On behalf of the ICSC Public Affairs Committee, Peter Wilhelm, CEO of Wilhelm and Co. and past ICSC board member, spoke at an event on energy efficiency in retail, organized by the European Retail Round Table. The event was part of the Covenant of Mayors meeting, which brings together mayors and local authorities from across Europe to discuss sustainability issues. The event provided an opportunity for retailers, developers, investors and other interested parties to come together to discuss the opportunities and challenges in reducing energy consumption along the retail chain.
The panel of speakers, which included representatives of IKEA, Carrefour, Coca-Cola and WWF, as well as the city of Malmo, Sweden, looked at what each player is doing to improve the energy efficiency of their operations and how the supply chain can work together to develop common solutions.
From the ICSC perspective, Mr Wilhelm, spoke of the need to ensure that policy instruments such as the EPBD are tailored to the needs of different asset classes and their uses and that the people responsible for leasing decisions within the retailers were also on board with company sustainability objectives. He also highlighted the importance of economic arguments such as energy costs and brand reputation in promoting sustainability and energy saving. The event was followed by a lunch, held in the Committee of Regions, with the mayors from across Europe.
Source: ICSC
