The International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC) is stepping up its lobbying work within the European Commission to highlight the economic importance of the shopping centre industry and the pioneering work that many of the sector’s leading companies are doing in developing energy efficient centres to reduce costs and cut carbon emissions.The European Parliament has already acknowledged the growing investment in sustainability that the shopping centre industry is making. Last year a new international sustainability standard for retail property developments across Europe was launched by independent third party certifications and approvals body BRE Global, supported by ICSC.
The new BREEAM standard is now undergoing pilot testing on large scale shopping centre development projects by a number of developers including Redevco, Multi Development and ING Real Estate in Germany, France, Spain, Italy Turkey and Sweden. Other ICSC members including Corio, Steen & Strom, MFI Management, ECE Projektmanagement and Sonae Sierra also supported development of the new standard with finance and expertise. The outcomes of the pilot projects will be assessed and incorporated into the standard later this year.
This new version of BREEAM aims to provide an accepted environmental performance benchmark for new retail buildings across Europe. ICSC is also participating in the development of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive. In February this year, after discussions with representatives of ICSC, Alejo Vidal-Quadras, a Spanish Member of the European Parliament, tabled a number of amendments to the proposed Directive, drafted to ensure that it provides a workable framework within which the shopping centre industry can pursue its sustainability goals. Vidal-Quadras authored the original Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) in 2002 which is now the centerpieceof the European Union’s buildings strategy.
Proposals are being develop to extend the Eco label used for products and services to buildings. ICSC Sustainability Working Group members have already expressed their concern that this extra label would cause confusion as there are already highly regarded criteria, such as the BREEAM standard, providing a respected and audited label for buildings.
Derk Welling, Redevco, will represent ICSC in the Eco Label for Buildings working group.
Part of the European Union’s Economic Stimulus Plan, drawn up in November 2008, called for a programme of smart investments in key industries and in developing clean technologies and energy efficiency to create jobs and encourage growth. This stimulus package included proposals aimed at increasing funding for energy efficiency and improving energy performance of buildings and reducing VAT rates for green products and services. There may also be opportunities for inner city development financing. Ermine Amies, managing director of ICSC in Europe, said: “We are making good progress in representing ICSC members at the highest level within Europe. However, despite the ambitious programme laid out in the Economic Recovery Plan approved by the Parliament last November, it has proved difficult to get agreement from the Member States on how and which initiatives should be funded".Whilst support for the car industry has moved ahead- as this a sector is of key importance to many of the major economies, including France and Germany, support for other key sectors such as retail and construction or for energy efficiency and green technology investments has not yet materialized. As the research by the European Shopping Centre Trust and ICSC published last year shows, our industry is vital to economic success too. So this will be a major focus this year. (CS di ICSC)
