UAE's Majid Al Futtaim leads sustainability drive with Green Star status

Majid Al Futtaim, a top shopping mall, retail and leisure group in the Middle East, has achieved the ‘Green Star’ status, for the second year in a row from the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB), for the implementation of international best practices in sustainability throughout the company’s real estate portfolio.

In 2015, the company increased its performance to 67 per cent, having achieved 56 per cent in 2013, while outperforming the global average performance rate by 12 per cent. It also achieved a score of 100 per cent for management of sustainability practices and 95 per cent for the understanding of risks and opportunities to its business.

The announcement was made during the Dubai Chamber Sustainability Week 2015 and provides a timely reminder of the role the private sector can play in helping Dubai become one of the world’s most sustainable cities by 2020.

Alain Bejjani, Chief Executive Officer, Majid Al Futtaim – Holding, said: “Sustainability is at the foundation of our business strategy. By embedding it in our business we operate as an organisation that focuses not only on profitability, but on making a positive social impact on the lives of those whom we serve.

 “Our Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark rating allows us and our stakeholders to better understand our performance in comparison to our peers and we hope that in applying international best practices, our commitment to sustainability will encourage other organisations to follow suit,” said Bejjani.

The Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark survey measures the sustainability performance of real estate portfolios globally. In 2015, the survey compared 688 companies on a range of measures from energy reduction performance, building certifications, stakeholder engagement to quality of sustainability policies, new constructions and major renovations.

With sustainability at the core of Majid Al Futtaim’s business, it has set ambitious goals for 2018 to deliver results across three key areas – developing and managing high performance assets that support prosperous communities and in doing so deliver pioneering standards across its business.

Ibrahim Al Zu’bi, Head of Sustainability, Majid Al Futtaim - Properties said: “We are focused on sustainable development in real estate through the implementation of international best practice across our portfolio. Obtaining a GRESB Green Star has become more challenging each year as companies now see the value of addressing their sustainability performance and are becoming more efficient and better at managing sustainability.”

The company recently announced its 2014 sustainability results which reported that 73 per cent of its goals were achieved. Among its achievements, it committed Dh7.3 million to community investment, seven of its assets were awarded with green building certification and its construction sites were fatality free during 2014. Furthermore, the ‘Green Star’ rating system was implemented, setting a sustainability design criteria for shop fit-outs in its malls, which is now also a mandatory requirement of all lease renewals.
 

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