The number of chief executives of Irish companies who are concerned about climate change risks has fallen by 20 percentage points over the past three years, according to the findings of a major report.

PwC’s 2025 Irish CEO Survey, in which 82 Irish company leaders took part alongside 5,000 global counterparts in 109 countries, shows 76 per cent of chief executives here are concerned about climate change risks, down from 96 per cent in 2022.

Fewer than a third of Irish participants say climate change investments in their company have led to increased revenues in the past five years, while 3 per cent say they have reduced revenues.

Just one in 10 have seen costs reduce, while slightly over half say climate change initiatives have increased costs. The figures compare unfavourably with the global numbers, where 18 per cent have seen cost reductions and just 36 per cent have dealt with increases.

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Furthermore, 29 per cent of Irish business leaders admit to not having made climate-friendly investments in the past 12 months. This compares with 26 per cent globally.

Away from the climate, there is a marked improvement in the economic outlook as almost three-quarters of Irish CEOs expect Ireland’s economic growth to improve over the next 12 months, up from 50 per cent last year.

This compares to recent all-time lows in 2020, when just 16 per cent expected Ireland’s economy to grow. At the same time, 62 per cent of Irish business leaders believe global economic growth will improve, up from 35 per cent last year.

On jobs, about 45 per cent of Irish CEOs expect headcount to increase by 5 per cent or more in the next 12 months. This is down from 53 per cent last year, but is nearly four times the proportion who expect headcounts to fall (12 per cent).

Irish business leaders report high levels of concern about a number of threats. Macro economic volatility is the top risk (93 per cent), followed by a lower availability of workers with key skills (91 per cent).

Other top risks include inflation (89 per cent, down from 95 per cent last year), geopolitical conflict (88 per cent), cyber threats (88 per cent) and technology disruption (87 per cent).

On generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), 87 per cent of Irish CEOs experienced either an increase or no net change in headcount in the past 12 months as a result of the technology, up from 73 per cent last year. This was largely in line with the global numbers.

GenAI is an umbrella term for digital tools that learn from large resource databases such as the internet and then generate content based on what it has learned. Often, these tools continue to learn as users respond positively or negatively to their outputs.

Irish CEOs have mixed views on the tangible impact received from GenAI in the past year, with global CEOs experiencing better returns.

Some 44 per cent report efficiency gains in their employees’ time at work over the past 12 months, which lags behind the global figure of 56 per cent, and which is down from 69 per cent last year.

At the same time, fewer than a third of Irish CEOs believe revenue has increased due to the technology, while just 24 per cent believe it has increased their profits. There is optimism, though, as half of them expect GenAI to boost profitability in the next 12 months.

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