What is the challenge?

The Earth’s climate relies upon a delicate balance of natural greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere to trap some of the sun’s heat. The accumulation of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere as a result of human activities (such as fossil fuel burning for energy generation) is increasingly believed to be responsible for exacerbating climate changes, resulting in global temperature warming, water shortages and the increased frequency and severity of extreme weather events.

This increase in the concentration of atmospheric CO₂ is resultant of emissions from several human activities, namely the burning of fossil fuels for energy generation.

Buildings, namely shopping centres, require energy during their construction, operation, refurbishment and eventual demolition. They are also fuel dependent since it is necessary to transport the people to and from centres. They can also cause the release of other prejudicial gases, including HFC’s (hydrofluorocarbon) from air conditioning systems and Methane (CH₄) that is produced indirectly when waste is sent to landfill.


What is Sonae Sierra doing about it?

DEVELOPMENT

Energy use

Energy efficient designs, including energy performance targets and innovative engineering solutions, are covered within our ESRD Standards. These require Development Managers to explore possible renewable and low carbon technologies during design, including passive solar design, natural ventilation and Combined Heat and Power (CHP) / district heating, etc.

Within the ESRD's, we specify energy efficient boilers and air conditioning units, and fit out equipment such as lighting and appliances. Where possible, we always procure materials with low embodied energy.

We are committed to designing buildings that will achieve high energy efficiency ratings under the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive [2002/91/EC].

To go further with our ambitions in relation to energy efficiency in buildings, we have recently joined the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Energy Efficiency in Buildings Project (EEB). The EEB is a three year project that will map out the necessary changes to achieve a world in which buildings consume zero net energy. It will be concluded in 2009 with a call to action to all those involved in buildings and energy use.

Read the WBCSD 'Energy Efficiency in Buildings: Business Realities and Opportunities' Report, and click here to access more information.

During 2008 Sierra also became a partner in the European Commission’s Sustenergy initiative to raise awareness and change the landscape of energy. Sustainable Energy Europe is a European Commission initiative in the framework of the Intelligent Energy - Europe Programme, which will contribute to achieve the European Union's energy policy targets within the fields of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency, clean transport and alternative fuels.

Air emissions

Air pollution from localized sources, like heating and cooling plants, is avoided ensuring that design specifications incorporate pollution control measures and that air conditioning systems do not contain ozone depletion or greenhouse gases in their composition.

Transport

The ESRD standards include requirements to maximise the accessibility of our new developments to a variety of transport modes. “Transport studies” are undertaken during early concept design stages, and their measures are implemented to develop “Integrated travel plans”, initiate local transport partnerships and encourage walking, cycling and the use of Public Transport by both visitors and tenants alike. We also seek to encourage efficient vehicle use through traffic calming measures, priority lanes, dedicated parking bays for car sharing passengers, and refuelling stations and points for alternative fuelled vehicles.


MANAGEMENT

Energy use

Sonae Sierra has been measuring, monitoring and targeting energy usage in its shopping centres since 2002. This data collection and monitoring is achieved through a centralised online working database which allows each centre management team to input environmental performance data of their centres and to generate reports on energy performance that can be compared across Sonae Sierra’s portfolio. This information is then used to continually improve the centre’s Building Management Systems (BMS) to ensure tight and efficient control of energy usage and also to improve staff and tenant awareness of energy efficiency. Alongside our efforts to manage our shopping centres as energy efficient as possible, we are also investigating opportunities for the on-site generation of renewable energies and for the procurement of green electricity through the grid.

We are committed to reducing our Carbon Footprint in all our activities and to measure and monitor our emissions. We apply the Greenhouse Gas Protocol guidelines as our reference measurement. We report against scopes 1 and 2, and recently, we have also began to monitor the emissions produced under scope 3. Scope 3 refers to emissions related with our activities but which result from sources that neither belong to nor are controlled by Sonae Sierra. These include staff commuting journeys, air travel, visitors’ journeys to and from shopping centres and the treatment of wastewater generated by our company activities. We have set our long term goal to achieve a 10% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by square metre of GLA by 2020 compared to 2005 level (scopes 1, 2 and business air travel of scope 3).

Air emissions

Direct air emissions, such as emissions from fuel combustion on company vehicles, HFC’s emissions leakage from cooling and refrigeration systems, emissions from cogeneration systems and heat production in boilers are also measured according to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol. These are reported against under scope 1 emissions, which are monitored in order to reduce Sierra’s direct GHG emissions.

Transport

Sonae Sierra is aware that tenant and visitor journeys to and from its shopping and leisure centres have a number of associated environmental impacts, directly related to the form of transport used. We strive to maximise the accessibility of our centres to those using alternative transport modes. Most of our centres have dedicated spaces for the provision and display of travel information, including public transport timetables, and cycle storage facilities for tenants and visitors.

Moreover, we developed and implemented our first Green Travel Plan project in 2007 at Centro Colombo in Portugal. During 2008, we extended these Green Travel Plans to Centro Vasco da Gama in Portugal, Shopping Penha in Brazil, Gran Casa in Spain and Mediterranean Cosmos in Greece. We plan to roll out this project during 2009 to other centres future, like NorteShopping in Portugal, Alexa in Germany and Valecenter in Italy. These Plans analyse the existent transport infrastructure in each centre and implements measures to encourage and improve the accessibility to the shopping centre by public transport, bicycle and on foot.

With the purpose of measuring and managing indirect transport related impact we have incorporated questions into the regular visitor surveys enquiring about the mode of transport used by our visitors. Through these indirect measurements it is possible to report against scope 3 emissions according with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol.

It is our purpose to measure, monitor and report our own indirect greenhouse gas emissions from sources that are not controlled by the company but are related with its operations, such as transport to and from Sierra shopping centres.

Sonae Sierra KPI

Sonae Sierra has chosen CO₂ emissions (tCO₂e) and other complementary indicators related to energy efficiency (kWh/m²) and transports modes to measure our performance under Climate Change issue.