Majority of business owners say sustainability important, and two in five recently retrofitted buildings

Amárach research on behalf of Dept of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment

According to new Amárach research carried out on behalf of the Dept of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, more than four in five business owners (85%) say sustainability is important to the day-to-day running of their business.

The findings of the second phase of SME Sustainability Research – Wave 2 were announced by Minister Peter Burke in Mullingar this week, and are in line with the previous year’s findings.

The survey of 344 SMEs shows that two in five had taken steps such as insulating buildings or changing windows in the last two years to improve their energy efficiency.

Speaking at the launch, Minister Burke said by doing so, businesses also cut their energy costs and become more competitive.

“It’s really encouraging to see businesses reducing their costs by tackling the energy usage in their buildings,” he said. “There is, however, another sizeable cohort of businesses (44%) who cite upfront investment costs as a barrier to becoming more sustainable.

“That’s why I’d ask SMEs to avail of the Local Enterprise Office Energy Efficiency Grant (EEG) and the SEAI Building Energy Upgrade Scheme (BEUS) to buy energy efficient equipment and to retrofit their buildings.

“I changed the terms and conditions of the energy efficient grant last year so that a 75% grant is now available, up to a maximum of €10,000, which can make a huge difference to energy bills.

“In 2025, 681 small business were approved for the EEG at estimated value of €5.7 million, while 186 BEUS grants with an estimated value of €3.36 million were approved.”

Minister Burke announced the research at Wholesome Kitchen in Mullingar, which recently used the Climate Toolkit 4 Business to understand their environmental impact.

Businesses can now also use the Toolkit to measure their Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions.

Minister Burke said by estimating their environmental impact, SMEs can start to tackle it. “Through this research we can see that businesses are also concerned that their staff may not implement sustainability measures. The Toolkit is free, so anyone can use it to understand the carbon footprint of their businesses, and it will provide information on where to access the government’s sustainability and energy supports.”

This year’s survey included questions on the potential of the circular economy to Irish businesses.

Minister of State for Employment, Small Business and Retail and Circular Economy, Alan Dillon, TD, said it’s clear that businesses are seeing the value of re-using, recycling and minimising waste. “Not only did more than one in three (35%) respondents say that they already participate in the circular economy, of those that don’t, a quarter are interested in doing so. By supporting businesses to reuse resources, reduce waste and keep materials in circulation for longer, they will not only become more sustainable they will cut costs and become more competitive.”

Key Findings

• 85% of businesses say sustainability is important to their business on a day-to-day basis, maintaining the high levels recorded in the 2024 research.

• Businesses said that making a positive difference (35%) and saving money (34%) were the top motivations in becoming sustainable.

• Just over a quarter of business say that climate change is currently affecting their operations, rising significantly among larger firms and those operating for more than 20 years. Among affected businesses, adverse weather is now the dominant impact, reflecting the growing reality of extreme weather events.

• Most sustainability action is concentrated in practical, cost-effective areas. waste reduction (49%), energy efficiency (44%), and renewable energy adoption (33%) remain the most common measures adopted by businesses.

• The main barrier for organisations to act more sustainably remained upfront investment costs (22%), although at a lower rate compared to 2024.