Coillte wins Biodiversity Leadership in Business Award at the Business & Finance ESG Awards 2026
- National ESG award recognises Coillte’s leadership in biodiversity
- 30% - an additional 44,000 hectares - of Coillte estate now managed primarily for Nature and Biodiversity
Tuesday, 21 April 2026: Coillte was recently awarded the Biodiversity Leadership in Business Award at the Business & Finance ESG Awards 2026, in partnership with Grant Thornton. The awards, which entered their fourth year, recognise the efforts of organisations to advance Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) initiatives and benchmark progress across 18 different categories.
Coillte took home the ‘Biodiversity Leadership in Business Award’ as a result of its dedicated work to increase the proportion of its estate managed primarily for nature, which grew from 20% to 30% in the period from 2022 to 2025. This represents an additional 44,000 hectares, bringing the total to 134,000 hectares now managed primarily for nature. The achievement delivers on a key objective set out in Coillte’s forestry strategic vision, first published in 2022.
The expansion has been enabled by Coillte’s BioClass system, a science-based framework used to identify and classify areas of ecological value across its estate. The system allows Coillte’s team of ecologists and foresters to assess sites systematically, ranking sites according to their natural value, enabling the organisation to identify key biodiversity areas and implement bespoke management plans to protect and enhance them.
Coillte is proud to be recognised for this achievement, highlighting the organisation’s commitment to the protection and enhancement of Ireland’s biodiversity.
Commenting on the achievement, Dr Aileen O’Sullivan, Head of Nature Conservation at Coillte, said: “This recognition is a testament to the progress being made by Coillte to protect and restore biodiversity across the country. We’re really proud to have expanded the area managed primarily for nature by an additional 44,000 hectares, and in doing so deliver on one of our key strategic vision ambitions. Coillte remains committed to balancing and delivering the multiple benefits of forests for climate, nature, wood and people and we would like to thank the judging panel for recognising our efforts to date.”
To learn more about Coillte’s approach to biodiversity management and several nature restoration case studies, visit Coillte’s Forests for Nature booklet.
