2025 was a busy 12 months for ESB – from responding to the unprecedented impact on customers and infrastructure caused by Storm Éowyn in January, to progressing renewable ambitions with the announcement last winter that ESB and Ørsted had secured the rights to develop the 900 MW Tonn Nua offshore wind project. As we publish our Sustainability Report for 2025, ESB Chief Executive Paddy Hayes and Group Head of Sustainability Sharon McManus reflect on key developments from the year and look to the challenges ahead.
What stood out to you in 2025 from a sustainability perspective?
Paddy Hayes: There were many standout moments. One major milestone was ending the use of coal at our Moneypoint power station in a way that supports energy security; the determination, effort and drive from the organisation to deliver that ahead of schedule – that was really important. It took courage from both ESB and our joint venture partner EdF to bring the Neart na Gaoithe offshore wind farm in Scotland successfully through to commercial operation – that was a great achievement. And, while hugely challenging, the response of ESB Networks and NIE Networks to Storm Éowyn and the care shown by those teams (supported by many others) in restoring power to customers, while still coming through the year to deliver a total of 51,000 new connections, an over 15% increase on 2024 – that was tremendous.
Sharon McManus: That also brings to mind the great progress made on enabling customers to generate their own electricity. We now have around 170,000 microgeneration installations in Ireland, mainly solar PV. It’s been termed a ‘rooftop revolution’ for good reason, as it represents a broader transformation in how we use clean electricity. ESB has played a big role in supporting that – whether through ESB Networks enabling connections to the grid, or with related services and supports to customers provided by Electric Ireland or ESB Smart Energy Services.
Zooming out to look at ESB’s long-term sustainability objectives: the concept of ‘sustainability’ can seem quite abstract or nebulous – from your perspective, what are the concrete ways that it influences strategic decisions in the organisation?
PH: Sustainability stands out on the front page of ESB’s strategy – so its importance is embedded at that very fundamental level. One practical implication of this is, for example, that for any of our investment decisions, the impact on future carbon emissions is considered, ensuring that sustainability is at the heart of the organisation’s decision-making.
SM: When seen through that long-term lens, you can also view sustainability as supporting resilience and leading to improved and adaptable electricity production. Affordability is another important piece of the puzzle, though, and there are questions around how to balance the objective of delivering net zero with the challenge of keeping costs affordable for customers. What are your views on how we navigate that?
PH: I don’t think those two objectives are in opposition to each other. Over the last few years, it has been the cost of gas on international wholesale markets that has really driven up the price of electricity. Moving from fossil fuels to renewables does take investment, but it increases our energy independence and reduces our exposure to international commodity gas markets where the prices can be volatile and driven by factors that are very much outside our control.
SM: Yes indeed, an important facet of affordability is predictability and stability – avoiding a situation of huge peaks and troughs.
PH: Exactly. And in the short term, we will have to keep finding ways to address the very real cost pressures faced by customers. For example, Electric Ireland has implemented a cumulative average bill reduction of 19% in electricity and 23% in gas since late 2022, and has kept electricity prices steady through this last winter to provide that stability for people.
Picture: ESB Chief Executive Paddy Hayes and Group Head of Sustainability Sharon McManus
The winter of 2025 brought Storm Éowyn to our shores, embodying a new kind of weather extreme that is becoming more and more frequent. What did 2025 reinforce for you in that space?
PH: This impact of extreme weather continues to be felt around the globe: we have recently seen lives lost to flooding in South Africa, while Australia experienced flash floods side-by-side with forest fires and record-breaking heatwaves. The physical impacts are becoming clear in Ireland, too. At ESB our hydro schemes mean that we are directly involved with a number of rivers and have been tracking water inflows for almost 100 years. The increase in the frequency of intense rain is very apparent, with some of the biggest sustained inflows ever recorded on the Lee and the Liffey being experienced during the past year. We often think about the affordability of investments in sustainability and carbon reduction – but it’s just as important to consider the costs associated with not doing enough to stem climate change.
SM: I agree, and we are now facing the challenge of adaptation as well. We have focused so strongly on mitigation, and of course we need to keep accelerating that work. But adaptation is now coming into sharper focus, with planning and resources needed for that in parallel.
Looking to the future of ESB’s sustainability journey, where do you see the greatest challenge on the road ahead?
PH: When you look at how far and how fast we’ve come, it’s incredible – but the road ahead always seems to get a bit steeper. The final piece of the journey is going to be tougher. We’ve made huge strides with wind, solar and battery storage. But ultimately, sometime between now and 2040, we’re going to have to find a way to deliver long-duration energy storage economically and affordably – so that clean wind energy can be captured when there is a surplus and used when it’s needed. That’s probably the single most important challenge to come.
SM: From a customer point of view, I think one area where progress is important is enabling a shift in behaviour as we move towards 2040 and 2050 – there may be a need to review market or pricing arrangements to make clean electricity more competitive relative to gas, or new measures to make the decision to move to an EV or electric heat pump more appealing.
To wrap up, as we look to that 2040 horizon and beyond – what gives you the most confidence in ESB’s capability to deliver on its long-term sustainability objectives?
PH: You just have to look at what has already been achieved by the electricity sector over the past 20 years. Through a period in which Ireland’s electricity demand grew by 50%, the carbon intensity of our electricity reduced by 65%. We have successfully and responsibly phased out coal and peat generation without impacting energy security. In 2025, ESB delivered an investment of almost €2.7 billion in critical energy infrastructure, more than double the €1.2 billion invested in 2021 – evidence of the growth in ESB’s capability to deliver on our strategy to support economic and social development and combat climate change, by delivering resilient infrastructure, developing renewables and empowering customers.
SM: It’s an impressive track record. And seeing sustainability playing that central role in the underlying decisions and actions on a day-to-day basis is really encouraging, as we accelerate our commitment to emissions reduction in all that we do. The best predictor of future performance is past performance, and ESB is in a strong position to demonstrate that as we move forward.
PH: At ESB, I think everybody knows the importance of the electricity sector and that we will have to do more and faster in future, but we have shown our capability to deliver and scale up. We’ve come a very long way and now it’s essential to build on what has been achieved and to keep driving on.
This interview is featured in ESB's 2025 Sustainability Report. Learn more about the report here, or download the full report directly here.