What’s New in October
- 2026 GRESB Standards Updates
- 2025 Sector Leaders and Top Performers
- GRESB & MIPIM Global Sentiment Survey
- Upcoming Regional Insights events
Read on to explore this month’s updates.
2026 GRESB Standards Updates
Each year, the GRESB Standards evolve to reflect industry progress and ensure that sustainability data is consistent, comparable, and decision-useful.
The 2026 GRESB Standards Updates build on this foundation with updates that:
- Strengthen incentives for meaningful action in key impact areas
- Enhance clarity, technical robustness, and sector relevance
- Streamline reporting by retiring select indicators and clarifying guidance
These updates follow the multi-year roadmap developed through the GRESB Foundation, ensuring changes are predictable, transparent, and led by the industry. They also represent an important step toward the Foundation’s longer-term vision for the GRESB Standards and the transition toward rewarding measured, real-world performance.
Real Estate
A concise summary of the key 2026 Real Estate Standard updates is available on our website, including updates to embodied carbon, net zero, and building certifications.
View 2026 Real Estate Standard Updates.
Infrastructure
Key 2026 updates for Infrastructure across the Fund, Asset, and Development Asset Standards are available on the GRESB website. The overview highlights how the updates reduce reporting burden through a more static Fund Assessment, sharpen focus on material issues such as sustainability-related risk and net zero, and ensure that GRESB results remain actionable and relevant.
2026 GRESB Standards Updates and the Road Ahead Webinar
Join us online on December 2 and 4 to hear directly from the GRESB team about the 2026 GRESB Standards Updates, the forthcoming 2026 GRESB Foundation Roadmap, and the broader engagements planned for the years ahead.
Following the release of the 2026 GRESB Standards Updates, this webinar offers an exclusive opportunity to explore key changes and understand how they advance the Foundation’s long-term vision toward rewarding measured, real-world performance.
Participants are invited to submit questions during the registration process. The GRESB team will address the most relevant topics during the webinar and in a follow-up summary.
Submit your questions and register below:
2025 Sector Leaders and Top Performers
Last week, GRESB announced the 2025 Sector Leaders and Top Performers, recognizing participants who demonstrate outstanding performance by sector, region, and nature of ownership across the Real Estate and Infrastructure Assessments.
This year’s results highlight organizations exemplifying strong fundamentals, operational excellence, and measurable performance that drives long-term value.
New in 2025: Residential Real Estate Top Performer
The inaugural Residential Component introduced a tailored sector-specific framework for residential portfolios, providing more meaningful insights and peer comparisons that reflect the sector’s unique characteristics and resilience.
Explore the full list of Sector Leaders:
- Real Estate – Standing Investment Sector Leaders
- Real Estate – Development Sector Leaders
- Residential Real Estate – Top Performers
- Infrastructure Fund, Asset, and Development Asset Sector Leaders
Read more about the 2025 GRESB Sector Leaders and Top Performers.
GRESB Events
GRESB Global Results 2025 On Demand
Launched on October 15, the GRESB Global Results 2025 program is available on demand.
Brought to you in a brand-new format, this year’s program is designed to help you see the big picture of today’s market dynamics and surface the signals that matter most for decision-making and long-term value creation. It offers an immersive experience that lets you explore the Benchmark Results and discover how members are strengthening resilience, improving efficiency, and managing risk to unlock long-term value—at your convenience.
Beyond the results, the program highlights what the investment community will be watching next, including themes such as rising physical risk, efficiency as a competitive edge, and investor priorities.
Join Us in Person at GRESB’s Regional Insights Events
Building on the Global Results, the GRESB Regional Insights 2025 events series will translate the same fundamentals—clarity, resilience, and operational efficiency—into market-specific takeaways. Each in-person event will unpack the signals behind the scores for your region, highlighting what the GRESB Benchmark indicates about local risk pressures, operational improvement momentum, and how investors in your market are responding.
Co-hosted with GRESB Partners across 30+ cities worldwide, these events will pair data briefings with practical, real-world examples—so you can benchmark locally, compare peers, and turn insights into next steps for 2026 planning.
Register for any of the upcoming Regional Insights events here.
GRESB Results Consultation
From October 1 through January 15, 2026, Participants can request a Results Consultation with the GRESB team to gain deeper insights into their final results and peer comparisons. This includes:
- A review of your Benchmark Report
- A one-on-one discussion call with the GRESB team
- A follow-up Results Consultation report
The Results Consultation provides detailed insight into the validation process and the allocation of points for individual indicators. Many participants use this service to support discussions with investors and to develop a plan for improving performance in the future.
You can request a Results Consultation directly in the GRESB Portal.
Learn more here.
GRESB & MIPIM Sentiment Survey
GRESB and MIPIM have launched a global sentiment survey to understand how the real estate industry is evolving its approach to sustainability.
While the term “ESG” may be fading, the fundamentals of value creation, risk management, and long-term resilience remain central. The survey examines how organizations are translating these principles into action—and whether the industry is staying on course toward its sustainability goals.
All responses are confidential, with results to be shared later this year and featured at MIPIM 2026.
Foundation Update
Foundation Board Membership Update
The Foundation Board is pleased to welcome its newest member: Jorge Chapa, Chief Impact Officer at Green Building Council of Australia to the board. Jorge is a global leader and has been an advocate for advancing sustainability tools for more than two decades. We are grateful for Jorge’s support of the GRESB Standards and, on behalf of the GRESB Foundation Board Chair, Katie Jowett, the Foundation Board and the entire Foundation, we are excited to welcome him to the Foundation!
Standards Committee Membership Update
The Foundation Board recently voted to add four new members to the Standards Committees: Samiya Jmili (AXA Investment Managers) and Katie Wu, (Manulife) joined the Infrastructure Standards Committee (ISC) and Stan Bertram (PGGM) and Patrick Ho (Swire Properties) joined the Real Estate Standards Committee (RESC). Both the RESC and ISC represent a diversity of organizations, sectors, and geographies, and we are grateful for their commitment to advancing the GRESB Standards. On behalf of the GRESB Foundation Board Chair, Katie Jowett, the RESC and ISC Chairs, and the entire Foundation Board, we are excited to welcome them to the Foundation!
The selection process was highly competitive due to the number of exceptional applicants. The Foundation will continue to accept applications on a rolling basis and will review applications before the beginning of the next standards development cycle (Q3 2026).
Foundation Roundtables
The Foundation continues to host roundtables around the world focused on priority topics highlighted in the Foundation Roadmap (updated version to be published next month). Several members of the Foundation, as well as several GRESB Investor Members will be in Toronto on Tuesday, November 18, following the Regional Insights event to discuss investments in resilient real assets. Please reach out to [email protected] to learn more about the Roundtable.
GRESB Insights
The Pulse by GRESB
The Pulse by GRESB is an informative content series featuring the GRESB team, partners, GRESB Foundation members, and other experts, published on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and YouTube. Listen to the latest episodes below:
Rethinking Energy Procurement: From Compliance to Competitive Advantage
Host Reid Morgan, Director, Member Relations, Americas at GRESB, speaks with Nathan Rice and Ed Conlisk from Energy CX about how deregulation, volatility, and rising demand from data centers are reshaping procurement—and how proactive, data-driven strategies can reduce risk and strengthen portfolio resilience.
New rules and biodiversity: Diving into the changing landscape for infrastructure
Host Antonina Ivanova, Associate, Infrastructure at GRESB, speaks with CMS experts Rebecca Roffe and Laura Gunn to unpack the fast-growing field of biodiversity regulation and its impact on infrastructure.
GRESB Case Study Spotlight
Building Expertise and Confidence: E.S.G. Solutions’ Journey with the GRESB AP Program
As part of our interview series highlighting GRESB Accredited Professionals, we sat down with Antonio Messina, Managing Director, and Anna Rinaldi, Senior Sustainability Consultant, at GRESB Partner E.S.G. Solutions to discuss their journey with the credential, the insights they gained along the way, and how it has strengthened their ability to support clients.
In the interview, they share how the credential has enhanced the quality of their guidance, improved reporting processes, and reinforced their role as trusted advisors in sustainable real estate.
Contribute to GRESB Insights
Industry insights from our partners and members into “Brown-to-green strategies/valuations” and other rolling topics this month included:
- Beyond blind retrofits: ESG data restores clarity to brown-to-green transformations | Utopi Ltd
- Investor climate action under fire: How fiduciary duty and antitrust are shaping the debate | Verdani Partners
- An assessor’s insight: How NABERS UK ratings are incentivizing continuous improvement | Verco
- Your asset faces climate risks. Now what? | ClimateFirst
- Rising utility costs and the untapped potential of emerging technologies | IREM
Interested in contributing? Check out the 2025 GRESB Editorial Calendar for fixed monthly topics and submission guidelines. The topic for November is “Net-zero alignment.”
Upcoming Industry Events
Greenbuild Sustainable Finance and Investment Forum
November 3–4 | Los Angeles, CA
Discover how finance and investing can help create a healthier, more environmentally sound, and enduring built environment. Chris Pyke, Chief Innovation Officer at GRESB, will present “The Next Era of Sustainable Real Estate Investment: Impact, Improvement, and Sector-Specificity.”
Save USD 250 with code: GRESB
PRI in Person 2025
November 4–6 | São Paulo, Brazil
This event will unite 1,000 leaders and practitioners from the global investment ecosystem for three days of strategic insights, peer exchange, and action-oriented debate ahead of COP30. The event will explore navigating urgent challenges with resilient strategies while unlocking investable opportunities.
Data Centres Private Equity Europe
November 10 | London, UK
Join Cathy Granneman, Program Manager, Innovation at GRESB, for the session “ESG and Sustainable Data Centre Development: Net-Zero Commitments and Carbon Accounting.” Focused on investing in data centers, the event will deliver networking opportunities through dynamic panel discussions, interactive roundtables, and structured meetups.
Check out the GRESB Event Calendar for more events and webinars.
Careers
GRESB is growing and looking for new people! Our most recently added open positions:
- Marketing & Communications Internship | Amsterdam
What are we reading
Does physical climate risk carry a financing premium? | Bloomberg
Forging ahead with sustainability against political headwinds | Infrastructure Investor
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