AN Irish entrepreneur is one of nine women to be recognised in an international programme honouring innovators supporting positive climate action.
Tracy O’Rourke, the founder and CEO of the Irish climate action impact company Vivid Edge, has been named a 2025 Impact Awardee by the Cartier Women’s Initiative (CWI).
The prestigious international programme recognises women entrepreneurs "driving meaningful social and environmental change".
Based in Dublin, Vivid Edge works in the energy efficiency space by helping organisations transition to low-carbon operations.
O’Rourke is the only Irish entrepreneur on the nine-strong list of 2025 awardees.
She has been selected in the Preserving the Planet category, which recognises innovations advancing climate action and environmental sustainability.
Tracy O’Rourke, Founder and CEO, Vivid Edge (Pic: Rich Davenport/Makmende Media)“It is a huge honour for me personally, and for the team, that I have been named a 2025 Impact Awardee by the Cartier Women’s Initiative,” she said this week.
“It is a privilege to be included among a group of inspiring female entrepreneurs and business leaders who are dedicated to driving social and environmental change around the world through their companies,” she added.
O’Rourke’s company provides fully funded, turnkey energy upgrades, removing traditional financial and operational barriers for customers.
It recently relocated its headquarters from NovaUCD to NexusUCD in Dublin, where it is supported by Enterprise Ireland as a client company.
“At Vivid Edge we are on a mission to make it easy and financially rewarding for large energy users to decarbonise, bringing energy expertise, delivery capability and capital,” Ms O’Rourke explained.
“We enable organisations to act now and pay later, with energy savings funding the change,” she added.
“Our work is making measurable contributions to global climate goals, specifically the UN SDG 13: Climate Action.
“We are proud to be delivering measurable impact that contributes to a better future for people and the planet.”
India-based Kristin Kagetsu, of Saathi, and Kresse Wesling, of Elvis & Kresse in the UK, have also been named alongside O’Rourke in the Preserving the Planet category.
The other two award categories are Improving Lives and Creating Opportunities.
The 2025 Impact Awards will be officially presented on May 22, 2025, during Expo 2025 which is taking place in Osaka, Kansai, Japan, where Cartier is hosting the Women’s Pavilion.
Each of the nine awardees will receive a $100k grant in support of their work.
