Sonae Sierra encourages the use of sustainable means of transportation

The “Green Travel Plan” (GTP) is a project conceived and developed by Sonae Sierra and has the main goal of promoting the use of public transport and other options more environment-friendly rather than private cars amongst visitors, tenants and Company’s employees, so as to reduce the impact of travelling on the environment.

The “Green Travel Plan” (GTP) materializes itself through the dissemination of the public transports available in each Centre and the creation of some conditions for the use of more ecological means of transport, such as public transport, “car sharing”, bicycle or walking, always adjusted to the reality of
each centre and each location.

The implementation of the “Green Travel Plans” (GTPs) registered, in the total portfolio of Sonae Sierra, an increase in the proportion of visitors travelling in means of transport other than the private car grew from 33% in 2007 to 39% in 2009

Since the implementation of the pilot project in Centro Colombo, the “Green Travel Plan” (GTP) has already been developed in ten other shopping centres: Centro Vasco da Gama and NorteShopping (Portugal), GranCasa and Plaza Mayor (Spain), Valecenter, Freccia Rossa and Gli Orsi (Italy), Alexa and Münster Arkaden (Germany) and Shopping Penha (Brazil), for a total of eleven centres included in the project. Based on an employee inquiry, the company also implemented this plan in its offices in Lisbon, in 2008.

The development of this sort of plan is a continuous process which requires a permanent follow-up and planning, as well as the implementation of a set of incentives for the improvement of Centre access through public transport, bicycle or walking, promoting a more sustainable travelling. An example of this is the creation of bicycle parking spaces in NorteShopping (Portugal), Plaza Mayor
(Spain), Freccia Rossa (Italy) and Münster Arkaden (Germany), thus making it easier and more practical to employ this means of transport.

The “Green Travel Plans” (GTPs) are a part of the company’s concern with climate changes and Sonae Sierra’s goals in the scope of its Corporate Responsibility policy, implemented to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gas (GHG) caused by its activity. In this field we highlight the different measures that along with GTPs allowed us to reduce 20% in GHG emissions per m2 of GLA,
between 2009 and 2005.

Besides the reduction of GHG emissions, through the identification of measures to reduce the need to travel or encourage the use of more “environmentfriendly” means of transport, the implementation of the “Green Travel Plans” (GTPs) also allows other benefits, as a result of the diminished circulation of
cars, such as the reduction of traffic jams in the roads adjacent to the Centres, the reduction of travelling times for an improved access; the reduction of noise pollution and the improvement of air quality in the surrounding areas.

source : Sonae Sierra