Reporting Season Is Over. Or Is It?

GRI, CDP & GRESB Reporting Guide

It’s tempting to put your sustainability program into a holding pattern now that June’s GRESB and CDP reporting deadlines have passed. But if you wait until September when scores are released to actually react and implement meaningful initiatives you’ll find yourself out of time, which means you’ll be caught reporting the same material and results in 2016 as you did this year.

Avoid this fate by moving on your sustainability initiatives now. Think of GRESB, CDP or GRI reporting as massive sustainability diagnostics. If you do, you’ll spot cause for action in dozens of places across your organization: how you collect and quality assure data, what stale policies need to be updated… Strike while the iron is hot! Review our GRI, CDP and GRESB reporting guide below.

Here’s under-appreciated action items for each of the three months after June. Substitute these for the “Valley of Inaction” malaise that usually pervades the off-season and you’ll ensure you keep momentum on sustainability well into 2016.

TURN THIS…

…INTO THIS

JULY: The Real Reporting Season

New state and municipal energy and water disclosure requirements are evidence sustainability reporting has evolved from a voluntary to compliance requirement. The good news is your voluntary reporting activities have been a dress rehearsal for the real deal. You should have set all you buildings up on automated utility data collection and ENERGY STAR benchmarking software which allows you to push a button and be done with reports before you’re hammered by fines or other penalties. Here’s a list of the most important reporting requirements that affect your US assets. Measurabl monitors your exposure to these requirements and emails you in advance of when reports are due so you can “set and forget”.

AUGUST: Frame the Discussion

Both GRESB and CDP score you on sustainability performance. Their methodology for doing so is not perfect. No matter how you may be scored the post-reporting window is the time to control the narrative by reaching out to your key stakeholders, including investors, and explaining what you’re up to on the ground. Do this by using the “We Are Measurabl” mark to validate your sustainability performance. Unlike GRESB or CDP, the mark is neither a score nor a statement of ‘how good’ your company is. Instead, it is validation you have done the most important thing of all: measure and disclose your sustainability performance according to globally accepted reporting methodologies like the WRI/WBCSD GHG Protocol.

The “We Are Measurabl” logo is available once you’ve passed a Measurabl Response Check and compiled your sustainability data into either GRESB or CDP’s reporting format. Contact support@measurabl.com to get display instructions and a hi-res image for your communications program.

SEPTEMBER: Engage

If you waited until the wee hours before midnight on July 1 to submit responses or found yourself wildly checking “yes” to questions in your GRESB or CDP survey at the last minute you’re suffering from timeline mismanagement. Common symptoms include failing to engage third party property managers months before the reporting season officially kicks off or not locating, reviewing and updating key documents.

One of the most time consuming but high-value activities too often left to the end is conducting employee and tenant engagement surveys. Not only will you get points on GRESB for carrying out the survey process itself, but you’ll tackle this important activity while there’s still time in the year to react. Contact support@measurabl.com to conduct a survey now, then pair fresh surveys with a review and update of your open text responses in GRESB and CDP using the “Success Tracker” in your Measurabl account. Your Customer Success expert will walk you through the specific and guide you on how to improve your response so you’re way ahead on the nuts and bolts of your reports.