IULIUS recently signed a partnership with IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, for the purpose of developing a strategy to decarbonize the entire portfolio of the company and achieve net-zero emissions. IFC will use the Green Pathways for Real Estate Institutional Portfolios (GRIP) platform to provide solutions for defining, implementing and financing the plans of IULIUS to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to reach CO2 neutrality as soon as possible. This would be the first such engagement in Romania.
In fact, IULIUS has always built in an environmentally conscious manner and owns the only LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certified nationwide shopping mall network in Romania. This adds to the Palas Iaşi and Iulius Town Timişoara mixed-use projects and the 15 office buildings in the United Business Center network in Iași, Timișoara and Cluj-Napoca, which are all green building certified.
“We are particularly excited about this new partnership, which will help us take our sustainability strategy to the next level. The company has already undergone a comprehensive process of implementing high standards of energy efficiency, sustainable management of green spaces, outdoor surfaces and WASTE, and other sustainable solutions, as confirmed by the LEED certifications. However, we want to contribute even more to maintaining a healthy environment by reducing the carbon footprint in all eight of our projects,” said Dan Adrian Chelaru, Group Sustainability Officer IULIUS.
In 2021 IULIUS also obtained the first green loan granted by IFC to a Romanian company, in the amount of EUR 72 million for Palas Campus in Iaşi. The ample office project, set to open this spring, is also undergoing a dual green certification process: EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) by IFC and LEED by the US Green Building Council.
