Environment: ENEA signs agreement for a sustainable management of commercial activities

ENEA has signed a collaboration agreement with the National Council of Shopping Centers (CNCC) and Italian Creative Talents Foundation (FCI) to promote sustainable management and behavior models in commercial activities from an environmental and social viewpoint and in various areas like nutrition, use of materials and end-of-life products, energy and natural resources.

A pilot initiative starts this month at two CNCC associated shopping centers - "Centro d'Abruzzo" in S. Giovanni Teatino (Chieti) and "Carosello" in Carugate (Milan) - to analyse and evaluate possible operational interventions on a sustainable management of commercial activities regarding: efficient use of resources; promotion of circular economy models; improvement of both indoor and outdoor environmental quality, also through the use of natural solutions; social and inclusion initiatives.

As part of the agreement, the CNCC will support its associates in a sustainable management of the activities through ENEA’s technologies and technical-scientific expertise applied to the ecological transition of the sector.

"With aprroximately 2 billion visitors a year, large commercial structures can play a crucial role in the adoption of sustainable practices in both the environmental and social fields", pointed out Roberto Morabito, head of the ENEA Department of Sustainability of Production and Territorial Systems, who signed the agreement. "The initiatives stemming from this collaboration - said Morabito - will help increase sustainability awareness in shopping centers’ visitors, promoting a virtuous behavior favoring the achievement of national and international ecological transition objectives". Thanks to CNCC's awareness campaigns, shopping centers have been promoting for some years increasingly sustainable practices and solutions, also being able to count on a large availability of spaces to be used for renewable energy generation.

An association comprising all stakeholders, like properties, service companies and selected retailers, connected to shopping centers, retail parks and factory outlets. The Nation counts 1,260 commercial centers which, with 40,000 shops (of which 7,500 single-family run), record 2 billion annual visitors. Based on the latest available data, the sector records a turnover of 139.1 billion euro (7.5% of the GDP) and employs 780,000 people, including direct, indirect and related personnel.

A recently established independent, non-profit foundation, it promotes and supports creative processes to innovate and qualify economic, urban and territorial systems towards sustainability, circularity and a digital and cultural transition. Thanks to collaborations with scientific institutions, technology provider companies and qualified experts, the FCI conducts projects and interventions for companies and public administrations, like the Ministries of the Environment and Energy Security, Companies and Made in Italy and Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry.