2 minute read
Sustainability Works
SUSTAINABILITYWORKS
Moving the Needle
Boutique consultancy SustainabilityWorks is connecting the dots for Irish businesses when it comes to sustainability and climate change
SustainabilityWorks is one of Ireland’s leading, independent sustainability and ESG consultancies. Established in 2019 by Aideen O’Hora, Laura Heuston and Karen Deignan the company is on a mission to accelerate Ireland’s shift to a sustainable future. Working with businesses, the financial sector and public sector bodies, SustainabilityWorks provides expert advice to help organisations embed sustainability into how they operate and manage ESG risks and opportunities. The team has established a strong reputation as the go-to place for trusted, insight-driven work on all things sustainability- and ESG-related.
“We founded SustainabilityWorks in early 2019 as we felt there was a need for a different kind of sustainability consulting firm in Ireland—one that brings together financial, business, and communications know-how to create strategies and solutions that unlock opportunity and mobilise action,” explains co-founder Aideen O’Hora, whose background is an environmental scientist with expertise in policy, programme design and innovation.
“In practical terms, we develop sustainability and ESG strategies and help businesses turn those strategies into action through the creation of policies, roadmaps and practical action plans, and through training and engagement with Boards, executive teams and employees. We also work with industry associations and representative bodies to develop sectoral programmes that aim to drive progress across a whole sector,” adds Laura Heuston, SustainabilityWorks Co-Founders (from left to right): Laura Heuston, Aideen O’Hora, Karen Deignan
a chartered accountant by background and an expert in sustainable finance.
MOVING THE NEEDLE “From the outset our goal was to achieve maximum impact through our work, despite being a boutique firm. To achieve this, we combine traditional consulting work (working on specific projects for individual businesses or representative bodies) with ‘common good’ initiatives that we believe can move the needle and accelerate or scale change at a systemic level,” explains Karen Deignan, who brings strategy, communications and behaviour change expertise to the team. Sustainability Works is nominated in two categories this year, firstly for its monthly newsletter, SW News, where it communicates sustainability issues and insights in an easy to digest way. “With the sustainability agenda moving at such a pace and spanning so many topics, we see these communications as an important tool in progressing the climate and sustainability conversation in Ireland and in keeping sustainability professionals up to date on the latest information and trends,” says O’Hora.
It is also shortlisted for Climate R|O, its Climate Change Adaptation: Risks and Opportunities for Irish Businesses report, and five practical sector guides for key sectors of the economy, which were published in April 2022. It was the result of a year-long research project, funded by the EPA, that looked at how Ireland’s private sector needed to adapt to climate change. Climate R|O created simple guides to engage Irish businesses on climate change by highlighting the financial risks and opportunities.
“A key thing we do is ‘connect the dots’ – helping to broker relationships and alliances between established businesses, start-ups, public sector organisations, financial sector players, policy makers etc. We’re always looking for ways to bring people together to create change,” adds Deignan.
