Profile: Debbie Caldwell, Climate Commissioner, Belfast city Council 

Debbie leads Belfast City Council’s climate work and co-chairs the City’s ‘Our Planet Board’ and the Belfast Climate Commission. She leads a collaborative programme of work to develop a pipeline of projects to re-nature the city and transition the energy system away from imported fossil fuels. Prior to joining the Council, Debbie led the design and delivery of climate investments in Asia and Africa including advising the Government of Rwanda for several years on its national climate fund. In addition to serving as a member of the Board for the Centre for Competitiveness, she is Chair of the Board of Sustainable NI and is on the Advisory Board for the Belfast Maritime Consortium. 

What is the biggest competitiveness challenge facing organisations right now? 

The biggest competitiveness challenge facing organisations right now is to keep productivity rising fast enough to offset rising costs and keep pace with AI-driven technological change. Higher energy bills, higher borrowing costs, and rising employment costs are leaving firms with less cash to invest, innovate and expand. As a result, firms are slower to modernise, less efficient, and less able to absorb other shocks, which is contributing to low confidence and a weak business climate. It also slows firms’ ability to respond to technological change, especially through AI, automation, and digital tools that can raise output and improve decision-making. 

What are high-performing organisations doing differently? 

High-performing organisations are responding to these challenges by building resilience to imported fossil fuel price volatility – using less energy through efficiency upgrades, becoming more circular (investing in resource recovery and reuse), managing energy well (including self-generation, storage and supply deals) and reducing dependence on expensive inputs. They are also becoming more automated and are continuously innovating to create higher margin products and services in order to remain competitive. Organisations with access to cheap capital have a particular advantage because productivity-raising projects can have high upfront costs and long payback periods. 

Where should leaders focus over the next 12–24 months? 

Firms that connect energy strategy, AI-driven innovation and investment decisions will be better placed to stay competitive, rather than treating them as separate problems. Focusing investment on projects with near-term payback and strategic value, rather than spreading funds too thinly will protect margins now while building the capacity to compete in future. Reskilling the workforce to adopt automation and AI driven practices will raise productivity while improving efficiency, optimising processes, locking in smarter procurement, and planning for a more electrified operating model will reduce exposure to price volatility.