2020 Sustainability Report
The Board of Directors of 25 February 2021 approved the Corporate Sustainability Report which was subject to Limited Assurance by PricewaterhouseCoopers which certified compliance with the most important international standards (the GRI Standards).
The report approved takes into account the impact that the Covid-19 pandemic had on both the strategy and the performance. If overall the strategy is unchanged, partial adjustments were made to its 3 pillars: the material topics, specific sustainability risks, and the short/medium-term targets. Furthermore, due to the restrictions put into place by the authorities, which impacted the shopping centers’ operations, the indicators used to measure sustainability performance in 2020 are, sometimes, hard to compare with prior years.
In 2020 IGD formalized its adhesion to the United Nations’ Global Compact, the world’s largest corporate sustainability initiative. For this reason, as of the 2020 Corporate Sustainability Report the policies and performances geared to support the Ten Principles of the Global Compact relating to Human Rights, Labor, Environment and Anti-Corruption are also reported on. In the report IGD also addresses the recommendations of the Task Force on Climate-Related Financial Disclosures (TCFD) with regard, specifically, to climate change and related risks.
As of 2017 IGD’s sustainability strategy is summarized in «Becoming Great», which testifies to the Company’s commitment to growth that focuses on the environment (Green), people (Responsible), ethics (Ethical), attractive locations (Attractive), together with its stakeholders (Together). The same titles are also the names of the chapters in the CSR which reports on the company’s performance during the year:
- Green: invested €1.2 million in improving the energy efficiency of the structures, including the costs for the relamping of a shopping center (a total of 19 centers are now equipped with LED lighting); BREEAM IN USE certification for 3 more key assets (Conè in Conegliano-Treviso, Leonardo in Imola-Bologna and Le Porte di Napoli in Afragola-Naples) for a total of 8 certified shopping centers; reached the goal to obtain UNI EN ISO 14001 environmental certification for 95% of the freehold malls (24 centers are certified, in addition to the headquarters); used renewable energy exclusively since 2017; installed 19 charging stations for electric cars in 10 shopping centers (34 had been installed at 17 shopping centers at the end of 2020).
- Responsible: number of employees stable; specific measures implemented to prevent the spread of the virus inside the shopping centers (for a total cash-out of around €1.3 million), as well as ensure that employees could work safely; the Corporate Welfare Plan was confirmed for the fourth year, with the participation of 98% of the employees; training activities for all employees continued.
- Ethical: UNI ISO 37001 certification (“Anti Bribery Management System”), the key international standard for anti bribery management systems. The same certification was also obtained in Romania in 2018. The legality rating was renewed with the highest score (3 stars); the Decree 231/2001 Organizational, Management and Control Model was updated in order to include the new crimes, as well as incorporate the Anti Bribery Management System; the structure and content of the Code of Conduct was revised in order to reflect new company policies and procedures, as well as comply with the law and regulations.
- Attractive: scouting for new brands continued, resulting in the introduction of 18 new tenants in the Italian shopping malls; the marketing strategy was modified to reflect the continuous changes stemming from the development and spread of the pandemic in order to maintain contact with the community and spotlight promotions; a communication campaign was launched focused on reassuring visitors about shopping center safety and post lockdown supply; IGD’s first digital plan was defined which, beginning in 2021, will strive to systemize existing online tools and identify others in order to use the web to increase contact with visitors, as effectively as possible.
- Together: structured involvement of the stakeholders was carried out in order to understand their expectations, especially in a complex year like 2020; collaboration with 140 local associations and nonprofit organizations, even though it was impossible to organize meetings and gatherings; the 16,600 jobs offered, the partnerships with 882 local providers and the fact that 42% of the brands present in the malls are local, confirmed IGD’s social role within the community.
