'Resilience has become the word of 2025' - Limerick firm leads sustainability conference

A LIMERICK firm has called for other businesses to urgently strengthen their climate and enterprise resilience. 

At the 20FIFTY Partners Sustainability Practitioners’ Conference 2025, held in Portlaoise on Thursday, June 12,  professionals from across industry, academia, and the public sector gathered to explore how Irish businesses can respond to growing climate and competitive challenges.

The conference was organised by Limerick firm 20FIFTY Partners and supported by the Sustainable Enterprise Skillnet.

This year’s theme, Building Resilience in Irish Enterprise, focused on the importance of building resilience at an organisational level to ensure businesses remain competitive and are ready to face climate disruption. 

Speaking at the close of the event, Ken Stockil, CEO, 20FIFTY Partners, said: “The first half of 2025 has been marked by increased uncertainty and the rapidly evolving global polycrisis. 

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“Those working in sustainability and supply chain management are grappling not only with the accelerating climate crisis and extreme weather events at home and abroad, but also with risks and uncertainty posed by wider geopolitical instability, tariff changes, and emerging regulatory reporting requirements.

“Resilience has become the word of 2025. At 20FIFTY Partners, we will continue to engage with clients and partners across our sphere to help them build resilience and future-proof their business through sustainability competency skills, peer collaboration and our ongoing research programme.”

According to the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, global climate change is projected to cost $38 trillion annually by 2049.

Keynote speaker, Dr. Matt Kennedy, global head of client transformation at IDA Ireland, emphasised the role of resilience in safeguarding Ireland’s competitiveness during an increasingly unpredictable global landscape. 

He noted that global uncertainty is prompting many FDI companies in Ireland to become even more ambitious with their sustainability goals as they seek to unlock competitiveness and productivity opportunities while building resilience. 

However, while progress on decarbonisation is strong, he believed a greater focus is required on supply chain emissions, resource efficiency, circularity, and biodiversity over the next two years.

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Meanwhile, Dr. Maximilian Schormair, assistant professor in Business Ethics at Trinity Business School, addressed the ethical tensions at the heart of corporate sustainability strategies, in his talk on “Resolving Value Conflicts in Sustainability Initiatives”. 

He encouraged organisations to collaborate more across all divisions and view regulatory compliance not as a burden but as a prism to understand risks and build resilience.

The event featured expert-led panel discussions on real-world experiences with climate adaptation, workforce upskilling, and organisational risk preparedness. 

Among the contributors were senior representatives from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), HSE, Enterprise Ireland, Bulmers, Britvic, Uisce Eireann and adventure travel company Earth’s Edge.

Interactive afternoon workshops allowed delegates to delve deeper into topics such as resilient supply chains, water stewardship, sustainability skills development, and enterprise transformation, with ample opportunities for cross-sector networking and collaboration.