Dubai’s Majid Al Futtaim achieves ‘Green Star’ sustainability rating

By Gavin Davids

Posted on October 21, 2015

Retail giant clinches highest possible rating in Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark

PHOTO: The shopping mall developer managed to achieve 73% of its sustainability goals for last year. Credit: Supplied

Majid Al Futtaim, the Dubai-headquartered retail and leisure developer, says it has achieved the highest possible rating for the second year in a row from the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark (GRESB).

The ‘Green Star’ status was awarded to the retail giant for the implementation of best practices in sustainability throughout its real estate portfolio. The Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark survey measures the sustainability performance of real estate portfolios globally.

Majid Al Futtaim increased its 2015 performance to 67%, having achieved 56% in 2013, while outperforming the global average performance rate. In 2015, the GRESB survey compared 668 companies on a range of measures from energy reduction performance, building certifications, stakeholder engagement to quality of sustainability policies, new constructions and major renovations.

The company also achieved a score of 100% for management of sustainability practices and 95% for the understanding of risks and opportunities to the Majid Al Futtaim business.

“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,” said Alain Bejjani, chief executive officer of Majid Al Futtaim.

“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,” he added.

Majid Al Futtaim said that it had set out 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.

“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,” said Ibrahim Al-Zu’bi, head of Sustainability for Majid Al Futtaim Properties.

The developer recently announced its 2014 sustainability results, which reported that 73% of its goals were achieved. The company committed $1.98 million to community investment, while seven of its assets were awarded with green building certification. In addition, its construction sites were fatality free during 2014.