Irish woman recognised as one of nine global female entrepreneurs to receive the 2025 Impact Award from the Cartier Women’s Initiative.
Vivid Edge founder Tracy O’Rourke has been named as one of the nine winners of the 2025 Impact Award from the Cartier Women’s Initiative.
The Impact Awards, presented for only the second time since their 2020 inception, celebrate former Cartier Women’s Initiative fellows whose ventures have demonstrated exceptional long-term impact aligned with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
“It is a great privilege to be included among this group of inspirational female entrepreneurs who are driving social and environmental change around the world through their companies”
O’Rourke is the only Irish recipient among this year’s international awardees honoured at a ceremony held at Expo 2025 in Osaka, Japan.
The Cartier Women’s Initiative, founded by Cartier in 2006, is an international entrepreneurship programme aimed at empowering women impact entrepreneurs. Fellow recipients in the Preserving the Planet category included Kristin Kagetsu of Saathi (India) and Kresse Wesling CBE of Elvis & Kresse (UK).
Each of the nine Impact Award recipients receives a $100,000 grant alongside human capital support and global media visibility to further their work.
Recognition for environmental leadership
O’Rourke was one of three entrepreneurs honoured in the Preserving the Planet category, which recognises innovations advancing climate action and environmental sustainability.
Her company, Vivid Edge, has established itself as a leader in the energy efficiency sector by helping medium and large organisations transition to low-carbon operations through its innovative “efficiency-as-a-service” model.
“It’s a huge honour for me personally and on behalf of our incredible team at Vivid Edge to have been awarded a 2025 Impact Award by the Cartier Women’s Initiative,” said O’Rourke.
“It is a great privilege to be included among this group of inspirational female entrepreneurs who are driving social and environmental change around the world through their companies.”
Measurable environmental impact
Based at NexusUCD in Dublin and supported by Enterprise Ireland, Vivid Edge provides fully funded, turnkey energy upgrades that remove traditional financial and operational barriers for customers. The company’s approach delivers carbon reductions without requiring upfront capital investment from clients.
“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,” O’Rourke explained. “In terms of impact, we estimate that the projects we have delivered to date for clients have avoided over 36,000 tons of carbon emissions, equivalent to planting over 100,000 trees and saved over 119 GWh of energy.”
She added: “Vivid Edge’s work is making measurable contributions to global climate goals, and we are proud to be delivering measurable impact contributing to a better future for people and the planet.”
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