carbon footprint, energy costs and improve their overall environmental performance.
What are your main priorities and goals in your role?
- Impact – To grow the impact of our company – our business was created with a powerful purpose, to make a meaningful contribution to mitigating the effects of Climate Change. Meaningful to us is to identify 3% emissions reduction in each market we operate within 3 full years of operations, allowing for set up. With this in mind, the only way that we can do this is to grow our business and look at improved ways of achieving that goal, whether its through the launch of our digital products, expanding to new markets or working with hard to abate large industry. We don’t like it easy.
- Team – without our team, we have no business – when we created this business we wanted to break the mould of typical business which are extractive and create a business that created value for all stakeholders. Its not always perfect, scaling like we are can be tough on our team, but as long as we are all unified behind our mission and continue to do what we can to provide work and experience of value, pay people better than the average and ensure a good work life balance then we will be doing OK.
- Customers – our customers are everything to us. With over 430 since we started customer service has been a challenge – so many customers with different expectations and needs – its not easy to keep everyone happy. We aim to ensure that we design our customer experience to be one of partnership rather than transactional. Many of our customers continue to work with us over the years.
- Community – its not good enough to just exist in business and worry about inside your own four walls. We want to be active in our communities and contribute meaningfully to their success. Whether its in Cork and contributing the business community through knowledge sharing or sporting community through our sponsorship of Buttevant Camogie Club, nationally through sponsorship of organizations making meaningful change like the AwakenHub in NI or the All Ireland Sustainability forum – we want to use our influence and success to maximize the benefits to our community.
What are your biggest challenges as CEO?
My most significant challenge is time and being able to step up out of the business to work on it rather than in it.
With all the challenges that come with life in general coupled with running and scaling essentially two businesses on both sides of the Atlantic, its difficult to have any time to do what matters most in the business or in my personal life. There are a lot of sacrifices in scaling a business which most people don’t see, most people are focused on their own sphere – when you sphere as CEO involves the livelihoods of 35 people and the success of a few hundred customers, there isn’t a whole lot left for personal or family life. Every minute counts.
How do you keep your team/staff motivated?
We have a fantastic team at Climeaction and it is difficult to keep everyone motivated and moving in the same direction. When your absent from the business for weeks on end on the other side of the Atlantic, you need to rely on that original vision and purpose to keep people motivated. I am lucky to have such a strong leadership team who care about the team and are bought into our mission – they do the hard work of keeping everyone on track. I must rely on them on a day to day basis and we do regular team town halls to share openly and transparently everything to do with the business from financials, right through to growth strategy. We put a keen focus on team events also and use this time to strengthen our relationships with the team outside of the usual work.
What are the challenges facing the industry going forward?
Our industry is evolving rapidly, we need to stay on top of the evolution and even be ahead of it. We like to lead from the front and I pride myself on our ability to see and shape the industry going forward. When we were talking about Scope 3 emissions 3 years ago and working with SME companies, people thought I was mad. They aren’t laughing now as we are gradually taking significant market share of the consulting industry in Ireland and on the cusp of launching a digital tool for SMEs which will outpace any competition. Our broader vision with SME’s is going to be game changing – but I’ll hold my tongue on that for now.
What new trends are emerging in your industry?
The industry is still very fragmented in solutions providers, if we look at other markets, consolidation of solutions providers into one stop shops for decarbonization is happening – we have a vision of achieving that end to end for responsible business. From Energy, through environmental aspects, social and governance issues and compliance – we want to own that market segment over time. It will take 3 years to get there but we are track. Another significant trend globally is the rise of B Corps. A B Corp is a Benefit Corporation – a business created for the purpose of benefitting all stakeholders – there are over 8,000 now globally and close on 50 in Ireland. I see this number rising to hundreds and thousands over the next 2 – 5 years. With this rise will come an exponential shift in how we think about and do business and the laggards will stand out and ultimately their business wont keep pace with these new types of business.
Are there any major changes you would like to see in your sector?
The grant system in Ireland is broken for this sector – its far too difficult, takes too long and is too prescriptive which ultimately results in poor adoption of action. There are multiple state agencies with responsibilities for supporting Climate Action and ESG improvements in business – all doing the best they can with the system that has been created over time.
If it were up to me I would dismantle the SEAI, which has responsibility for energy in Ireland and create a new agency which brings together the talents from SEAI, Enterprise Ireland, IDA, Udaras, Local Enterprise Offices, Departments of Agriculture, Marine, Environment, Transport, Enterprise, Housing into a new agency with one focus – to reduce emissions across each sector and to improve business. I would eliminate all grants and replace them with a state backed rebate scheme which pays businesses for results (carbon emissions reduction or measured performance improvement). If it were state backed, the funding could be provided up front and should the results not materialize recouped through the tax system. It would short circuit all the broken processes and allow the market to respond with practical solutions.
A similar approach works well in other markets – take the US for example, they offer tax credits as a means for incentive for investment. The credit value is based on the emissions reduction achieved with a minimum of 25% required with a process of measurement and verification of results to international standards.
As an employer are you finding any skill gaps in the market?
There is a significant gap in experienced engineers in Industrial energy. They just aren’t there. We are solving this problem through standardization of our processes and systems and improving our training. There is a great pipeline of engineers and consultants coming through from universities in Cork in particular, but the lead time from start to adding value is long so we need to try hire senior staff where we can to match our pace of growth. This has obvious cost implications, particularly when you want as a company to offer a great package, and therefore our services may appear more expensive than many of our competitors. You get what you pay for I guess.
How did your strategy develop in the context of the banking crisis and economic crisis?
We established our business in March 2021, just coming through Covid and off the back of the above. Our strategy at this time was to focus on small incremental gains and grow organically with no risk, ie as long as we could pay the salaries and make a small amount to keep us going we were doing OK. It was ultimately this risk averse strategy which forced us to the MBO and seeking outside investment. Our time as experts in this space is valuable in the Climate Emergency – we hadn’t time to waste in making an impact – we must scale or in my eyes the business and our team are not fulfilling our purpose
Our strategy now is focused on taking calculated and measured risks to scale significantly. We are investing €2.3M in the growth of our business over 2024 and 2025, supported by the Davy EIIS fund and BDO which will set us up for significant scaling after – With this type of investment and scaling, inherently the risks associated with the business increase, we need to be proactive, but react quickly to changes in the industry or issues within the business. Just this summer we went through a rough patch where our sales and operations process broke down, given our focus on the expansion into the US, but over the course of two weeks we pulled ourselves back on track and are now set to achieve our goals in the last quarter.
Business is a rollercoaster of ups and downs – knowing when to hold on and roll with it or slam on the brakes is the key to success in my view.
How has the COVID-19 crisis affected your business/sector?
We were lucky that it hasn’t impacted our sector particularly hard, compared to others, engineers are essential services in many cases, particularly when working with key supply chain companies, however during Covid, while working at another business we needed to modify how we worked to continue working with international clients but being engineers we always find solutions to challenges. I would be concerned about a similar issue occurring over time and our digital solutions we are launching should make us more resilient to such issues and enable us to continue to deliver impact.
How do you define success and what drives you to succeed?
Creating measurable impact through our work and seeing the change we are creating in our customers business. What drives me to succeed is a tough one, growing up I was never so driven when it came to sports or school or college, always coasted along and was lucky to have some level of natural ability, but I think I have just found my calling in Climate Action – I literally wake up thinking about work and go asleep thinking about it and to me that’s just normal, I couldn’t see myself doing anything else, I love what I do, despite all the challenges.
What’s the best advice you’ve been given in business?
Always look after the money – my former colleague said this to me one time, when I questioned the value of financial resources in the business, I was more interested in the engineering. But after time and experiences when the finances weren’t getting the attention they needed and seeing the impact of that on the overall business, I have a lazer focus on our finances and will literally go through each detail on spend, debtors or forecasts, each month and ensure I atleast have full visibility on where its all at. We took on a Finance Lead this year in June and the value he has added to the overall business is immeasurable. We have since promoted him to Country Manager and expect that over the next 12 months, his attention to detail around the business processes, something I or our other SLT members don’t have will yield significant results.
What advice would you give to others starting out in business?
If you have a good idea and can afford to fail then what are you waiting for? When I started this business I had recently quit my job, had other amazing job offers and rationalized it with “What’s the worst that can happen?” – ill just go back working for someone else. As long as you are not borrowing to start the business or taking too much of a financial risk then go for it.
I have failed in business before, I picked myself up and dusted myself off and went back at my career – I could do it again if needs be. Thankfully, we are at a scale now where going back to working for someone else is an unlikely scenario.
What have been your highlights in business over the past year?
We have so many highlights, from securing funding to grow and knowing that our efforts and vision had been externally validated to launching our business in the US. Becoming B Corp certified was also a proud moment – to know that you have created a business, but done so in a way that’s better than the usual.
Its surreal sometimes to think back on it and where we started and where we are now, but the thing is we are only getting started – I don’t know when Ill reach the point of OK that’s enough for now, all I know is that I have the same if not more fire in my belly than day 1.
What’s next for your company?
We have two core areas of growth:
- International expansion of our consulting services – we expect to have offices in 5 US territories with 18 months. This will set us up for exponential growth.
- Digital –
- Launch of our digital products – our ESGo platform will launch in early October and we expect this will be a key growth area for us. Where we are going with this afterwards will be interesting to say the least if it all goes to plan.
- Launch our Dairy Tool in Q1 2025 – This tool will enable rapid decarbonization of the dairy sector for manufacturers and change how farmers engage in Climate Action – we may need to drag the government agencies kicking and screaming along but I believe the dairy manufacturers will love this technological advancement.
- This tool will then be expanded to other agriculture based industries – think cotton, coffee, avocados etc.
Where do you want your business/brand to be this time next year?
To be recognized as leader in our space in Ireland and the US and have a team that is united around our mission – To mainstream climate action for business. If we can be at that point, there’ll be no stopping us.
What is the best book you’ve ever read (non-business) and why?
Positive Intelligence by Shirzad Chamine – it’s sort of a self help book that enables you to switch your mindset and train it to be positive. The theory is that success in life is based on our Positivity Quotient and that we can train ourselves to think positively, even when challenges or problems arise. This book honestly changed my life and my personal and work interactions following this have improved considerably. My own mental health improved as a result as we all tend to get stuck into negativity when things don’t go our way, instead I now channel that into positive actions to improve myself or the situation around me. I can still be a grump on a regular basis when I am flat out, but atleast now I recognize when I am being a grump!
What is your favourite hobby and why?
Scuba Diving – there is literally nothing else in life that allows me to 100% switch off from work and calm my brain. When you are 20m underwater and all you can hear is your breath and all you can see is the natural world in front of you its so calming and you’d come out of the water feeling like a new person despite being incredibly cold in Ireland. The people I dive with are also great and when you go to Inis Mor, it in itself is a release from the real world.
What is your mantra for life?
My mantra for life is: “Embrace the challenge, stay grounded, and always move forward.”
I believe that the toughest obstacles often lead to the most rewarding outcomes, so it’s important to embrace them with determination and adaptability. At the same time, staying grounded in your purpose and values helps keep things in perspective, especially when faced with difficulties. No matter the situation, I aim to keep moving forward, continually learning and growing both personally and professionally.
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