The Business & Finance ESG Awards 2025 celebrate leadership in Environmental, Social, and Governance initiatives

Pictured (L-R): Janice Daly, Grant Thornton, Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and recipient of the 2025 ESG Leader Award, and Ian Hyland, President of Ireland INC. Photograph by Andres Poveda.

The Business & Finance ESG Awards, held in partnership with Grant Thornton, celebrated exceptional leadership in Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives across a range of industries. Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland, received the 2025 ESG Leader Award.

The Business & Finance ESG Awards, hosted in partnership with Grant Thornton, acknowledges the achievements of businesses committed to a sustainable future. This year’s ceremony, hosted at the historic Mansion House in Dublin, highlighted 20 categories, which reflects the broad spectrum of ESG initiatives being undertaken across various sectors.

Ceremony

Tracey Carney, Managing Director of Business & Finance, and Sarah Freeman, Managing Editor, hosted the event.

Pictured: Tracey Carney and Sarah Freeman host proceedings. Picture by Andres Poveda.

Said Freeman: “What a pleasure it is to welcome so many of you to our fourth ESG Awards ceremony, a testament to the commitment we are collectively making in the area of Environmental, Social, and Governance principles.”

Freeman thanked headline partner Grant Thornton, noting their “commitment to partnering with clients at every stage of their sustainability journey” is “commendable.” The Business & Finance editor also took the opportunity to thank the awards’ Business for Good Partner, UNICEF.

ESG Leadership

Former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mary Robinson, was honoured with the ESG Leader Award at this year’s ceremony. A trailblazer in law and politics, she was appointed Reid Professor of Criminal Law at Trinity College Dublin at just 25 years old 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 female 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.

Robinson’s influence extends beyond policy; her book “Climate Justice” has received widespread acclaim. Recognised for her transformative leadership, she holds honorary doctorates from over 40 universities and has received prestigious honours, including the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom. An unforgettable speaker and advocate, she inspires audiences worldwide with her hopeful call to action, framing the fight for a sustainable future as both urgent and achievable.

Frances Ruane, Chair of the National Competitiveness Council and Former Director of ESRI, introduces Mary Robinson. Picture by Andres Poveda.

Frances Ruane, Chair of the National Competitiveness Council and Former Director of 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.

“Our paths crossed on many occasions since then, and reflecting on these interactions, I was reminded that with Mary, the public and the private, are the very same person.  “

Ruane said that Robinson’s journey is “a testament to the ideals of sustainability, justice, and ethical governance” which are at the heart of responsible leadership in our world today.

“These are principles that have guided her remarkable career from the halls of academia to the highest office of state and to leadership in international diplomacy. These are the principles that made her such a valuable member of The Elders, that distinguished group whose fearless voice has never been more important.”

“Speak out and be firm”

Mary Robinson, recipient of the 2025 ESG Leader Award

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 danced as she went up on stage. Her reason for doing so was inspired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu. “You saw my ridiculous dance as I got up … Archbishop Tutu was a master of making people laugh. You know what happens when you make people laugh? They’re open, open to what you’re going to say, and some of what I’m going to say is pretty tough, so I wanted to open you up a bit with my dance before we started because we are in a difficult time.”

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 excise the acronyms ESG and DEI, 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 current 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, 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.”

Mary Robinson speaks. Picture by Andres Poveda.

“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 directly about the impact this is having on Ireland and 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 becoming a bit more compliant.”

“This is Europe’s opportunity actually,” she continued.

“If a country is being dragged backwards by perversely bad leadership – imagine championing coal at the moment, when we know that it’s part of the excessive emissions and it’s not in any way commercially viable in comparison to clean energy, and particularly under the Inflation Reduction Act.

“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.

“It’s our watch, and on our watch, we have to affirm ESG, DEI, and give them their full titles, and I’ll repeat them and end with that because they are good: Environmental, social, and government. Diversity, equity and inclusion. These are lovely words. These are words we should treasure as we do.”

Mary Robinson dances. Picture by Andres Poveda.

Winners

ESG Awards 2025 winners. Picture by Andres Poveda.

Food services company Sodexo won the Net Zero Carbon Award. Julianne Forrestal, Food Transformation Director at Sodexo, said they were “delighted” with the win. “As a company we’ve made such investments in terms of training our people how to embark on that journey and we’ve actually made some real solid commitments around that and that are also externally verified as well”, she said.

Kerry Group won the Sustainable Procurement Award. Roisin Redmond, Karry’s European Director for Ingredients, said
the team have done tremendous work in this area: “It’s one that is really close to Kerry’s heart as part of our sustainable nutrition program.”

auticon took home the Diversity, Equity & 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 ESG Company Award (Enterprise) went to Fyffes. Caoimhe Buckley, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer at Fyffes, said: “It’s amazing to get this recognition and it’s an absolute honor and, on behalf of the whole of Fyffes, I’m absolutely delighted with this.”

Partners

Partners for the Business & Finance ESG Awards 2024 included: Grant Thornton, SSE Airtricity, Sia, Ibec, Miagen, Energia Group, Unicef Ireland, UCD Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School, Olytico, Aspire, Onclusive

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