PO1: Environmental Policies
Maximum Score
1.5 points
Input Method
Assessment Portal
Prefill
Eligible
Scoring method
Static
Validation
Evidence and other answer are manually validated
2026 Updates
None
Does the entity have a policy/policies on environmental issues?
Assessment Instructions
Intent: What is the purpose of this indicator?
This indicator describes the existence and scope of policies that address environmental issues. Policies on environmental issues help entities incorporate sustainability criteria into daily business practices.
Input: How do I complete this indicator?
Select yes or no. If yes, select all applicable sub-options.
Terminology
Biodiversity and habitat
Issues related to wildlife, endangered species, ecosystem services, habitat management, and relevant topics. 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.
Climate change adaptation
Preparation for long-term change in climatic conditions or climate related events. Examples of climate change adaptation measures can include, but are not limited to: building flood defenses, xeriscaping and using tree species resistant to storms and fires, adapting building codes to extreme weather events.
Energy consumption
The use of energy by the entity.
Feedback sessions
Meetings with individual stakeholders to gather feedback about ESG-specific issues.
Greenhouse gas emissions
GHGs refers to the seven gases listed in the GHG Protocol Corporate Standard: carbon dioxide (CO2); methane (CH4); nitrous oxide (N2O); hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs); perfluorocarbons (PFCs); nitrogen trifluoride (NF3) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6). They are expressed in CO2 equivalents (CO2e).
Indoor environmental quality
Refers to the conditions inside the building. It includes air quality, access to daylight and views, pleasant acoustic conditions and occupant control over lighting and thermal comfort.
Material sourcing
Responsible sourcing of materials considers the environmental, social and economic impacts of the procurement and production of products and materials.
Net Zero
Net zero means cutting greenhouse gas emissions to as close to zero as possible, with any remaining emissions re-absorbed from the atmosphere.
Policy
Defines a commitment, direction or intention as formally adopted by the entity.
Pollution prevention
Any practice that reduces, eliminates, or prevents pollution. Pollution includes air pollution, noise pollution, light pollution, thermal pollution, land/soil pollution, and water/marine pollution (including groundwater, wastewater, and stormwater). Smoking and/tobacco policy is not a pollution prevention policy/strategy.
Resilience to catastrophe/disaster
Preparedness of the built environment towards existing and future threats of natural disaster (e.g., the ability to absorb disturbances such as increased precipitation or flooding while maintaining its structure). This can be achieved by management policies, informational technologies, educating tenants, communities, suppliers and physical measures at the asset level.
Sustainable procurement
Encourage, facilitate or require the reduction of consumption of goods within the building or premises and/or the sourcing of sustainable or ethical goods. Clauses can relate to reduction of paper consumption, supply of biodegradable materials, use of recycled paper, building materials, etc.
Waste management
Issues associated with hazardous and non-hazardous waste generation, reuse, recycling, composting, recovery, incineration, landfill and on-site storage.
Water consumption
The use of water resources by the entity.
Validation: What evidence is required?
Evidence
The evidence provided will be subject to manual validation.
The provided evidence must demonstrate the existence of formal policy document(s) that address(es) each of the selected environmental issues and not simply a list of general goals and/or commitments.
A policy is a guide for action that can serve the purpose of:
Outlining rules and procedures
Providing principles that guide action
Setting roles and responsibilities
Describing values and beliefs
Stating an intention to act or achieve defined goals and/or company vision
Acceptable evidence may include, but is not limited to, an environmental policy document, official documents, or links to online resources describing the entity's environmental policy(ies). References such as bullet points or passages within a policy can be provided to describe the goals or ambitions for each issue.
The evidence should support each of the selected issues with a relevant document, such as an energy consumption policy or a waste management policy. Note that overarching environmental policy documents covering multiple issues must have separate sections/clauses relevant to each of the selected issues.
Net Zero Policy
Evidence provided for the Net Zero policy is subject to the same reporting requirements as policies on other environmental issues. The same document can be used to support the existence of a policy addressing Net Zero as well as all other selected environmental issues.
Exemption Criteria
For PO1–3, GRESB recognizes that an entity’s policies typically remain consistent from year to year and across multiple reporting periods.
Therefore, entities that either (1) achieved full points in the previous submission or (2) achieved partial points but do not wish to modify their responses or supporting evidence can pre-fill this indicator and leave it unchanged in the current assessment cycle.
So long as the indicator response and documentation remain consistent (i.e., the entity does not modify its selections or evidence), GRESB will automatically reapply the previous year's validation decision. GRESB recommends that participants simply note that the documents apply to the current reporting year to ensure the evidence remains year-agnostic.
Scenario (1) - Entities that previously earned full points: changing any selections or evidence will not affect the validation decision. In practice, this means that an entity could:
Leave the same links to policy documents, even if some links are no longer active,
Replace last year’s links with inactive ones, or
Replace last year’s documents with blank files — and still receive full acceptance for 2025.
However, an entity cannot:
Remove the previously provided links and supply no evidence this year. Once an entity selects 'Yes’ for PO1–3, the portal will continue requiring supporting documentation.
Scenario (2) - Entities that previously earned partial points: changing the indicator response and/or documentation will prompt GRESB to re-validate the indicator.
Please note that GRESB encourages participants to update their evidence if there have been any material changes to the policy that the entity wishes to present to investors.
Other Answer
The other answer(s) provided will be subject to manual validation.
List applicable 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. If multiple ‘Other’ answers are acceptable, only one will be counted towards scoring.
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.
Evidence: The evidence is manually validated and assigned a multiplier, according to the table below. The evidence must support the validation requirements.
If any requirements are not met, the evidence may be partially accepted or not accepted depending on the level of alignment with the requirements.
Accepted
2/2
Partially Accepted
1/2
Not Accepted
0
Other: The 'Other' answer is manually validated and assigned a score which is used as a multiplying factor, as per the table below:
Accepted
1/1
Not Accepted
0
Duplicate
0
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a policy that addresses emissions reduction qualify as a Net Zero Policy?
No. A policy solely on reducing emissions would not qualify as a Net Zero Policy. GRESB requires a Net Zero Policy to explicitly address Net Zero or Carbon Neutrality.
I have the relevant policies, but they are not on our website. Can I still answer "Yes" to these indicators for PO1-3?
Yes. Public disclosure is not required. If you have the policies documented and implemented within your organization you can answer "Yes" regardless of whether they are publicly available.
My company rebranded during the reporting year. Which version of policies should we submit for PO1-3?
GRESB recommends uploading the most recent (post-rebranding) versions of your documents, as these will be used to pre-fill some indicators in your next assessment. However, GRESB accepts policies that were in effect at any time during the reporting year (Fiscal year or Calendar year, as selected in indicator EC4). This means you can upload either the pre-rebranding policy, the post-rebranding policy, or both. Please use the open text box to explain that the rebranding occurred, and the entity name changed during the year.
My entity recently updated our internal policies. Can I submit these as evidence?
Yes, as long as the policy was in place at some point during the reporting year (Fiscal year or Calendar year, as selected in indicator EC4).
However, if a policy update was released after the reporting year ended, it will not be accepted, since the policy was not applicable at any point during the reporting year.
For the PO1-3 'Exemption Criteria' to apply, do I need to pre-fill my indicator response, or will GRESB do this automatically?
If participants wish to use the PO1-3 exemption, they must select the pre-filling option to carry the previous year's responses to PO1-3 into the current assessment. GRESB will not pre-populate anything on an entity's behalf.
References
The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, 1994 Global Reporting Initiative
EPRA Best Practices Recommendations on Sustainability Reporting, 3rd version, September 2017: 7.9, Narrative on performance
GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards (2016): GRI, 301, 302, 303, 304, 305, 306, 307; GRI, 416
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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