Case study: How Citycon creates economic value for its stakeholders
Citycon is a leading owner, manager and developer of mixed-use centres for urban living including retail, office space and housing, committed to sustainable property management in the Nordic region with assets that total approximately EUR 4.5 billion. Citycon’s ambition is to make sustainable thinking and action the trademarks of its company culture, and to create long-term value for all its stakeholders while working for a better tomorrow.
This case study is based on the 2021 Sustainability Accounts by Citycon, prepared in accordance with the GRI Standards, that can be found at this link. Through all case studies we aim to demonstrate what CSR/ ESG/ sustainability reporting done responsibly means. Essentially, it means: a) identifying a company’s most important impacts on the environment, economy and society, and b) measuring, managing and changing.
Citycon is firmly committed to generating sustainable value for all its stakeholders Tweet This!, including employees, providers of capital and governments. In order to create economic value for its stakeholders Citycon took action to:
- create economic value for employees
- create economic value for providers of capital
- create economic value for governments
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With this case study you will see:
- Which are the most important impacts (material issues) Citycon has identified;
- How Citycon proceeded with stakeholder engagement, and
- What actions were taken by Citycon to create economic value for its stakeholders
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What are the material issues the company has identified?
In its 2021 Sustainability Accounts Citycon identified a range of material issues, such as health and safety in shopping centres, ethical business conduct and transparency, energy efficiency and CO2 footprint, sustainable construction and green buildings. Among these, creating economic value for its stakeholders stands out as a key material issue for Citycon.
Stakeholder engagement in accordance with the GRI Standards
The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines the Principle of Stakeholder Inclusiveness when identifying material issues (or a company’s most important impacts) as follows:
Stakeholders must be consulted in the process s of identifying a company’s most important impacts and their reasonable expectations and interests must be taken into account. This is an important cornerstone for CSR / sustainability reporting done responsibly.
Key stakeholder groups Citycon engages with:
| Stakeholder Group |
| Consumers |
| Tenants |
| Employees |
| Investors and shareholders |
| Analysts |
| Partners |
| Local communities |
| Municipalities |
| Media |
| NGOs |
| Industry associations |
How stakeholder engagement was made to identify material issues
To identify and prioritise material topics Citycon engaged with its stakeholders through workshops, interviews and surveys that engaged both internal and external stakeholders.
What actions were taken by Citycon to create economic value for its stakeholders?
In its 2021 Sustainability Accounts Citycon reports that it took the following actions for creating economic value for its stakeholders:
- Creating economic value for employees
- In 2021, Citycon paid MEUR 20.3 for employee wages and salaries.
- Creating economic value for providers of capital
- In 2021, Citycon paid MEUR 91.1 to providers of capital (paid and received financial expenses as well as realised exchange rate losses/gains).
- Creating economic value for governments
- In 2021, Citycon paid MEUR 2.1 in income taxes and MEUR 9.1 in property taxes.
Which GRI Standards and corresponding Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been addressed?
The GRI Standard addressed in this case is: Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed
Disclosure 201-1 Direct economic value generated and distributed corresponds to:
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth
- Targets: 8.1, 8.2
- Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure
- Targets: 9.1, 9.4, 9.5
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References:
This case study is based on published information by Citycon, located at the link below. For the sake of readability, we did not use brackets or ellipses. However, we made sure that the extra or missing words did not change the report’s meaning. If you would like to quote these written sources from the original please revert to the following link:
https://www.citycon.com/sites/default/files/material/sustainability-accounts-2021-citycon.pdf
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