Get to Grips with GRESB

Address sustainability challenges with GRESB reporting to attract responsible investment.

EVORA Global

GLOBAL REAL ESTATE SUSTAINABILITY BENCHMARK – GRESB

Embracing ESG: How EVORA Helps You

GRESB is more than just a benchmark – it’s a tool to drive investment, enhance asset value, and meet regulatory expectations.

EVORA has helped over 170 funds maximise their GRESB scores through expert guidance and data-driven insights.

Mitigate
Risk

EVORA identifies ESG risks early, ensuring compliance and resilience.

Protect
Asset Value

A GRESB submission with EVORA leads to optimised operations and better scores, attracting investment.

Safeguard Reputation

Our expertise helps you avoid reporting gaps that could impact investor confidence.

GRESB TIMELINE

Optimising GRESB Performance
with EVORA’s
Expert Support

GRESB is more than just a benchmark – it’s a tool to drive investment, enhance asset value, and meet regulatory expectations.

EVORA has helped over 170 funds maximise their GRESB scores through expert guidance and data-driven insights.

PROVEN RESULTS

Talking about
The EVORA Effect

In 2024, GRESB received reports from 2,223 real estate participants globally, 167 infrastructure funds and 720 infrastructure assets, representing almost $9tr in gross asset value (GAV).

Of these, EVORA supported 177 fund submissions, covering $233bn AUM. That’s approx 20% of submissions in Europe and 10% of submissions worldwide, of which 25% scored 5 stars and 52% 4 or 5 stars.

20 of the funds supported by EVORA have been recognised as Global and Regional Sector Leaders.

THE EVORA OFFERING

Providing a variety of packages to suit your needs

  • GRESB Gap Analysis

A comprehensive review of your asset/fund’s current position against GRESB survey requirements, helping you identify and implement targeted improvements for both Management and Performance components.

  • GRESB Performance Reporting Support

Use of our data management platform, SIERA, to aggregate and validate your GRESB data, with EVORA’s expert review to optimise your score.

  • GRESB Full Reporting Support

A comprehensive submission support program, covering materiality assessment, data collection, GRESB portal upload, results review, and an improvement roadmap presentation.

SUBMITTING TO GRESB

Struggling with GRESB data collection?
We handle it.

Gathering data is a crucial part of the reporting process, and data availability plays a significant role in your GRESB score. The higher the percentage, the greater the potential score.

With the assistance of our experts and our own software, SIERA, EVORA helps streamline the process to ensure a successful GRESB score.

DATA COVERAGE

Facilitating Automated
Data Collection

With over 17 billion data points under management and a global network of data sources, EVORA offers one of the most comprehensive automated data collection solutions in the industry. We continuously integrate new utility providers and hubs, providing instant global access through automatic invoice parsing.

Our system processes incoming data continuously and automatically, while also collecting any historical data your buildings have generated over the years. This ensures a seamless setup, allowing you to start using our data collection services with minimal delay.

FAQ

GRESB scores range from 0 to 100 points, which are calculated across several ESG aspects. These include:

Aspect Example Topics
Management Leadership, ESG policies, risk assessments
Performance Energy, water, waste, GHG emissions
Stakeholder Engagement Tenant and community engagement
Data Monitoring & Review Coverage, quality, and assurance of data

The required data depends on the type of entity (Real Estate, Infrastructure, or Development), but generally, here’s what’s expected — focusing on Real Estate, since it’s the most common:

Organisational & Management Data

  • Entity details: Legal structure, assets under management, geography
  • Sustainability strategy: Policies, risk assessments, ESG responsibilities
  • Stakeholder engagement: Tenants, employees, investors
  • Certifications: Green building certifications (e.g., LEED, BREEAM)
  • ESG governance: Board oversight, roles, training

Performance Data (Most Data-Heavy Section)

This covers actual operational data for the previous year.

Environmental (for whole portfolio or selected assets):

  • Energy consumption: Electricity, gas, district heating/cooling (tenant vs landlord-controlled)
  • Greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions: Scope 1, 2, and some Scope 3
  • Water usage
  • Waste generation and diversion
  • Data coverage: % of assets with complete data
  • Intensity metrics: e.g., energy use per m²

Social:

  • Health & well-being programs
  • Tenant satisfaction surveys
  • Employee training and DEI (diversity, equity, inclusion)

Governance:

  • Business ethics policies
  • Anti-corruption programs
  • Cybersecurity and data privacy

Development Data (If applicable)

  • Construction phase: Embodied carbon, construction waste
  • Design certifications: Targeted LEED, WELL, etc.
  • Community engagement and sustainable procurement

Completing a GRESB submission can take anywhere from 4 to 12 weeks, depending on your organisation’s size, data readiness, and experience with the process.

GRESB is designed to complement them, making it easier for real estate and infrastructure entities to meet multiple ESG reporting obligations through one submission.

Yes, EVORA can support ongoing ESG data collection and reporting.

EVORA developed SIERA, our own ESG data management software platform, specifically for this purpose. It helps companies to:

  • Collect ESG data across portfolios (energy, water, waste, GHG emissions, etc.)
  • Validate and cleanse incoming data for accuracy
  • Analyse performance trends
  • Benchmark assets and portfolios (e.g., against GRESB or CRREM pathways)
  • Report to various standards and frameworks (e.g., GRESB, TCFD, SFDR, GHG Protocol)

SIERA can connect to utility meters, building management systems, and third-party APIs for automated and ongoing data collection, reducing manual effort.

You need to report to GRESB on an annual basis. The GRESB Assessment typically opens around April 1st each year and closes on July 1st. During this period, participating organisations submit their sustainability data for the previous calendar or fiscal year.

  • Improve ESG Policies & Management – develop formal policies across key areas such as energy, water, waste, DEI, and procurement; assign ESG responsibilities across roles and teams; provide ESG-focused training to employees; conduct materiality and risk assessments, including climate risk; and ensure board-level oversight to guide our sustainability strategy.
  • Boost Environmental Performance – collect high-quality, comprehensive data for energy, emissions, water, and waste; increase data coverage across all assets and meters; leverage automated data collection platforms where feasible; implement reduction initiatives such as LED retrofits and HVAC upgrades; pursue green building certifications like LEED, BREEAM, and ENERGY STAR; and conduct third-party assurance of environmental data to ensure accuracy and gain additional recognition.
  • Focus on Stakeholder Engagement – conduct regular tenant satisfaction surveys, track occupant health and well-being indicators such as access to daylight and air quality, create meaningful community engagement programs, and promote strong employee engagement through DEI policies and health and safety initiatives.
  • Strengthen Governance & Transparency – establish and publish comprehensive business ethics policies, implement robust cybersecurity and data protection measures, report ESG performance externally through our website and aligned disclosures (e.g., GRI, SASB), and maintain transparency by openly sharing our policies, risks, and performance metrics.
  • Maximise Asset-Level Reporting – submit comprehensive asset-level data using the GRESB Asset Spreadsheet, expand green building certifications across a greater portion of our portfolio, ensure high data quality and third-party assurance, and benchmark assets internally to identify underperformers and drive continuous improvement.
Stage Date Range Details
Pre-Release February-March GRESB releases Reference Guides, Indicator Changes, and Portal Updates. Good time to prep policies and data.
Portal Opens April 1 GRESB Assessment Portal officially opens for submissions. You can start entering your data.
Submission Deadline July 1 (11:59 PM PDT) Final deadline to submit your GRESB Assessment. No extensions allowed. Late submissions are not accepted.
Validation & Scoring July-August GRESB reviews and validates all data. You may be contacted for clarifications. No edits allowed after submission.
Preliminary Results Release September (early) You receive initial results and can request a Review Period if you find issues.
Final Results & Benchmark Reports October 1 You get your final GRESB Score, Benchmark Report, and Peer Comparisons. Investors are also notified.

EVORA can be a game-changer when it comes to your GRESB submission. We’re one of the leading sustainability consultancies focused on real estate and infrastructure ESG strategy, and they’ve helped hundreds of entities improve their GRESB scores.

Yes, EVORA can absolutely help you improve your GRESB score year-over-year, and it’s actually one of our specialties. We combine technical expertise, strategic ESG consulting, and our proprietary platform SIERA to drive consistent GRESB performance gains for clients.

Here’s how we do it:

  • Gap Analysis & Score Optimisation – We conduct detailed GRESB score breakdowns to identify where you’re losing points and where you have room to improve. We benchmark your assets against GRESB scoring logic, industry peers, and best practices to develop a targeted action plan.
  • Strategic ESG Improvement Roadmaps – We help you build multi-year ESG strategies aligned to GRESB and other ESG goals (e.g., net zero, SFDR compliance). Recommendations may include: implementing green leases, improving data coverage, or expanding building certifications.
  • Automated ESG Data Management via SIERA – SIERA simplifies and automates your data collection, validation, and reporting boosting data quality and coverage—two major scoring components for GRESB.
  • GRESB Submission Support – Our experts can review, QA, and submit your report making sure you capture all eligible points and meet the latest GRESB methodology updates.

GRESB 2025

Staying ahead of the curve

The upcoming 2025 GRESB standards is set to raise the bar on data verification, renewable energy procurement, and embodied carbon, especially for large entities and infrastructure assets.

EVORA helps you stay ahead by ensuring your data is audit-ready, aligned with the latest ESG methodologies, and supports enhanced transparency, stronger documentation, and adaptation to evolving standards.

Benefits of GRESB

GRESB provides guidelines for ESG data submission, including energy usage, carbon emissions, and social governance. It helps companies establish formal data systems, shifting from manual to structured, digitalised processes for better data management and analysis.

Regular participation in GRESB assessments helps companies proactively manage risks by tracking ESG performance annually. This enables them to make adjustments, prevent financial losses, ensure regulatory compliance, and enhance long-term asset value.

A strong GRESB score signals a commitment to ESG, attracting investors, easing access to capital, and securing favourable investment terms. It also enhances resilience to market fluctuations and ESG-related risks like regulatory changes and shifting investor priorities.

Collecting and analysing data on energy, water, and waste helps companies identify inefficiencies. For example, tracking energy use can reveal wasteful areas, enabling targeted actions to reduce waste and lower costs.

GRESB emphasises continuous measurement and benchmarking, allowing companies to track progress annually. This fosters a culture of improvement, enabling them to set clear goals, refine strategies, and enhance sustainability performance over time.