Management Board statements

We are convinced that CSR is crucial in executing our FMP strategy. Our favourite meeting places simply cannot meet their definition when they are not managed in a conscious and sustainable way.

Corio has chosen a company specific shared value approach as a basis for CSR. This means that we have the ambition to optimise performance on elements that create value environmentally and socially and economically at the same time. The case for this approach is clear. It helps us build strong and meaningful relations with consumers and anticipate their changing demands and needs. Consumer loyalty helps us sustain and increase visitor count. It deepens the relationship with retailers, often having sustainability goals of their own, fuelling innovative partnerships and sustaining high occupancy levels. It enables us to provide our employees a sound working environment, where they can get the best out of themselves. It helps us hedge against rising energy prices, changing legislation and resource scarcity. It further embeds our centres in the communities in which we operate, securing our license to operate and to grow.

Overall, we met our sustainable targets and showed very good performance on KPIs in 2012, which is also seen and appreciated by the outside world, as we won a Green Star within the GRESB, a highly relevant sustainability benchmark initiated by a large group of institutional investors (including APG and PGGM). The pace at which Corio moved to its current position has led to the Green Brick Award and the award for most sustainable listed property group (VBDO). Our Marseille Grand Littoral centre won the CSR Award organized by the French National Council, lifting waste recycling rates from 45% at the end of 2010 to 53% at the end of 2012. We support the International Labour Organisation principles on fundamental labour rights and were voted one of the best employers in the Netherlands and Italy. As a result, we are now entitled to call ourself a ‘Great Place to Work’, which is a true honour. Corio is now among the top performing property companies socially and environmentally, which will support us in further rolling out our Favourite Meeting Places strategy.

With regard to complying with standards set by the Building Research Establishment, we did not manage to have all of our projects BREAAM certified, as one of our projects in the Netherlands did not meet all criteria within the given timeframe. This only makes us more determined to really integrate our CSR objectives in the organisation, to make sure these standards are integrated right from the start of a project.

We are a member of the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for both Europe and the world, putting us in the top 15% of property companies worldwide. As the longest-running sustainability index, it is the first reference for investors looking for sustainable opportunities. Further measurement is provided by the fact that we have further increased transparency and reporting quality through assurance of the CSR data. This is a necessity and an expectation of our stakeholders. In 2013, a first audit of the CSR data takes place on a selected amount of KPIs. PwC, our main auditor, will perform the audit and provide limited assurance. We also aim to start providing integrated reporting in the near future, combining financial and extra financial results including sustainability, in one report.

As CSR continues to be an integral part of our Favourite Meeting Places strategy, we will focus on addressing the trend of conscious consuming and proactively encourage visitors of our shopping centres to adopt sustainable and healthy lifestyles. We will continue to organise projects like the job market in Valencia, which truly addressed issues in society. The fact that our urban garden in Napels, which contributes to a greener city, has become a popular place to go for the citizens, children in particular, encourages us to aim for ‘great’ rather than ‘good’. The high number of candidates for our ‘Mums with guts’ project in the Dutch city of Spijkenisse, confirms our believe that we can play a part in stimulating entrepreneurship among residents living near our shopping centres. In a school project in the city of Arnhem, we addressed the obesity issue, which gave us the opportunity to help to learn adolescents about the importance of living healthy and consuming responsibly.

We did show good progress in reaching our CSR goals and we did make great steps in the execution of our strategy. Still we have a lot of work to do to keep the momentum in 2013, therefore we have set ourselves challenging new goals and ambitious KPIs in order to prepare ourselves for the leap towards top performance in 2014. These can be found in the chapters on key topics in more detail

On behalf of the Management Board, I hope you will enjoy reading our CSR approach and achievements in 2012. If you have any comments or suggestions, please let us know via Twitter, @CorioCSR.

Thank you.

Gerard Groener
Chief Executive Officer Corio N.V.