As part of the corporate rankings, VIA Outlets scored 85 points, five points ahead of its peer group average, reflecting its commitment to making a lasting positive contribution to the places in which it owns and manages outlet centres. Within its category, European Retail sector, VIA Outlets placed 21st out of the 71 REITs in the category.
Geert Paemen, Group Sustainability Director, comments: “The recognition of VIA Outlets as one of the most sustainable retail real estate groups in the world proves that our long-term commitment to sustainability and ESG initiatives is creating tangible and measurable results. This is highly encouraging as we continue implementing and further evolving our sustainability strategy, which is driven by commitment to the four pillars Sustainable Buildings, Resilient Communities, Conscious Consumers and Engaged Stakeholders.”
Each year GRESB assesses and benchmarks the environmental, social and governance performance of real assets worldwide and monitors the sector’s progress towards global sustainability goals. The GRESB Assessments are guided by what investors and the industry consider to be material issues in the sustainability performance of real asset investments and are aligned with international reporting frameworks, goals and emerging regulations. In 2020, more than 1,200 real estate portfolios reported to GRESB covering more than 96,000 assets.
