2022 Real Estate Assessment Results

Below is aggregated data from our 2022 Real Estate Benchmark. Participant members who take part in the assessment receive a benchmark report that can be used to engage with investors, see where they fit among peers, and identify physical, transition, and business risk and opportunities.

• The 2022 real estate benchmark saw the largest ever growth in total numbers, with 1,820 entities now participating worldwide, covering USD 6.9 trillion of GAV across 74 countries. Significant growth was focused in the Americas (30%), APAC (21%), and Europe (16%). See the full list of 2022 participants here. 
• Average GRESB scores increased by a point to 74 for the Standing Investments Benchmark and by two points to 81 in the Development Benchmark.
• GRESB data is now used by 170 institutional and financial investors with more than USD 51 trillion in assets under management.

Most growth comes from the Americas (30% y-o-y increase, +111 entities) and Europe (16% y-o-y increase, 123 entities). The US has also registered the highest progress in terms of number of new participants (78 new participants reaching 380 total in 2022.) Germany has passed the 100-participant mark with a steep increase in participation of 34%. Remarkably, Brazil grew by 170%, albeit from a smaller starting point (7 participants in 2021 to 19 in 2022).

• Despite the lagged impact of the pandemic recovery on participants’ performance scores, the average GRESB Score has improved by one point to 74. 
• Oceania continues to lead the way, well ahead of the global average with a GRESB Score for the region of 81.
• Asia is following closely, with an average of 78, which is a significant improvement compared to last year’s score of 75.
• Improvements are also observed in Europe, where the average GRESB Score went up by two points to 73.
• The steep increase in participation in the Americas region has impacted the average GRESB Score for the region. With 30% of the Americas benchmark consisting of first-year GRESB participants, the average GRESB Score has dropped by one point to 72.

The graphic below shows average GRESB score by starting year of assessment participants. On average, GRESB participants see a 10 percentage point increase in their GRESB score in their second year of reporting.

This year saw a slight decrease in Energy, GHG, and Water scores as a result of real estate portfolios returning to a pre-COVID-19 state of operations

The impact of the pandemic recovery that is observed in the decreased performance scores is also visible in the underlying performance metrics. Looking at like-for-like (LFL) consumption change, we observe increases across the benchmark. The increase in energy consumption is most significant in Europe (3% LFL consumption change). Oceania is the only region where the recovery from the pandemic has not resulted in an increase in y-o-y consumption and entities from that region were able to continue to showcase significant LFL reductions across Energy, GHG, and Water.

GRESB determines alignment with the TCFD recommended disclosures by the reported existence of leadership structures, risks, and other climate-related processes that relate to the four TCFD core elements. Maximum alignment (full TCFD alignment percentage) indicates the highest level of alignment that GRESB can facilitate through its Assessments. While this assesses whether an entity has successfully reported against each of the 11 TCFD recommended disclosures, a maximum score does not mean that more could not be done to increase the quality and scope of those disclosures.

The graph below displays the readiness of the GRESB Universe to report its ESG Performance in line with the SFDR. It represents the share of assets reported to GRESB that have sufficient data to report on each of the mandatory PAI indicators. This shows that a participant subject to SFDR disclosure that is used to collecting and reporting on ESG data for GRESB is more readily prepared to disclose their ESG Performance in accordance with SFDR.

Earlier this year we launched an SFDR Reporting Solution for Real Estate and we already see its first users capitalizing on the data already reported to GRESB to prepare for the mandatory disclosures as of 2023.

• Based on output from GRESB’s Transition Risk Report, the graph above is an aggregation of the entire GRESB Universe’s performance against the CRREM pathways.
• It represents the floor-area aggregation of the GHG intensity of all operational assets reported to GRESB, compared against their relevant CRREM pathway. 

For assets with missing energy consumption data, GRESB’s Estimation Model and GHG calculation methodology has been applied.