How Ireland Is Setting the Standard for Green Business

This fall, more than 10,000 experts in sustainable finance from across the world will converge on Dublin to discuss the latest developments in funding the energy transition. This will be the seventh year that Ireland has hosted Climate Finance Week—evidence of the country’s achievements and determination to be a global player in sustainable finance.

That ambition is backed up with action. Last year, Ireland’s second issue of its 20-year Irish Sovereign Green Bond (ISGB) raised €3.5 billion, building on its first issue in 2018. Combined, this takes the green portion of the country’s total benchmark bonds to 7%.

The projects financed by these bonds—from public transport upgrades to heat pump retrofits for housing—are already having a practical impact across the country. Business is also benefiting from multimillion-euro grants and major investments in energy-efficient design.

Ireland’s status as a green leader in Europe has accelerated in recent years. Its greenhouse gas emissions will be reduced by 7% annually up to 2031, according to the government, and its natural resources are of primary importance for foreign investors looking at ESG investments in Ireland.

This investor cohort is already advanced on its sustainability journey: According to Bloomberg’s 2023 global FDI study, 79% of those considering investments in Ireland have integrated ESG into their investment strategy, compared to 64% globally.

From mortgage products and car financing to sustainability-linked business loans, financial companies in Ireland—which hosts 22 of the world’s top 25 financial institutions—are helping their clients support more sustainable activities (source: Forbes 2024 Global 2000 List).

Sustainable finance skills as a point of difference

Factors commonly credited with Ireland’s popularity among investors include its attractive tax environment and its status as the only predominantly English-speaking country in the EU. Eoin Fahy, Chief Economist and Head of Responsible Investing at Dublin-based KBI Global Investors, also points to the government’s investment in building the workforce’s sustainable finance skills.

Skills gaps in Ireland’s international financial services sector are being targeted through training designed and delivered by the International Sustainable Finance Centre of Excellence. Over 90% of the staff at KBI Global Investors have gone through this specialist training.

“I see the amount of money that the government is putting into sustainable skills training, and, in the financial sector, training in sustainable finance,” says Fahy. “It’s a lot easier for employers to find staff in this area now.”

Joseph Collum, Sustainability Manager at IDA Ireland, the country’s investment promotion agency, believes that the country’s investment in skilling the workforce will ultimately create a positive domino effect over the decades to come.

High-profile multinationals are the way forward on climate

Alongside the growing base of green bond issuers and sustainable investors, multinationals can lead the way in sustainable know-how, says Collum.

For example, excess heat from Amazon’s data center in Tallaght, south of Dublin, is used to heat local buildings. Elsewhere in Ireland, Amazon’s three corporate power purchase agreements (CPPAs) are set to add 229 MW of renewable energy to the Irish grid each year—enough to power 185,000 homes.

It’s little wonder that Ireland—stable, competitive and a hub of green expertise—is growing in popularity as a destination for multinationals aiming to decarbonize.

“Over the past four years of our engagement with multinationals and foreign direct investors, we have seen huge growth in the momentum of clients investing to reduce emissions and make carbon pledges,” Collum says.

IDA Ireland recognizes that sustainability must extend throughout the supply chain, and it is committed to deepening links between multinationals and Ireland’s small and medium-sized enterprises.

“As multinationals decarbonize their supply chains, they will be looking for suppliers that are decarbonized,” Collum says. “So there is potentially a win-win there for companies that will invest more to become carbon-neutral.”