Shopping mall operator Aliansce Sonae launched on Thursday (20) environmental and social goals, including being carbon neutral by 2040, which it hopes to maintain even after the merger with rival brMalls.
The two companies announced the business combination earlier this year, in an operation that still requires regulatory approval. Aliansce believes that approval should come in the coming months, as it has made recent sales of assets considered “problematic” for the merger, and expects to complete the transaction in early 2023, company executives told Reuters.
The company’s goals include reaching 50% of women in leadership roles by 2030, up from around 44% today, and 44% of blacks, from 32%.
In environmental terms, Aliansce Sonae aims to have net zero carbon emissions. The target includes scopes 1 (gas emission from production effects) and 2 (indirect emissions from energy acquisition), but not yet scope 3 (indirect emissions from the value chain).
The company has, for example, a project under test at Franca Shopping (SP) so that by the end of the year 100% of the energy used in common areas will come from photovoltaic panels and other renewable sources.
The goal does not include the so-called cogenerations in malls in Taboão da Serra (SP) and Salvador (BA), two cities where electricity generation is not enough for the enterprise and, therefore, it works in a cogeneration system, according to the company.
“(Scope) 3 has a complex engineering problem because of the products that arrive at the mall produced by customers that we cannot control”, said the company’s executive president, Rafael Sales.
In addition, there are goals to achieve 100% consumption of renewable electricity by 2030, recycle 65% of recyclable waste and reduce water consumption intensity by 5%, among others. The announcement comes before the company makes a presentation at the COP-27 conference in November, in Egypt.
“Our intention is to maintain the goals even with the integration with brMalls”, said Paula Fonseca, legal director and coordinator of the ESG committee at Aliansce. She stated, however, that there may be adjustments to adapt the goals to the rival’s reality.
WHERE IS IT
The combination of Aliansce and brMalls will create the largest shopping mall network in Brazil, valued at over 12 billion reais. Fonseca said he did not expect problems for the approval of the transaction by the Administrative Council for Economic Defense (Cade), with an expectation of completion of the transaction in three or four months.
“We decided to make life easier for Cade and the three malls that we thought were problematic, that we genuinely knew would have problems, are in the process of being sold”, said the executive, referring to Boulevard Londrina Shopping (PR), Boulevard Shopping Vila Velha (ES) and Uberlândia Shopping (MG).
“Of course it is up to Cade, but we are confident that there will be no additional requirements,” said Fonseca.
Regarding the company’s performance in the third quarter, Sales said the results will “continue to show this trend of a strong post-pandemic recovery”, without giving details. The company plans to release its balance sheet on November 9.
Source: CNN Brasil
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