2025 is drawing to a close and for many organisations it is time to reflect back on the steps taken to further important ESG and CSR goals.
Christmas time is often referred to as the season of goodwill, in which people sometimes feel compelled to behave in a kinder, more conscientious way. But for many it isn’t enough to just commit to ESG and CSR one month out of the year. Every day is an opportunity to do your best and for these four companies, it is the ideal time to look back at the previous 12 months of ESG and CSR initiatives.
Accenture
“Our ESG programme focuses on supporting individuals to develop the skills they need to secure employment or start a business,” said Ariana Ball, the Ireland citizenship and responsible business lead at Accenture.
Having seen a growing demand for AI expertise across the last 12 months, she explained, Accenture has enhanced its existing ESG initiatives by creating employment pathways for underserved communities, equipping jobseekers with not just technical AI skills but with the mindset to thrive in an ever-evolving digital world”.
She said, “This year, we partnered with Generation Ireland to deliver intensive AI Bootcamps for jobseekers, with Fastrack to IT to help learners build AI capabilities on their journey into tech careers, and with Inner City Enterprise to inspire entrepreneurs to embrace AI as they shape, launch, and sustain their businesses.”
Ball noted, tackling larger social and environmental challenges takes significant teamwork and employees often find they are strengthening crucial team-building skills, as they work cross-collaboratively.
“Through community engagement, they gain a deeper understanding of social issues and develop empathy, qualities that make for inclusive leaders and give a strong sense of purpose. It also ensures every day decisions are grounded in responsibility, fairness, and long-term value, not just quick wins, which ultimately builds trust with communities, clients, and our people.”
She is of the opinion that 2026 has the potential to be the year when people and technology can merge to form a team with the power to “make a real difference”.
“We have the chance to embrace AI responsibly, so it becomes a partner for good by building AI that’s fair, transparent, and trustworthy, and then going a step further to find tangible ways to collaborate with AI to meet our ESG goals.”
BearingPoint
Robert Sweeney, a senior consultant, at BearingPoint said this year the organisation furthered its commitment to sustainability, aligning with the Together, We Are More Than Business mission statement and promoting sustainability, diversity, and inclusion.
He said, “This drove a year of meaningful impact, action and milestones reached with our teams organising, leading and taking part in a range of initiatives from environmental to wellbeing to community engagement. Some examples include multiple Grand Canal clean-ups protecting local biodiversity and hosting climate workshops allowing employees to deepen their understanding of climate change.”
The company also held several fundraising events in support of charity partners and organisations “close to colleagues’ hearts”. He said, “Through our Sustainable Ways of Working initiative, we further partnered with clients to embed sustainability in every project. Working toward our firmwide SBTi-validated target to cut Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 53.8pc by 2030.”
He explained, by engaging in ESG and CSR strategies, employees build critical skill across three areas, in tracking, reporting and acting. He elaborated, “Tracking develops ESG data expertise, from data collection to governance. Reporting deepens employee knowledge of sustainability frameworks like CSRD, B Corp, and ISO, guiding informed decisions. Acting combines these to drive change, fostering skills from project management to leadership.”
For BearingPoint, a working culture driven by CSR and ESG targets is not only of benefit to employees and consumers, “but also to wider society”. Sweeney said, “Giving back and supporting others is a big part of how we live those values. It helps develop an understanding of the different and diverse needs of people in our society.”
Looking forward he predicts despite political and regulatory challenges, sustainability is going to remain a strong business imperative, particularly as consumers stay loyal to brands and organisations that demonstrate authentic ESG commitments such as circularity and Net Zero.
He said, “While the impact of climate will also force businesses to act from supply chain disruption to operational risks and rising costs. Organisations will need to embed sustainability into decision making not only to mitigate risk but to ensure they do not fall behind.”
Fidelity Investments
Commenting on Fidelity Investment’s year of CSR and ESG engagement, Justine Whittaker, the vice president for Ireland Communications, said, “Fidelity Investment’s employee volunteerism programme, Fidelity Cares, provides our employees with year-round opportunities to help drive impact in our local communities.
“In Ireland, where 75pc of our employees work in technology, we purposefully enable skills-based volunteerism for the benefit of local schools and students. To expand access to careers in STEM, we collaborated with organisations including Junior Achievement Ireland, Citywise in Tallaght, and CodePlus at the University of Galway to deliver classroom support, coding workshops and office visits that inspire students to explore careers in technology.”
She also explained that by building on their STEM volunteer programmes, Fidelity was able to invest in meaningful change by donating over 700 refurbished laptops to 31 schools and organisations, enabling more than 8,500 students to access digital learning tools and develop essential technology skills.
Whittaker said, “We also announced a research project in collaboration with Dublin City University, which aims to address the gender gap in STEM. This research complements the computing scholarships we already fund and support at DCU, as well as our long-term sponsorship of the DCU ComputeTY programme.”
Rent the Runway
John Quinlivan, an engineering Manager at Rent the Runway, stated the company has four key ERG’s, which are employee resource groups. Those are Black in Style, Women in Tech, Estillo – LatinX and Rent the Rainbow, for its LGBTQIA employees.
He said, “We’ve empowered employee-led ERGs to create inclusive spaces, educate colleagues, fundraise for local charities, and directly support communities connected to our workforce. This has helped turn the values of the ERG into real, visible impact across the business and beyond – for example we’ve fundraised for local LGBTQ+ charities close to the offices in Brooklyn and Galway during Pride Month.”
By becoming involved, Quinlivan noted employees develop skills in areas such as leadership, confidence, empathy and influence, all while learning how to drive change across teams and even beyond the confines of their day-to-day. “Individuals can also develop empathy and a stronger understanding of how their work and contributions can both connect and contribute with wider social impact.”
Moreover, when people feel supported and valued for who they, Quinlivan finds it strengthens reputation by “demonstrating that the company takes its responsibilities seriously, not just to shareholders, but to society and the environments it operates within.
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