Gordon Brown is set to hold talks next week with some of Britain's biggest shopping centre landlords in a bid to get the sector - seen by some as environmentally objectionable - to help in tackling global warming.
The chancellor will meet executives from big companies including the the Duke of Westminster's Grosvenor and the FTSE-100 companies Liberty International, Land Securities and Hammerson.
The talks are likely to lead to a string of exhibitions across the nation's shopping centres that will encourage consumers to think more about the environment.
Shopping centres have often been portrayed as monuments to all-out capitalism, built with little regard to the environment and often only accessible by car.
The talks have been organised by Business in the Community and BCSC, a retail property body.
A spokesman for BITC is quoted in today's Property Week magazine saying: "In the public's mind, shopping centres represent modern-day conspicuous consumption. They are sometimes seen as climate change pariahs on the same scale as the oil and gas sectors."
Commercial property contributes a large proportion of the greenhouse gases that have been blamed for global warming.
As a result, many companies have been seeking ways to make their buildings more energy-efficient, for example by using better insulation or installing wind turbines.
Last week saw two industrial developers, ProLogis and Gazeley, both claiming to have built Britain's most "green" industrial shed.
At the same time, many experts see high environmental costs in knocking down old, inefficient buildings and replacing them with "greener" alternatives.
The British Property Federation has vowed to make the environment one of its most pressing issues in the months ahead.
It is understood Mr Brown will use next week's breakfast to exhort landlords to raise their game and also help educate people about the environment. The move is part of a "pattern of activity" across business which will also enlist retailers.
The chancellor has himself earned a mixed reputation on environmental issues.
While he has been praised for commissioning the hard-hitting Stern Report, which has made the case for stronger international action on climate change, he has appeared loath to use taxes to change behaviour.
