Background
Since its inception, the GRESB Standard has recognized building certifications as a valuable proxy for management and performance. High quality certifications serve as an additional layer of transparency to investors, distinguishing spaces and facilities that have received third-party recognition for sustainability efforts.
In the last decade, the building certification landscape has significantly evolved and expanded, resulting in an ever-growing number of available schemes covering a wider variety of ESG topics.
At the same time, the scope and significance of the GRESB Standard continue to adapt to fast-changing expectations from institutional investors.
The GRESB Foundation has asked the Real Estate Standard Committee to review the current situation, including engaging with key stakeholders, collecting feedback, and potentially developing new criteria to accept and score building certifications.
The GRESB Real Estate Standard
The GRESB Real Estate Standard applies several evaluation criteria to recognize and score building certifications schemes. Current criteria provide a large number of schemes with full recognition and limited information to inform scoring and analysis.
In response, the GRESB Foundation requests stakeholder feedback to develop new building certification evaluation criteria that will:
- Elevate best-in-class schemes, encouraging broader adoption within the industry
- Refine the list of accepted schemes, recognizing those with the greatest credibility and impact
- Enhance transparency on key evaluation metrics, informing investment decision-making
Feedback process
The feedback process offers GRESB stakeholders the opportunity to review and comment on a revised list of criteria drafted by the GRESB Foundation via a public consultation.
Input will be solicited from three groups of stakeholders:
- Group 1: Participant Members and Industry Partners
- Group 2: Partners and other key stakeholders
- Group 3: Investor Members
Each stakeholder group will be consulted over a two-week period, and the criteria will be refined and updated using feedback from each group. Investor Members will be the last group consulted in the process, offering them the opportunity to review the criteria that incorporate feedback from other groups.
The final criteria will subsequently be provided to the Real Estate Standard Committee for their consideration. They may elect to accept, reject, or request revisions to the new criteria. If needed, the Real Estate Standard Committee may refer them to the Foundation Board for a final decision.
Subject to changes by the committee or board, the new criteria will be published in October 2024, in an effort to be effective for the 2025 Real Estate Standard.
Timeline
The consultation process will last approximately ten weeks, from April-June 2024. Specific milestones are provided below:
Consultation – Participants Members and Industry Partners
April 15: Secretariat shares the first draft criteria with Group 1.
April 15-28: Consultation period opens for Group 1.
Consultation – Partners and other key stakeholders
May 6: Revised draft criteria shared with Group 2.
May 6-19: Consultation period opens for Group 2.
Consultation – Investor Members
May 27: Revised draft criteria shared with Group 3.
May 27-June 9: Consultation period opens for Group 3.
Review – GRESB Foundation
June-July: Review conducted by the Real Estate Standard Committee
September: Publication of criteria and impact on Real Estate Standard
How to contribute
If interested, please sign up via the form below. We will keep you informed on the timeline for providing your feedback.
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