Japan’s largest shopping mall developer, Aeon Mall [8905:JP], pledged to power more than 160 shopping malls under its ownership in Japan with 100% renewable power by FY40, as reported by Nikkei Asia on January 11. Aeon Mall will sign corporate power purchase agreements (PPAs), long-term contracts that enable power consumers to buy all output from a clean energy producer. Moreover, the developer plans to trade shopping points for the surplus electricity from community residents’ solar power systems via electric vehicles (EV). It also mulls purchasing land for clean power generation.

Aeon Mall’s parent company, Aeon [8267:JP], became a member of the RE100 global initiative in 2018, which now comprises over 340 of the world’s most influential businesses committed to 100% renewable electricity. This commitment is notable, as Aeon Mall and its parent company take up around 0.2% and 0.9% of Japan’s total electricity consumption, respectively. In a move to mitigate climate change, Aeon plans to reduce the carbon emissions of its 21,000 stores by 35% by 2030 compared to 2010 levels, with the ultimate goal of net-zero emissions by 2050. Besides Aeon, 63 Japanese enterprises also signed on to the RE100 global initiative. Other participates in Japan’s retailing industry, Seven & i Holdings [3382:JP] and convenience store chain Lawson [2651:JP], are also using renewable energy for their businesses.

Sources:

https://asia.nikkei.com/Spotlight/Environment/Climate-Change/Retailer-Aeon-to-use-100-renewable-energy-at-160-plus-Japan-malls

https://project.nikkeibp.co.jp/ESG/atcl/eng/news/01/

https://www.there100.org/re100-members