Minister O'Brien announces 20 new Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Champions for 2025-2027

From Balla Tidy Towns to Grant Thornton, the new SDG Champions demonstrate the drive of Irish organisations – large and small – to promote and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals

The Minister for Climate, Energy and the Environment Darragh O'Brien has appointed 20 new organisations from across Irish society to become Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Champions for the next 18 months.

Organisations ranging from Killimordaly GAA to Galway City Council, FoodCloud to Guaranteed Irish, are leading by example in driving forward progress to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This brings to 74 the number of SDG Champions in Ireland now. Already, 54 organisations and groups – large and small, national and local – have become SDG Champions across the 2019-2020, 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 programmes, including for example, the GAA, Tesco, Irish Girl Guides, Chambers Ireland, Leave No Trace Ireland, UCD, among others.

Announcing the appointments, Minister O'Brien said:

Appointed as part of the 2025-2027 SDG Champions Programme, the chosen organisations will help raise awareness of the importance of the SDGs as a roadmap for a safer, fairer, more prosperous and sustainable future for all, that leaves no-one behind. The Champions will show through their own actions that everyone in society can make a contribution to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The organisations appointed under this year's programme have been selected from across the public, private, community, voluntary, youth and NGO sectors and are represented by larger, national organisations and smaller, community groups.

In addition, former SDG champions have chosen to take up the role of SDG Ambassadors, and are continuing to raise awareness and promote the SDGs. The Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment will work with this year's champions, and with SDG Ambassadors throughout the year to achieve the SDGs and the overall Sustainable Development 2030 Agenda in Ireland.

Find out more about the 2025-2027 SDG Champions Programme on the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment website.

ENDS

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

In September 2015, all 193 United Nations Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (Transforming our World). The 2030 Agenda is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. The focus of the 2030 Agenda is the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (also known as the 'Global Goals') and their 169 targets.

The SDGs are universal and interconnected, covering the three dimensions of sustainable development: economic growth; social inclusion; and protection of the environment., addressing areas such as poverty, education, health, equality, clean energy, decent work, sustainable consumption among others.

For information on Ireland and the SDGs please see: www.gov.ie/sdgs.

For more information on the United Nations and the SDGs, please go to the United Nations SDGs website.

Selection process for the 2025-2027 SDG Champions Programme:

The call for expressions of interest to take part in the 2024-2025 SDG Champions Programme opened on 18 June and closed on 30 July 2025. 95 applications were received from local and national organisations across the country. A final shortlist of 20 Champions was selected by a sub-group of the Sustainable Development Goals Interdepartmental Working Group (IDWG) for this iteration of the programme.

SDG Champions Programme

Established in 2019, the SDG Champions Programme was developed as an initiative to raise public awareness, showcase work being carried out by appointed organisations to progress the SDGs and illustrate practical ways in which organisations and individuals can contribute to achieving the SDGs and demonstrate that everyone in society can make a contribution to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

SDG Ambassador role

Former champion organisations also have the opportunity to continue promoting and progressing the SDGs, as SDG Ambassadors. Developed as a complement to the SDG Champions Programme, this role enables former champions to continue their valuable work, contributing to the promotion, awareness-raising, and implementation of the SDGs, on local, regional and national levels.

To see this year's SDG Ambassadors go to the Department of Climate, Energy and the Environment website.

National Implementation Plan

The programme was established as part of the first Sustainable Development Goals National Implementation Plan, which set out the overarching national governance, coordination and monitoring framework for the SDGs. The relaunch of the Champions Programme was a commitment under the Second National Implementation Plan, which sets out five strategic objectives and 51 actions, with 119 individual measures to increase Ireland's ambition and strengthen implementation structures to achieve the SDGs.

The department has recently launched a public consultation in the context of the development of Ireland’s new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) National Implementation Plan (NIP). This will be Ireland's third SDGs National Implementation Plan and will build on the progress made in the previous SDG National Implementation Plans. This open public consultation process is one of several different strands of consultation, both online and in-person, taking place to assist in developing the new NIP and ensure that the widest range of stakeholders are reached. The consultation process is open until 16 January 2026 and information is available on the department's website.

Contact details of SDG Champions:

The 20 SDG Champions for the 2025-2027 programme are listed below. To arrange media interviews or request a comment, please contact the individual Champion organisations directly.