Thanks to a farsighted approach, today IGD’s portfolio comprises a number of properties which already have the certification needed to access green financing instruments. By continuing along this path, in 2024 and beyond the Sustainability Plan 2022-2024 horizon, IGD will be well positioned to meet the demand for green investments of a growing number of international investors.
The Board of Directors approved the Corporate Sustainability Report 2023 which was subject to Limited Assurance by Deloitte & Touche which certified compliance with the most important international standards (the GRI Standards).
In the first nine months of 2023 IGD made further progress in terms of transparency in the disclosure of its ESG performance and laid the foundation for more. The targets to reduce emissions will have greater value once they are SBTi certified, while the ESG ratings will benefit from the GRESB Real Estate Assessment which IGD chose to subject its performances to. In September IGD, once again, also received Gold awards from EPRA for the quality and transparency of the information provided in the Sustainability Report and the 2022 Annual Report. In terms of the fight against climate change, IGD took further steps through new investments in expanding the production of renewable energy and an innovative project which will make the ESP center in Ravenna a zero emissions center, including thanks to the use of a few “nature-based solutions”.
IGD was included among Europe’s 500 Climate Leaders: a list compiled by Financial Times of the companies who reduced their GHG emissions the most in the period 2016-2021. ISS ESG also rated IGD’s sustainability policies and performance C+ with prime status: a result not solicited by IGD which will help to bring the Company to the attention of investors who focus their investments on securities with good ESG ratings. This recognition is attributable to the long journey begun by IGD more than ten years ago to act responsibly with respect to both its business and within the communities in which it operates, confirmed also by the new biodiversity projects undertaken.
The Waste2Value project was launched on March 28th at the Centronova Shopping Center in Villanova di Castenaso (in Bologna province), which is included in IGD’s Italian portfolio under a master lease agreement. This center is visited daily by around 8,000 shoppers.
The transformation of food waste (namely orange peels and coffee grounds) collected from the bars and restaurants found inside the center into new products gave birth to a new initiative aimed at reducing waste, promoting sustainability and circular economies in the region.
We would like to present our 13th Sustainability Report referring to 2022, a year in which all our activities were steadily resumed following the two-year period marked by the Covid-19 pandemic. It was also a year, however, in which we had to face new problems which, like the pandemic, were of an external nature but which directly impacted our business.
After having defined its Green Financial Framework in the spring, in August IGD obtained the first green loan in its history of €215 million from a pool of banks. Let’s find out the reasons why this type of loan was preferred in the current environment and how it affects financial sustainability by speaking with Andrea Bonvicini, IGD’s Chief Financial Officer.
The Business Plan approved by IGD’s Board of Directors last December contains 41 quantitative targets for the three-year period 2022-2024 and identifies 22 ambitions for 2030. During this first half when implementation of the Plan began, IGD worked on several sustainability projects which are part of its “Becoming GREAT” path and the Green, Responsible, Ethical, Attractive and Together directives.
Let’s take a look at the main results achieved in this first half of 2022.
Clear 2030 sustainability ambitions, quantifiable targets for 2024 and work underway on five areas of sustainability: the commitments in IGD’s agenda are clear, with results that are already rewarding the immense amount of work done since 2011 (the year in which the Company undertook this path).
Let’s learn more about these topics by asking Francesco Soldi, IGD’s Head of Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility, a few questions.
We would like to present our 12th Sustainability Report referring to 2021, a year of transition for our sector. We ended 2020 aware that the sustainability process we had undertaken was the right approach even when facing the unpredictable challenges brought about by the pandemic.
