Get to Grips with GRESB

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

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, sustainability 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 sustainability reporting obligations through one submission.

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

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

• Collect sustainability 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 Sustainability Policies & Management – develop formal policies across key areas such as energy, water, waste, DEI, and procurement; assign sustainability responsibilities across roles and teams; provide sustainability -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 sustainability 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.

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 sustainability strategy, and we’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 sustainability 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 Sustainability Improvement Roadmaps – We help you build multi-year sustainability strategies aligned to GRESB and other sustainability goals (e.g., net zero, SFDR compliance). Recommendations may include: implementing green leases, improving data coverage, or expanding building certifications.
• Automated Sustainability 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.