Our journey with the Liberty Group started in 2017. Dogged with the same dilemma that most companies face when it comes to ESG data management and being able to get the kind of intelligence out of that data that informs good business decisions.

Liberty chose GCX as its partner to help it do what most companies need to do but don’t always do, first. MEASURE all financial and non-financial aspects of their carbon footprint and environmental indicators in one place.

Both Liberty Group and its property holding REIT, Liberty Two Degrees subscribed to the GCX Data Analytics and Sustainability Hub (DASH-) to firstly streamline and automate the flow of data to ensure data confidence and accuracy and then to benchmark the entire boundary to allow for performance management of the group.

Liberty Two Degrees have shown great leadership by setting Net Zero targets for carbon, water and waste across their iconic retail shopping centres, including Sandton City and Nelson Mandela Square. This is progressed through its Good Spaces building block which ensures minimal impact on the environment by adopting a flexible sustainable strategy. Liberty Two Degrees required an analytical dashboard view of their portfolio down to a tenant level to ensure that they meet these targets.

To give management the confidence that they are on the right trajectory toward their goals, baseline data has been established on water and energy consumption relating to water and electricity intensity metrics, as well as waste management practices to constantly provide a “true North” on improvements.

Some of the initiatives implemented by Liberty Two Degrees to achieve this include; smart water meters and smart electricity meters throughout the portfolio in order to accurately measure both tenant consumptions of utilities and better understand the malls’ usage of utilities in common areas.

Having access to performance benchmarking data from a group level right through the organisation to the tenant level is a game-changer for a company like ours. We now have a tool that provides us with that level of granularity which gives us confidence in meeting our targets.

Brian Unsted, Asset Management Executive and Head of Good Spaces, Liberty Two Degrees

The next phase is for Liberty Group ESG strategy to refine their ESG strategy and ensure that they focus on the material metrics that will impact their business in the short term. In parallel to that, to identify further strategic opportunities, demonstrating Liberty’s commitment to transparency and integrating shared value into their business model for the medium to longer term.

We now have access to a one single, consolidated view of our current and historic environmental footprint based on data that we can actually rely upon. The platform saves us significant reporting time and allows us to use our time more strategically.

Jeanne Fourie, Head of ESG, Liberty Group

All along the way, the social and governance metrics will be brought into a single dashboard view to extend the current environmental dashboard into a full ESG one that will allow the company to performance manage the broader sustainability strategy in a measurable way.

We are thoroughly enjoying the opportunity to add value to Liberty’s sustainability journey. Giving a company like Liberty visibility into their sustainability ecosystem is a privilege and very rewarding. Awareness of what performance means accross an organisation is the first step toward continuous improvement, which is what it’s all about.

Kevin James, CEO, GCX

Find out more about how GCX can help you navigate your sustainability journey with our GCX DASH- and GCX Consult solutions. Get in touch here.