Sustainability

For Simon, sustainability is a business approach that enhances long-term stockholder value by embracing opportunities and minimizing risks in economic, environmental and social areas.

Economic

Assets in our properties are used productively and promote business longevity.

Environment

Our actions will not have a negative impact on the environment and will serve to enhance the environment.

Social

Our interactions with the communities we serve facilitate an improved quality of life for communities.

Focus Areas

For Simon, sustainability is a business approach that enhances the communities in which we operate as well as long-term shareholder value by embracing opportunities, improving our bottom line, and mitigating environmental and social risks. Our sustainability vision is to be recognized as a leader in sustainable development and operations in retail real estate in the U.S. We define and implement sustainability initiatives that consider all stages of our business. The four areas of our sustainability framework are outlined below:

Framework

Highlights

ENVIRONMENT

Achieved a 38% reduction in electricity consumption across the portfolio, which represents 373,777 MWh (2003 to 2018).
Reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 45%, eliminating over 260,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalents—including scope 1, scope 2, and for scope 3, inclusion of employee commuting and business travel (2003 to 2018).
Implemented LED retrofits at over 200 properties across the U.S.

CUSTOMERS

Installed over 950+ electric vehicle (EV) charging stations at 118 properties across the U.S. (Base: 2011)
Completed Sustainability Tenant Engagement with 10 major retailers to identify areas of opportunity related to improving the overall sustainability performance of centers
Published a white paper on the advantages of physical retail compared to e-commerce when it comes to sustainability. Study reveals in-store shopping is up to 60% more favorable for the environment than online shopping.

COMMUNITIES

100% of Simon shopping malls participate in local community activities. In 2019, we launched Simon's Go Green Week activities in celebration of Earth Week. This event allowed an opportunity to promote sustainability efforts for 91 retailers, and engage in person with more than 5,500 customers.
Graduated more than 19,800 students from Simon Youth Foundation’s (SYF) 37 academies across 15 states in the U.S. We and others have invested more than $34 million to support SYF’s mission of helping students reach graduation day.

EMPLOYEES

Participated in Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) climate corps fellowship program
Built awareness of sustainability topics among all employees by increasing sustainability engagement initiatives

ELECTRICITY CONSUMPTION

EV CHARGING STATIONS AT 115 PROPERTIES ACROSS THE U.S.

GRADUATES/37 ACADEMICS

Progress on 2020 Sustainability Goals

ENVIRONMENT

Improve GHG efficiency by 5%-10% by 2020*
Improve portfolio-wide energy efficiency by 5%-10% by 2020*
Improve portfolio-wide water efficiency by 20% by 2025*
Divert pre-consumer food waste from landfills at selected properties by 2020

CUSTOMERS

Provide electric vehicle charging stations for our customers at 100% of our properties by 2020^¹
Install Wi-Fi at 90% of our properties by 2025

EMPLOYEES

Engage with key tenants on sustainability issues relevant to shoppers to improve the overall sustainability performance of our properties
Encourage Simon employees to volunteer in their communities
Build awareness of sustainability topics among all our employees by increasing engagement initiatives

COMMUNITIES

Maintain our strong support of Simon Youth Foundation through donating commercial space and scholarships for SYF graduates
Continue to participate in community engagement activities at 100% of our properties

Read more about our sustainability objectives in the Sustainability report

* Base year 2013.

¹Applicable at locations where Simon has ownership of parking facilities and where EVCS suppliers are available.

Check Completed On Track

Key focus areas for 2020 onwards

Simon is thrilled to announce that we have exceeded all of our 2020 sustainability goals. We will continue to set goals on our material ESG topics, enabling us to measure and track issues that matter most for our stakeholders and us.

Key focus areas for 2020 onwards include:

— Reducing our GHG emission and committing to setting science-based reduction targets

We recognize the crucial part the business community can play in minimizing the risk climate change poses to society. We are committing to setting greenhouse gas emission reduction targets in line with climate science and the guidelines provided by the Science Based Targets Initiative—a joint initiative by CDP, the UN Global Compact, the World Resources Institute, and WWF.

— Engaging with Stakeholders

Simon will assess the feasibility of joining the United Nations (UN) Global Compact and aligning our sustainability strategy with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

— Improving Reporting and Transparency of Climate-Related Disclosure

Simon will incorporate the recommendations of the Task Force on climate related Financial Disclosures for its climate-related company disclosures.

— Embracing Diversity & Inclusion

We will name a Diversity Ambassador with the objective of enhancing the company’s diversity and inclusion strategies and creating an action plan for completion over the next years

Sustainability Recognition

Simon has consistently been recognized for its sustainability disclosure and performance:

ACHIEVED “MANAGEMENT” RECOGNITION
2019

ACHIEVED “LEADERSHIP” RECOGNITION
2016-2018

NAMED ON THE CLIMATE ‘A’ LIST
2014-2015

NAMED ON THE CLIMATE DISCLOSURE LEADERSHIP
INDEX SEVEN TIMES AND THE CLIMATE PERFORMANCE
LEADERSHIP INDEX TWO TIMES
2008-2013

RECEIVED GRESB GREEN
STAR RATING
2014-2019

RECOGNIZED AS NORTH AMERICAN
SECTOR LEADER IN RETAIL
2010 – 2013

RECOGNIZED AS 'STORMREADY' BY NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE
All Properties

CDP has built the most comprehensive collection of self-reported environmental data in the world. Their network of investors and purchasers, representing over $100 trillion, along with policy makers around the globe, use this data and insights to make better informed decisions.

GRESB is an industry-driven organization committed to assessing the ESG performance of real assets globally, including real estate portfolios. More than 250 members, of which about 60 are pension funds and their fiduciaries, use the GRESB data in their investment management and engagement process.

The National Weather Service's StormReady program is a partnership with emergency management that helps reduce risk and increases community resilience to hazards. The designations recognize the properties for their preparedness to handle all types of severe and potentially life-threatening weather situations through communications infrastructures, community outreach, and hazardous weather training.

Sustainability Governance

Through the support of senior executives, Simon has integrated sustainability throughout different levels of the organization and the company is well equipped to address opportunities and challenges around environmental, social and governance and topics.

Sustainability governance is well established at Simon. Sustainability has a dedicated department and its activities are steered by the head of Sustainability who is responsible for developing Simon’s sustainability strategy, managing sustainability key performance indicators, and setting the company’s sustainability short- and long-term objectives. The head of Sustainability drives sustainability initiatives through close collaboration with key corporate functions and oversees the implementation of various initiatives across the portfolio. This person chairs the Sustainability Executive Committee that includes C-suite executives from the company’s core functions . This committee has overall supervision of Simon’s sustainability performance and provides leadership and oversight to encourage and assure sustainability opportunities are supported and recognized at the highest level of the company. Additionally, our Global Head of Sustainability reports annually directly to the Board of Director’s Nominating and Governance Committee on our sustainability efforts. The field network is comprised of the management teams at centers across the portfolio who ensure appropriate procedures are in place to implement the corporate sustainability objectives within their local environments.


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Simon Study Reveals In-Store Shopping Can Be Up to 60% More Favorable for the Environment than Online Shopping

The retail landscape is evolving. Shoppers have more choices to purchase a wider variety of products in different ways. While the retailers work hard to deliver convenience to shoppers, consumer shopping behaviors do have environmental and socioeconomic impacts. What does that look like? At Simon, we took the challenge of determining whether online or mall shopping was more sustainable by setting up a data-driven methodology to understand the sustainability impacts of both channels.

	To understand the environmental impacts we used a “cradle to grave” Lifecycle Analysis (LCA). A lifecycle analysis examines inputs/outputs of all material, energy, and the associated environmental impacts attributable to a product or service in its lifecycle .
	We looked at a typical basket of customer purchases. The typical shopping basket is comprised of a combination of four retail products’ journeys from its manufacturing to its end of life when shopped via mall or online.
	What is the metric that is most applicable to the environment? We used Green House Gas (GHG) emissions as the environmental measure because they are the cause of climate change. Our research and experience determined that the main contributors that affect the level of GHG emissions in either shopping experience include transportation fuels, building energy usage, and packaging differences.
	So what’s the big picture outcome? Simply put, mall shopping to be up to 60% more environmentally sustainable than online shopping. - If you consider all of the people that come to a mall each year and they were to purchase a combination of four products, it results in an average of 26.7 million products bought every year from an average mall. The results of the LCA analysis show that if you buy the same number of products in the shopping mall and online store in a year, online shopping has a 60% larger environmental impact than mall shopping.