Energy transition in the retail sector

Abstract

Despite the efforts made in the World and the Netherlands for the energy transition of the building stock, policies and research have been mainly focusing on housing, leaving the non-residential building stock lacking in keeping up an adequate pace and in need of additional efforts to catalyse its transition. The retail sector represents the highest share of the non-residential building stock, with shopping centres as the building typology with the highest energy retrofit potential. However, despite its potential, data gathered from previous research have demonstrated that the complex multi-stakeholder governance structure of these buildings makes the decision-making process for an EER difficult. Several barriers have already been identified in the literature about this issue. Yet, they are scattered and not identified within the decision-making process and the complex governance system of a shopping centre. Therefore, this research aimed to reveal stakeholders’ behaviours during the EER within a process perspective, finding the interrelationships between the different parties involved during the different steps of the process, and giving light on the areas that need to be addressed in other to guarantee a smoother process. To achieve it, exploratory qualitative research was carried out for which the following main research question is proposed: “How can retail owners support a better decision-making process to steer EERs of shopping centres?”. The methodology included a mixed approach between literature study and qualitative empirical research from three case studies of shopping centres in the Netherlands. The results demonstrate shopping centre owners have a crucial role in optimizing the EER decision-making process and overcoming barriers. Key recommendations for achieving optimal and holistic solutions that enhance energy efficiency and sustainability in shopping centres include developing a cohesive and integrated sustainability strategy, optimizing its governance structure, investing in centralized building data systems, addressing tenant-related barriers in EERs, and fostering collaboration among internal and external stakeholders, among others.