Westfield: Climate-friendly at the shopping centre

How do you get everyone on board with climate protection in a shopping centre with hundreds of independent retailers?

Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield operates Austria’s two largest shopping centres – the SCS and the Donau Zentrum – and thus faced a difficult challenge: its own sustainability measures, such as Europe’s largest solar panel array on a shopping centre roof, are one thing. But how do you get the hundreds of retailers in the centre on board, each with their own priorities and limited resources?

Together with Glacier, a bespoke climate programme was developed for this purpose: modular on-demand learning modules, accessible on desktop and mobile, in German and English. From climate basics with ORF weather expert Marcus Wadsak to motivational sessions with Ali Mahlodji, right through to ‘Climate-Fit in the Shopping Centre’ — concrete measures for energy, mobility and resource use directly in day-to-day shop operations. Quizzes consolidate knowledge, whilst checklists make it actionable.

The results after two years speak for themselves: over 100 climate-trained retail partners, 93 per cent feel empowered and motivated to actively drive climate protection forward, 87 per cent confirm they have gained new knowledge, and 78 per cent apply the content directly in their work. This is evident in concrete measures — optimised waste sorting with shop-wide training sessions, a comprehensive switch to LED lighting, and a more conscious use of light and energy at the end of the day.

How the programme is structured, what Westfield is learning from it, and which measures retailers such as Lush are already implementing - the full Case Study ready to download here.