ESB has claimed the Green Transformation Award (500+ Employees) at the Green Awards 2026, honoured for embedding sustainability as a structural pillar of large-scale organisational change through its Sustainability Transformation Enablement Programme. 

The award, announced on 24 February 2026 at the Clayton Hotel, Burlington Road, reflects a programme designed from the outset to make sustainability inseparable from business performance rather than parallel to it.

The ESB Sustainability Transformation Enablement Programme (STEP) was a 3-year strategic initiative to build the capabilities to enable ESB to deliver outstanding environmental and social performance in line with its Net Zero Strategy. These included enhanced Sustainability organisation, governance, systems, processes, and leadership development and technical understanding.

Their award-winning initiative has reshaped how one of Ireland's largest enterprises approaches leadership, culture, and operational capability in the context of its environmental responsibilities.

Judges were emphatic in their praise and applauded ESB for embedding sustainability at the heart of a large-scale organisational transformation. 

“Through the Sustainability Transformation Enablement Programme, sustainability was integrated across leadership, culture, and capability, aligning clearly with core business KPIs. With innovative governance, strong workforce engagement, and a lasting legacy of new roles and expertise, the programme shows how purposeful transformation can drive real impact at enterprise level," the panel stated.

The Green Transformation Award recognises organisations that go beyond surface-level sustainability commitments to deliver systemic, organisation-wide change — and ESB's STEP programme meets that standard comprehensively, offering a replicable model for large enterprises navigating the demands of meaningful environmental transformation.

As the Green Awards near their two-decade milestone, ESB joins a distinguished group of winners demonstrating that genuine sustainability progress at enterprise scale demands the same rigour, ambition, and long-term thinking as any other strategic business transformation.

For the complete 2026 winners list, category insights, and organisation profiles, visit the official Green Awards website and subscribe to the newsletter.