Lidl Greece achieved EDGE Zero Carbon certification for its flagship store in Lamia. It is the first certified zero carbon building with the international standard throughout the country.

EDGE Zero Carbon is the highest level of the EDGE (Excellence in Design for Greater Efficiencies) program. EDGE, founded by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), was created to help property owners, builders and real estate developers construct and operate green buildings. To reach EDGE Zero Carbon a project must first receive an EDGE Advanced certificate for the asset, which means reaching a minimum of 20 percent savings in water and embodied energy, and a minimum of 40 percent energy savings on-site. The operational energy of the building (based on actual data) must then be covered 100 percent through renewables or carbon offsets.

Lidl Greece’s flagship store in Lamia has improved energy efficiency by 59% compared to the local baseline value. The use of onsite and offsite renewables, primarily solar photovoltaics enabled Lamia to then achieve EDGE Zero Carbon.  

Lidl Greece has 229 certified buildings against the EDGE standard, the largest portfolio of certified buildings in Greece. In total, Lidl Greece through its certified buildings saves 9,993 tons of carbon dioxide, 656,302 cubic meters of water and 21,858 MWh of energy annually. This is an incredible achievement and demonstrates LIDL’s pioneering role within the retail industry towards decarbonising their building portfolios.

Lidl Greece started the EDGE certification process in 2018 in collaboration with Sintali and SGS. The company’s effort in recent years is the continuous improvement of the buildings towards the environment. Lidl Greece has set itself the goal of reducing its carbon footprint and every year evaluates what actions it can take in the buildings to improve efficiency. EDGE certification each year is a marker for the company to show progress towards the end goal.

Lidl Greece also received financing by EBRD for this project, acting as a model for the types of green financing partnerships we hope to see more of as global decarbonisation targets appear ever nearer.  

The company continues to certify new stores with EDGE and will evaluate whether other stores can reach the highest level, EDGE Zero Carbon.