Best Practices for Submitting Your GRESB Assessment
GRESB (formerly the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark) is confusing; here are 5 key focus areas to file the most accurate report.
Your Guide to GRESB Reporting
Are you planning to submit a GRESB Real Estate Assessment?
The reporting process can feel overwhelming. If you want to collect and submit ESG data for your real estate asset portfolio, the actionable tips in this guide will help you navigate the GRESB reporting process.
Understanding GRESB Reporting
Reporting can be a tedious process. You have to know and understand exactly what the GRESB Assessment is looking for to accurately map out your data points. As a GRESB Global Partner, Measurabl speaks that language for our customers. That’s why our average customer sees a 10-point increase when disclosing with Measurabl.
Everything You Need To Know About GRESB
GRESB (formerly the Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark) is the global standard for portfolio-level ESG reporting in the real estate sector.
GRESB’s goal is straightforward – to help real estate investors assess the ESG (environmental, social, governance) performance of their commercial real estate portfolios. Participating companies and funds annually provide data on everything from energy consumption to their diversity & inclusion practices and standards of governance. The result is a benchmark of ESG performance that will help drive efficiency and improvements.
GRESB assessed more than 1,500 real estate entities representing $5.7 trillion in gross assets under management (AUM) around the world in 2021. And over 100 investors – many of the world’s largest pension funds and investment managers – use GRESB data and analytics in their business decisions, showing the value they see in this benchmark.
GRESB BY THE NUMBERS
In 2021, property companies, real estate investment trusts (REITs), asset funds, and developers participated in the Real Estate Assessment. GRESB covers nearly 117,000 assets across 69 countries.
1,500+
CORPORATE REAL ESTATE COMPANIES
$5.7T
ASSETS UNDER MANAGEMENT
117,000
ASSETS BENCHMARKED
69
Countries
The Benefits of GRESB Reporting
- Understand how your portfolio’s performance improves year over year
- See where you fit in the market and how you stack up to your peers
- Identify areas of opportunity and risk across your portfolio
- Satisfy investor demands for ESG disclosure
- Attract new stakeholders through extensive risk, opportunity, and impact analysis
- Report using the global real estate industry’s standard for ESG benchmarking and disclosure
ESG Disclosures
Keep in mind: ESG reporting is here to stay. Investor demands have exponentially increased in recent years. Here are some resources on the implications of these growing investor pressures for ESG disclosure:
- A Harvard Business Review survey interviewed executives from 43 global institutional investing firms and “found that ESG was almost universally top of mind for these executives.”
- BlackRock CEO Larry Fink accelerated this buzz in his annual letter that demanded corporate action on climate change, “A Fundamental Reshaping of Finance”.
- pWc’s resources on the gap between what investors want and what companies currently provide.
S&P Global’s take on ways ESG goes beyond the balance sheet to impact stakeholder demands, corporate priorities, and increased transparency around corporate governance.
Want to learn more about the GRESB reporting process? Reach out to our team of experts.
Tips & Tricks for Your First GRESB Report
Key Takeaways To Advance GRESB Reporting Efforts
When deciding to file an ESG Report, first-time reporters have a lot to resolve. Here are 4 key points to examine.
How Assurance and Verification Help Your Sustainability Efforts
Assurance, verification, and alignment ensure your sustainability reports are accurate and get you more points on GRESB and CDP reports.
Collaboration with GRESB - Importance of ESG Data Quality
Measurabl works closely with GRESB as a Global Partner to ensure streamlined reporting and superior access to high-quality ESG data.
Measurabl works closely with GRESB and leaders in the industry to develop better ways to aggregate high quality ESG data.
Why report to GRESB using Measurabl
Our clients file hundreds of GRESB Real Estate Assessments through our streamlined reporting platform.
Our tools help our clients produce better results with:
- Tools to ensure you have highly accurate data to report at the asset level – required in 2020 and beyond
- Automatic Performance Indicator calculations
- “TurboTax-style” solution for GRESB reporting, complete with sample answers
- Dedicated support for submitting your GRESB report
- Automated response check in Measurabl’s app helps catch errors before you file
- Unique API (application programming interface) allows automated data transfer from Measurabl’s platform to GRESB
GRESB 2021 Results
On average, Measurabl clients who filed through our platform increased their GRESB scores by 10 points and 77% of Measurabl users received Green Stars. Check out the full results from the 2021 reporting season.
