UK mall operators pledge support to new climate change targets

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Sep 24, 2019

Leading commercial property owners including Bullring owner Hammerson, Meadowhall’s British Land and Intu have committed to delivering net zero carbon real estate portfolios by 2050.

This is part of a Climate Change Commitment signed by a total of 23 retail and commercial property firms on Monday following a weekend of global protests against inaction on climate change.

The agreement includes targets for carbon emissions, water demand, resource use and socio-economic impacts by 2030.

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Spearheaded by the Better Buildings Partnership (BBP) and Hammerson, the commitment covers new and existing buildings and includes the impact of the energy consumed by the buildings' occupiers.

Essentially, this means that some of the UK’s largest shopping malls and outlet centres, including Intu Metrocentre, Bluewater, Intu Trafford Centre and Liverpool One, will be zero carbon from 2050. Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, which owns Westfield Stratford City and Westfield London, was largely absent from the list of signatories.
 
Sarah Ratcliffe, CEO at Better Buildings Partnership, said: “The significance of this commitment cannot be under-estimated - the signatories have over £300bn AUM spanning diverse UK, European and global portfolios. These senior leaders have acknowledged the scale and urgency of action on climate change that is required, have committed to delivering net zero carbon portfolios, to improving transparency and driving market transformation. The BBP is proud to count these industry leaders as its members and looks forward to working with them to make net zero carbon buildings a reality.”