GRESB has released Know Your Grid: How Cleaner Electricity Shapes Real Estate Capital Planning, new research examining how the interaction between buildings and grid carbon intensity trajectories can inform capital planning across real estate portfolios.
The research brings together two complementary asset-level datasets within GRESB for the first time: GRESB Real Estate Assessment data on building energy use and performance and Asset Impact’s forward-looking data on power plants across 217 countries and territories.
Together, they address a practical investment question: How much of an asset’s future decarbonization can be delivered by changes in the electricity grid, and where will additional investment in efficiency, electrification and on-site clean energy have the greatest impact?
What the findings mean for capital planning
Across the analyzed building stock, anticipated grid changes alone reduce cumulative emissions by 15% between 2026 and 2040. Combining grid change with rapid improvements to energy efficiency, electrification and on-site renewable generation increases the reduction to as much as 57%.
The research points to four recommendations for investors and managers:
- Know the grid: Consider both the current emissions intensity of the electricity grid serving an asset and how quickly it is expected to change.
- Plan around local grid conditions: Grid characteristics affect whether efficiency, electrification or on-site clean energy should be prioritized, and how quickly action is needed.
- Base decisions on asset-level data: Property type, energy intensity, fuel use, and local grid conditions determine which interventions will be most effective.
- Consider cumulative emissions, not only the endpoint: Pathways that reach similar annual emissions in 2040 can produce materially different emissions along the way.
The study provides an early example of the direction set out in GRESB’s September strategy announcement by connecting two of GRESB’s complementary datasets. GRESB provides validated sustainability performance data across real assets, while Asset Impact, part of GRESB since 2022, adds forward-looking transition data across high-emitting sectors. Together, they create a unique foundation for decision-grade intelligence that places asset performance in its market context and helps the industry translate sustainability data into action that advances decarbonization and delivers meaningful asset improvement at scale.
2026 GRESB Insights Events: Locations, Dates & Registration
Kicking off tomorrow, the 2026 GRESB Insights Events span two formats, GRESB Regional Insights and GRESB Partner Insights. The series will bring together investors, managers, and industry leaders across Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America to examine the 2026 GRESB Benchmark results and explore how a stronger focus on measured performance connects with capital allocation, asset economics, and comparability across real asset markets.
2026 GRESB Insights Events: Locations, Dates & Registration
The 2026 GRESB Insights Events will provide an opportunity to discuss what this direction means in practice. Spanning two formats, GRESB Regional Insights and GRESB Partner Insights, the series will bring investors, managers, and industry leaders together across Asia Pacific, Europe, and North America to examine the 2026 GRESB Benchmark results and explore how a stronger focus on measured performance connects with capital allocation, asset economics, and comparability across real asset markets.
GRESB Regional Insights
One city per region. GRESB’s senior leadership will be on the ground, presenting the 2026 GRESB Results alongside the trends, opportunities, and priorities shaping each regional market. The events will provide a closer look at how the next phase of GRESB’s strategy will show up in the standards, data, and insights customers use, while expert panels will place local developments in a global context.
GRESB Partner Insights
A local lens. Hosted by GRESB Partners in seven cities worldwide, each event brings forward the priorities, challenges, and opportunities shaping its market, and connects them to three shared areas of value: Capital, Cost, and Comparability.
Registration is open for all the events in the series. Register your interest to secure your place and be the first to hear as further cities, dates, and program details are confirmed.
Foundation Update
The GRESB Foundation Board has approved the 2028 Real Estate and Infrastructure Standards, the first GRESB Standards to put the Road to Performance into practice. Our thanks go to the members of the Standards Committees and Foundation Board for their time and expertise, and to the more than 260 industry organizations whose consultation responses shaped what changes, when, and how members will be supported through the transition.
In early November, the Foundation will set out what the 2028 Standards mean for investors and managers, and how to prepare during 2027. Over the next few weeks, the GRESB team will be reaching out to schedule 1:1 meetings with its investors members and participants, to walk them through what the upcoming standard changes will mean for them in practice.
Join the GRESB Foundation
The GRESB Standards are industry-governed, set independently by professionals from across real asset markets. If you’re interested in joining the Foundation Board or one of its Standards Committees, apply here:
We’ll be in touch with next steps.
GRESB Industry Insights
Fundamentals Participant Q&A
Sinyi Group, the first organization globally to complete Fundamentals, shares its experience in our first Fundamentals case study.
As Taiwan’s leading direct-owned real estate brokerage and integrated real estate services provider, Sinyi used Fundamentals to connect its corporate sustainability strategy with day-to-day implementation, bringing commitments, policies, responsibilities, and evidence together in a single management structure.
“Participating in GRESB helps create trust. By translating our policies, responsibilities, risks, and monitoring into a globally recognizable structure, it gives us a common language with investors, customers, regulators, business partners, and communities.” — Dr. Yun-Sheng Hsu, Director, Sinyi Group.
The Pulse by GRESB
The Pulse by GRESB is an informative content series featuring the GRESB team, partners, GRESB Foundation members, and other industry experts, published on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Listen to the latest episode below:
- Aligning GRESB Data: North American Building Standards & Benchmarking Laws
- Aligning Capital With Performance: The Rise of Sustainability-Linked Finance in Real Assets
- From Data to Decisions: What Makes Data Credible
Access all episodes here.
Contribute to GRESB Industry Insights
Industry insights from our partners and members into “Sustainability Performance Impact on Valuations” and other rolling topics:
- From data collection to value creation: Why GRESB data now matters in valuation | Rider Levett Bucknall (RLB)
- A portfolio owner’s guide to corporate reporting in the era of LEED v5 | Brightworks Sustainability
- From energy savings to investment performance: Breaking the commercial property standoff | Symphony Energy
- Sustainability performance and valuation: The evidence is everywhere except the appraisal | Longevity Partners
- From sustainability performance to asset value: Why lifecycle intelligence should matter for data center investors | MoruBld AI Pte. Ltd
Interested in contributing? Check out the 2026 GRESB Editorial Calendar for fixed monthly topics and submission guidelines. The topic for September is “Decarbonization Strategies & Planning.”
Upcoming Industry Events
Sustainable Finance & Investing Forum at Greenbuild
October 20, 2026 | New York
SF&I Forum brings together owners, investors, and lenders from across real estate, infrastructure, and finance for two days on how investment strategy, asset and operational performance, and long-term value are converging.
The GRESB Regional Insights event in New York runs as part of the program. If you’re attending the Forum, register for Regional Insights too and join us there. GRESB provides a discounted registration code to attend the Forum, prior to the GRESB Regional Insights program.
Enter code: GRESB when you register at SF&I FORUM Registration.
Sign up for the newsletter
Want more insights from GRESB? Subscribe to our email newsletter.