PO3: Governance 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 governance issues?
Assessment Instructions
Intent: What is the purpose of this indicator?
This indicator evaluates whether the entity has policies that address key governance issues and the scope of those policies. Strong governance policies help embed sustainability considerations into business practices, support effective oversight, and reinforce accountability across the organization.
Input: How do I complete this indicator?
Select yes or no. If yes, select all applicable sub-options.
Terminology
Bribery
The offering, giving, receiving or soliciting an item of value to influence the actions of an official or other person in charge of a public or legal fiduciary duty.
Corruption
Abuse of entrusted power for private gain.
Cyber security
Protection from an assault by a third party via a computer against another computer or computer system, which is intended to compromise the integrity, availability or confidentiality of that computer or computer system.
Data protection and privacy
Customer privacy includes matters such as the protection of data; the use of information or data for their original intended purpose only, unless specifically agreed otherwise; the obligation to observe confidentiality; and the protection of information or data from misuse or theft.
Executive compensation
The financial payments and non-monetary benefits provided to high-level management in exchange for their work on behalf of an entity.
Fiduciary duty
Refers to the obligations of loyalty and care in regard to the responsibility of managing someone else’s assets. A fiduciary duty is a position of trust and examples include a duty of confidentiality, a duty of no conflict, and a duty not to profit from his position.
Forced or compulsory labor
All work or service which is expected from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily.
Fraud
Wrongful deception intended to result in financial or personal gain.
Governance issues
Governance structure and composition of the entity. This includes how the highest governance body is established and structured in support of the entity’s purpose, and how this purpose relates to economic, environmental and social dimensions.
Political contributions
Financial or in-kind support given directly or indirectly to political parties, their elected representatives, or persons seeking political office.
Shareholder rights
Can include the right to share in the company's profitability, income, and assets; a proxy statement; a degree of control and influence over company management selection; preemptive rights to newly issued shares; and general meeting voting rights.
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 which 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 ambition 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.
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 governance 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. “Solicitation” when “‘Bribery” is selected). It is possible to report multiple ‘Other’ answers. If multiple ‘Other’ answers are acceptable, only one will be counted in 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
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
EPRA Best Practices Recommendations on Sustainability Reporting, 3rd version, September 2017: 7.9, Narrative on performance
GRI Sustainability Reporting Standards (2016): 102-35; 102-37; GRI 205
RobecoSAM Corporate Sustainability Assessment 2017: 3.1.7
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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