Region Group has more neighbourhood and convenience centres than anyone else – 103 last count! The Group has a goal of net zero carbon emissions by FY30 – and right now they’re on target to achieve it.
This article by Tim Weale, Head of New Business, Region Group was published in the latest edition of Shopping Centre News.
last year, we celebrated a milestone moment across Region Group: our ten-year anniversary. Following a decade of strong business performance, we felt the time was right to reflect on the vital role we play in more than 100 Australian communities.
The result was a renewed purpose to unlock Region’s future potential: “Supporting better communities through life’s essentials.” In my role as Head of Sustainability at the time, this exciting evolution presented a powerful accelerator for our pathway to net zero carbon emissions (scope 1 and 2) by FY30.
Since its establishment, Region Group’s portfolio has expanded from 56 to 103 centres; today, we are the nation’s largest owner of neighbourhood and convenience-based shopping centres by number. The communities we serve face differing economic and social challenges, but most share a common concern: climate change.
Our strategy to reduce carbon emissions from our operations to net zero (scope 1 and 2) by FY30 commenced in FY21 and has become a galvanising initiative for our employees, communities, tenants and securityholders. In just a few years, we have made a significant investment into on-site solar renewable energy generation, and we are on track to reach our target of 25MW solar across the portfolio by FY26. This is an important milestone and matches our FY19 CO2e emissions baseline (scope 1 and 2).
Solar centres
Solar is central to our strategy because it reduces reliance on grid energy for our centres, thereby reducing our future energy costs in the process. Region Group has a unique opportunity for rooftop solar installation for two reasons: first, our centres are generally not impacted by shadowing from high urban buildings; second, for the most part, the rooftops on our centres are expansive and flat.
Marketplace Warner, Brisbane, QLD
In FY22, we launched our WA rooftop solar pilot. Our mission was to generate 6.2MW of renewable energy on-site across six shopping centres: Kwinana Marketplace, Warnbro Centre, Currambine Central, Treendale Shopping Centre, Kalamunda Central and Stirling Central at Geraldton. Meeting this first target was a huge win for our team, not least because the entire project was undertaken during COVID state lockdown restrictions.
Building on this success, we have initiated the next phase of our sustainability strategy, taking the solar program across our national portfolio. In July last year, we kicked off a further nine centres: Central Highlands Marketplace, Mudgeeraba Market, Annandale Central, Marketplace Warner, Jimboomba Junction, Oxenford Village and Brookwater Village in Queensland; and Bentons Square and The Gateway in Victoria. The additional 5.3MW of solar generation capacity, along with 3.4MW of existing solar generation capacity at nine sites, brings Region’s current solar capacity to 14.9MW across 24 sites.
This momentum will increase over the next 12 months: a further 13 centres are earmarked for solar installation, based off the amount of energy consumed on-site, the opportunity for embedded networks and the area of available roof space. I’m extremely pleased to say that Region Group is on course to reach our short and long-term solar generation targets – an achievement that will markedly improve the efficiency of our centres and meet our communities’ expectations.
Connecting the energy efficiency dots
Alongside our solar generation investment, we are prioritising the simultaneous rollout of embedded networks at each site as a critical component of our energy initiatives. Embedded networks deliver immense benefits for our stakeholders: ease of maintenance and upgrades for our team and more affordable low-emission electricity prices for our tenants.
In line with our commitments to the TaskForce on Climate-related Financial Disclosures, we now record and will report on our scope 3 emissions where available. The ability to assess our tenants’ electricity data and have this information readily available allows us to better understand how we can work with them to lower the cost of their operations and prepare for future carbon emission reporting standards and alignment with the International Sustainability Standards Board.
Marketplace Warner, Brisbane, QLD
While we undertake a macro review of sustainability across the entire portfolio, our local teams are also delivering encouraging results at individual centres by focusing on incremental improvements. We have now completed the rollout of LED lighting at all of our centres. We are also testing ways to further reduce electricity consumption using building management systems to streamline our operations.
At the same time, we are looking for efficiencies that can be achieved without new or upgraded equipment. At a pilot at our Marketown Shopping Centre in NSW, we recently achieved a 13% increase in energy efficiency – a result we’re confident in replicating at other assets.
We have also recently commenced a project that generates as much excitement as anticipated efficiency gains: testing on-site battery energy storage systems. Mt Isa Village in Queensland has been identified for our pilot study. While the current cost of large-scale battery infrastructure is still a barrier to feasibility, we strongly believe in the benefits of testing, learning and experimenting with new technologies and continue to explore co-funding opportunities with state and federal governments.
Personally, I am now moving into a new role as ‘Head of New Business’, which will allow me to continue to focus on delivering our solar and embedded network rollouts but also to explore other value-creating opportunities for Region Group. It’s so rewarding to see that our large-scale solar investments and incremental efforts across each centre have put Region Group well on track to reach our goals of 25MW solar generation capacity by FY26 and net zero carbon emissions by FY30 – a result we look forward to sharing proudly with our communities, our tenants and our securityholders.
