Business Eye Sustainability and ESG Awards in Belfast

Last week saw the awards ceremony for the Northen Ireland Business Eye Sustainability and ESG Awards in Belfast. The OU Faculty of Business and Law sponsored the Innovation in Sustainability categories and Professor Mark Durkin, Executive Dean of the Faculty of Business and Law launched the Awards with fellow award sponsors earlier this year.

The 2025 Business Eye Sustainability & ESG Awards were officially launched on Friday, 7th March, at Custom House, Belfast. L-R - Richard Buckley - Business Eye, Louise Carson - Diageo, Mark Durkin - Open University, Tanya Anderson - Bank of Ireland, Professor Shuang Ren - Queen’s Business School, Brian Donaldson - Maxol, Simon Mann - Bauer Media & Brenda Buckley - Business Eye

 

OU Sustainability Director, Dr Victoria Hands was part of the judging panel and commented: “I was very inspired by the quantity and quality of the applications, it is clear to me that Northern Ireland businesses are pioneering the transition to a low carbon and renewable economy.” Victoria presented the OU sponsored awards at the prestigious awards dinner on 15 May, hosted by BBC’s Mark Simpson. 

In the small to medium business category, highly commended awards went to: Safety Solutions Northern Ireland who have embedded sustainability in the provision of their high-quality litter bins, branded clothing, and waste solutions, and Carbonfit for their Net Zero Intelligence Platform uniquely combining technology with engineering expertise to empower organisations to achieve measurable sustainability improvements through the platform’s innovative FIT model (Footprint, Initiate Improvements, and Translate Progress).

Safety Solutions Northern Ireland

 

Safety Solutions Northern Ireland 2

 

The winner was Stream Bioenergy for their Irish based biogas which uses an innovative combination of anaerobic digestion (AD) and nitrogen stripping technology, to convert poultry waste into renewable energy while simultaneously producing high-quality organic fertilisers. 

Stream Bioenergy

In the medium to large business category, Henderson Group Property was highly commended for progress on its 'Tomorrow Matters' corporate social responsibility strategy applied by their construction and property experts. 

Henderson Group Property

Derry Group Ireland won for their work to reduce carbon emissions from their ambient, chilled and frozen food transportation network in Ireland through an impressive array of decarbonisation projects. You can find out more about their work in this inspirational short film: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOz-rrxmoJU

Derry Group Ireland 

The Business Eye Sustainability and ESG Awards celebrate the companies and business leaders making a significant impact in sustainability and Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) excellence across Northern Ireland.

“We were delighted with the high level of entries for this year’s awards and with the level of interest in the awards in general,” said Richard Buckley, Editor of Business Eye. “Across the Atlantic, there might be some doubts over the future of the ESG agenda. But, here in Northern Ireland, it’s clear that sustainability is becoming increasingly embedded amongst companies both large and small. That can only be good news for all of us.”

 If you would like to learn more about acting for sustainability in your organisation, you might want to consider upskilling your workforce through The OU’s microcredentials and short courses or choose from a range of free resources on the OpenLearn Sustainability Hub. Find out more about ESG by reading The OU’s ESG report here.