Sustainability – Breaking news
Awards and new challenges
Once again IGD receives the EPRA sBPR Gold Award and begins the assurance process for its 2017 Corportae Sustainability Report
IGD’s commitment to constantly increasing the transparency and comparability of its sustainability program made it possible for the Company to receive this prestigious international recognition dedicated to quality sustainability reporting. For the third year in a row, EPRA (European Public Real Estate Association) gave IGD’s Corporate Sustainability Report the highest award possible, the sBPR (sustainability Best Practice Recommendations) Gold Award.
The fact that the Company amply satisfies the Association’s recommendations when preparing its Corporate Sustainability Report means that investors can find complete disclosure about the metrics that are important to them and compare them with other listed European companies who adhere to the same standards.
The Gold prize was awarded because of the degree to which IGD complied with three precise criteria:
- maximum adherence to EPRA’s sustainability Best Practice Recommendations
- total score higher than 85%
- disclosure of at least 12 of the performance indicators called for in the EPRA standards.
EPRA will ask member companies to increase the breadth of the disclosures made relative to sustainability in the third edition of the sBPR guidelines, which will include indicators relating to Social themes and Governance, in addition to the Environmental indicators already found in the second edition of the guidelines. In 2018, therefore, scores for EPRA sBPR Awards will be revised in order to include the new recommended social and governance standards. IGD is working to include these new standards in its report.
In the meantime, IGD has a new goal for 2017: the one to submit its Corporate Sustainability Report to a third party, PWC, for independent assurance. For IGD, who is already fully compliant with the GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) standards, this means providing its stakeholders with more guarantees as to the correct methods used to prepare the report: from the selection of the topics to focus on, to the validity of the processes used to gather and prepare data.
Like the two prior versions, the 2017 Corporate Sustainability Report will also be approved by the Board of Directors at the same time as the Annual Report.
Since 2015 targets for sustainability have been included in IGD’s Business Plan. In 2018 the period covered under the current Plan will come to an end: next year sustainability will be an integral part of the planning process, beginning with the definition of the Plan’s targets.
Innovation at the core of long term performances
Innovation at IGD’s shopping centers: new events involving virtual reality and a complete network of totems to interact with visitors
IGD is proposing a traveling exhibition in its centers, namely an interactive show which recreates the stories and settings of Jules Verne’s books.
The project will involve eight different theme stations, one for each book written by the French writer presented as part of the show. At the animated and interactive stations visitors can live the emotions of the adventures and travel stories told by Verne in first person. Learning workshops dedicated to schools and live storytelling complete the experience.
Mostra di Jules Verne al Centro Piave, Venezia
In order to immerse the visitor in the amazing world of Verne’s novels, in one station IGD has set up a virtual reality system. Once visitors have entered the transparent 12 m2 station and put on headphones and 3D glasses, for 4 minutes they can experience the emotion of being inside the world described by Verne. In the shopping centers where the exhibition has already taken place, the interest generated confirmed the validity of the new proposal with long lines on the weekends of young and old eager to emerge themselves in Verne’s adventures: an perfect example of how time can be spent constructively and having a good time inside a shopping center which goes beyond shopping.
Once again with a view to embracing the most innovative ideas to improve the visitor’s experience, IGD completed the installation of interactive totems in all the shopping centers managed in Italy.
The totem provides information specific to each shopping center and highlights the retailers’ offers through images, videos and posters: in three minutes the visitor can get an overview of what is going on at the center. By way of the totem visitors can also participate in contests and promotions sponsored by the different brands.
The advantages of communicating through the totem are not limited to the elimination of paper flyers: the totem is the new way to interact directly with visitors; a way of gathering priceless feedback, easily and quickly.
The innovative circular economy Waste-2-Value project continues
After the two hackathons, in which a number of university students and Master’s candidates participated (see the article in the last newsletter), a few ideas emerged about how to apply the circular project and eliminate waste generated by the activities carried out in the Nova Shopping Center, in Villanova di Castenaso (near Bologna). These proposals are now being looked at by the initiative’s partners: IGD, Coop Alleanza 3.0, CAMST and Impronta Etica. At the same time, an information campaign is underway designed to increase the awareness of shopping center visitors about how to reuse waste.
In light of the above, the event held on 28 October Centro Nova at seems particularly relevant. Visitors were involved in a workshop which focused specifically on topics relating to circular economies which was followed by a flash mob and a quiz game open to all.
The proposed project which is found to be the winner will then be used in a prototype event inside CentroNova.
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