RM3.1: Environmental Risk Assessment - Construction
Prefill
Eligible
Validation
Evidence not validated
2026 Updates
None
Has the entity performed an environmental risk assessment(s) for its construction phase?
Assessment Instructions
Intent: What is the purpose of this indicator?
The intent of this indicator is to assess the entity’s process for assessing material environmental risks for the construction phase of the asset, and its understanding and mitigation of these risks. Systematic responses to environmental risks include effective risk assessment, thoughtful mitigation planning, and implementation of action plans.
Input: How do I complete this indicator?
Select Yes or No: If selecting 'Yes', select applicable sub-options.
Elements of risk assessment process: Select one of the available options. These have been aligned with the ISO 31001:2018 Risk Management System standard.
Material environmental issues: Select all issues that are covered by the entity’s risk assessment process(es). It is possible to report using the ‘Other’ answer option. Ensure that the ‘Other’ answer provided is not a duplicate or subset of another option. It is possible to report multiple ‘Other’ answers.
Terminology
Air pollution
Air pollutants are particles and gases released into the atmosphere that may adversely affect living organisms. Additionally, some pollutants contribute to climate change or exacerbate the effects of climate change locally. Pollutants of major public health concern include ozone-depleting substances (ODS), NOx, SOx, particulate matter (PM), lead, mercury and/or other standard categories of air emissions identified in relevant regulations.
Biodiversity and habitat
Issues related to wildlife, endangered species, ecosystem services, habitat management, and invasive species. Biodiversity refers to the variety of all plant and animal species. Habitat refers to the natural environment in which these plant and animal species live and function.
Contaminated Land
Land that contains substances in or under it that are actually or potentially hazardous to human health or the environment. Contamination of land can happen by substances or effluents such as gases, chemicals, oils, fuels, waste.
Energy
Energy refers to energy consumption and generation from non-renewable and renewable sources (e.g. electricity, heating, cooling, steam).
Environmental issues
The impact on living and non-living natural systems, including land, air, water and ecosystems. This includes, but is not limited to, biodiversity, transport and product and service-related impacts, as well as environmental compliance and expenditures.
Greenhouse gas emissions
Refers to the seven gases listed in the Kyoto Protocol: carbon dioxide (CO2); methane (CH4); nitrous oxide (N2O); hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs); perfluorocarbons (PFCs); nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) and Sulphur hexafluoride (SF6).
Hazardous substances
Also known as dangerous goods. Any substances that can pose a health or physical hazard to humans or the environment, such as carcinogens, toxic agents, irritants, corrosives, combustibles or explosives.
Landscape and visuals
Landscape and visual impacts within a proposed development area.
Light pollution
Excessive or obtrusive artificial light also known as photo pollution or luminous pollution. Examples of light pollution and reflection include: spilled light from construction zones and parking lots which may impact breeding grounds or resting areas; highly reflective towers which may affect bird flight.
Materials sourcing and resource efficiency
Responsible sourcing of materials considers the environmental, social and economic impacts of the procurement and production of products and materials. Resource efficiency means using those products and materials in an efficient and sustainable manner while minimizing impacts on the environment and society.
Noise pollution
Refers to noise pollution, also known as environmental noise, which is the propagation of noise with harmful impact on the activity of human or animal life.
Physical Risk
The risks associated with the potential negative direct and/or indirect impacts of physical hazards, natural disasters, catastrophes, as well as physical climate-related hazards, which may be event-driven (acute) or driven by longer-term shifts in climatic patterns (chronic). The physical risk associated with a particular real asset may be described in terms of elements including hazard exposure, sensitivity, vulnerability, and adaptive capacity.
Decreasing the sensitivity of an asset to particular physical risks, increasing its adaptive capacity, and planning are all ways of increasing the resilience of the built environment against physical risks, climate-driven or otherwise. In practice, these objectives may be promoted by various actions including the establishment of appropriate management policies; the utilization of informational technologies for disaster response; the education of employees, the community, and suppliers; and implementing physical measures at the asset level.
Risk analysis
Studying probabilities and consequences given the existing controls, to identify the level of residual risk.
Risk assessment
Careful examination of the factors that could potentially adversely impact the value or longevity of an infrastructure asset. The results of the assessment assist in identifying measures that have to be implemented in order to prevent and mitigate the risks.
Risk evaluation
Comparing risk analysis results with risk criteria to determine whether the residual risk is tolerable.
Risk identification
Identifying what could prevent an organization from achieving their objectives.
Risk treatment
Control / mitigation of the risk.
Waste
Entity's consideration of waste disposal methods and whether waste minimization strategies emphasize prioritizing options for reuse, recycling, and then recovery over other disposal options to minimize ecological impact.
Water inflows/withdrawals
Water drawn into the boundaries of the entity from all sources (including surface water, ground water, rainwater, and municipal water supply) as well as water reuse, efficiency, and recycling, including the entity's consideration of whether water sources are significantly affected by withdrawal of water.
Water outflows/discharges
Discharge of water to water bodies (e.g. lakes, rivers, oceans, aquifers and groundwater) or to third-parties for treatment or use.
Validation: What evidence is required?
Evidence
The evidence provided will not be subject to manual validation.
Document or hyperlink. The evidence should sufficiently support all the items selected for this question. If a hyperlink is provided, ensure that it is active and that the relevant page can be accessed within two steps. It is possible to upload multiple documents, as long as it’s clear where information can be found.
Evidence does not necessarily need to be provided in full. Rather, the evidence needs to be sufficient to verify the existence of the selected risk assessment elements for each issue.
The provided evidence must include the following elements:
Confirms that an environmental risk assessment was conducted and clearly presents the outcomes of the risk assessment.
Includes all selected elements of the risk assessment process, for all selected environmental issues, highlighting or bringing attention to these where possible.
Include all selected environmental issues within the assessment, highlighting or bringing attention to these where possible.
Relates to an assessment that has taken place within the last three years, up to and including the end of the reporting year identified in EC4.
Evidence examples may include but are not limited to:
Documents or section of documents, in their original or redacted form, such as:
Environmental impact assessments
Environmental management plans/reports
Environmental aspects and impacts registers
Environmental inspections and audits
Corporate risk registers
Monitoring reports, annual reports
Meeting minutes or company presentations
Procedure or process document(s) (e.g. from a risk management system) when supported with documentation that details the outcome of the risk assessment for selected issues.
See below for an example of a risk register structure:
Environmental issues
Risk description
Risk rating
Mitigation measures
Likelihood/ Consequence / Rating
The GRESB / B Capital Due Diligence tool (ESG DD Tool) contains such a register in the sheet named "ESG Risk & Opps Assessment".
Contractor and/or operator engagement: In some cases, an indicator addresses an activity that applies to the reporting entity, yet is undertaken by an assigned contractor, operator and/or contracted entity. This is often the case, for example, for PPP type arrangements. In these cases, when providing evidence, the participant should specify the entity undertaking the activity and the relationship to that entity, to verify how these actions are applicable to the reporting entity. Copies of redacted contractual agreements/clauses to verify these relationships are acceptable.
Providing Evidence in Other Languages
Documents uploaded as supporting evidence do not need to be entirely translated, however it is important that the following steps are followed:
Provide a thorough summary of the process that has been carried out to assess the risks in English, showing that the requirements of the relevant indicator/s has been met. Provide the summary in the open text box of the indicator or in the GRESB Cover Page.
Provide clear indication of where each selection of the indicator (checkbox or radio button selected) is found in the evidence piece uploaded and provide a translation for the specific issue/selection that is being evidenced.
Example: risk register titled XXX supports alignment risk identification, evaluation and treatment for H&S Employees = Salute e sicurezza dei dipendenti (Ita)
Other Answer
The Other’ answer provided will not be subject to manual validation.
List environmental issues that apply to the entity but are not already listed. Ensure that the ‘Other’ answer provided is not a duplicate or subset of another option (e.g. “Recycling” when “Waste” is selected). It is possible to report multiple ‘Other’ answers.
Scoring
Scoring: How does GRESB score this indicator?
The scoring of this indicator is equal to the fraction assigned to the selected option, multiplied by the total score of the indicator.
Phase Materiality-based Scoring
Specific materiality weightings are assigned to the indicator depending on whether the entity reported to be in its construction or pre-construction phase under the Asset Development Phase section of indicator RC4. The weightings are set at one of two levels as shown below:
No relevance (unscored) - pre-construction phase
Medium relevance (scored at medium weighting) - construction phase
Where the indicator is of ‘No relevance’, and therefore the entity has reported to be in its pre-construction phase, it is not considered for scoring. If the indicator is of ‘Medium relevance’, and therefore the entity has reported to be in its construction phase, the indicator counts towards the score with ‘standard’ weighting. This ensures that the evaluation of a project’s sustainability is contextually nuanced and reflective of the project’s unique circumstances and at any given point in its development lifecycle.
References
ISO 31001 Risk Management standard
Alignment with External Frameworks
CDP Climate Change 2021 - C2.1 Management Procedures
DJSI CSA 2021- 3.3.2 Emerging Risks.
DJSI CSA 2021 - 3.3.3 Risk Culture
GRI Standards 2016 - 102-29: Identifying and managing economic, environmental and social impacts
Good practice examples: Please refer to the following link.
Get Support: Solution Providers
GRESB Solution Providers are independent, third-party organizations within the GRESB Partner network that offer specialized products, tools, and services to support sustainability performance outside the GRESB Assessment process.
The organizations below deliver commercially available solutions designed to help drive improvement for this indicator. Engagement is managed directly between the reporting entity and the Solution Provider.
GRESB will continue to update this section as the GRESB Solution Provider network grows. Please check back regularly to find GRESB Solution Providers who can support your sustainability performance.
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