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European
Sustainability
Award
The European Sustainability Award (ESA) highlights companies that turn responsible leadership into economic strength and defines a European benchmark for business transformation.
European
Europe’s stage for companies
driving successful transformation.
The European Sustainability Award will become the first pan-European competition for entrepreneurial transformation. It will recognise companies that make sustainability work in the market, as a driver of competitiveness, innovation and economic strength.
The ESA will highlight companies that make transformation work in practice: through resilient business models, innovative solutions and measurable impact across their value chains.
In a multi-stage competition, companies will be selected as Finalists, National Champions and ultimately European Leaders — chosen by independent juries and assessed across countries, industries and company sizes.
Together with the European Sustainability Summit and further knowledge and dialogue formats, the ESA will create a European platform for business, policymakers, investors and the public.
It will bring successful approaches together, encourage exchange and help strong solutions spread faster across Europe.
The European Sustainability Award.
A common European standard for entrepreneurial transformation.
The ESA will be open to companies from all 27 EU Member States as well as the United Kingdom, Norway and Switzerland — independent of sector or country of origin.
The competition will be structured around three company size classes: SMEs, Large Companies and Corporations. This ensures that transformation performance can be assessed fairly — from specialised medium-sized businesses to large companies and global groups.
At the heart of the competition are achievements in the transformation fields of Climate, Resources, Nature, Work and Society. Companies will be assessed on actual impact, innovation, scalability, development momentum, responsibility across value chains and European relevance.
Based on qualified company profiles and expert-led assessment, independent juries will select the Finalists and National Champions in each participating country.
From 2027, the National Champions will enter the European stage of the competition. Out of this field, the European Leaders will be selected — companies whose solutions already work and can offer guidance beyond their own market.
By making these achievements visible and comparable, the ESA will create orientation for companies, investors and policymakers.
Applications will open in January 2027.
The EU Environment Commissioner is acting as patron.
The Foundation is an independent European initiative, not a project of the European Union. At the same time, it is closely connected to European institutions, business and academia – including through the patronage of Jessika Roswall, European Commissioner for Environment, Water Resilience and a Competitive Circular Economy.
The European Sustainability Summit.
Where Europe’s transformation leaders meet
The European Sustainability Summit will bring together the companies recognised by the Award with decision-makers from business, politics, finance, science and society. It will turn individual achievements into a shared European dialogue on what works — and how imitation can be strengthened across Europe.
Panels, discussions and encounters will focus on the transformation of Europe’s economy: practical solutions, market experience and the conditions needed for successful approaches to spread across industries and countries.
The European Sustainability Award Night will be the public highlight of the Summit.
It will bring the European Leaders to the stage, celebrate their achievements and turn entrepreneurial progress into a visible European moment — showing what responsible transformation can contribute to Europe’s economic strength.
Built on experience.
The initiative draws on nearly two decades of experience in independent sustainability assessments, including experience developed in the context of the German Sustainability Award. Proven selection processes, strong networks and robust organisational capabilities underpin this new European format and its long-term ambition.
From recognition to impact.
Making successful business solutions visible, usable and scalable across Europe
Beyond the Award and the Summit, the initiative develops formats that analyse and share successful business solutions across Europe. Studies, dialogue formats, publications and curated exchanges translate entrepreneurial practice into accessible knowledge.
They enable companies, policymakers and investors to understand which approaches already work — and how they can be applied across countries and industries.
Rather than developing its own concepts, the Foundation focuses on identifying and amplifying solutions that prove successful in real markets. In doing so, it connects recognition with knowledge and dialogue.
This turns individual achievements into shared European progress and strengthens a competitive economic model in which responsibility, innovation and growth reinforce one another.
Building a European institution together.
A small circle of companies, institutions and individuals is helping to establish the initiative from the outset and to support its long-term development.
The European Sustainability Award Foundation is being established as an independent European institution with the ambition of becoming a lasting reference point for responsible competitiveness.
Institutions of this kind rarely emerge through public programmes alone. They take shape when entrepreneurs, organisations and philanthropic partners step forward at a decisive moment to help build them.
From its inception, the Foundation is supported by a select circle of partners – companies, institutions and individuals – committed to helping establish and develop this European initiative.
These partners are not sponsors of a prize. They are contributing to the creation of a European institution that identifies successful entrepreneurial solutions, creates orientation and helps disseminate effective approaches across countries and sectors.
In doing so, they help establish a credible European benchmark for entrepreneurial transformation and support the emergence of a European success story of economic change — strengthening an economic model in which responsibility and competitiveness go hand in hand.