10 Common Questions About GRESB, Answered

The GRESB assessment process can appear time-consuming or complex for some users, especially first-time participants. This article answers 10 common questions about GRESB to help you identify key resources and make the most of your participation. It covers tips on how to streamline your reporting experience, ensure you meet GRESB’s requirements, and navigate the GRESB Portal.

To add a new user as a contributor, the account manager of the entity can do so independently using the following steps:

1. Click on the entity name in the GRESB Portal.
2. Select “User Access Rights.”
3. Click “Invite new collaborator”, enter the user’s details, and assign the desired level of access. Then click “Invite” to complete the process.

Please note that the level of access rights will greatly impact how much a user can accomplish/access in the context of this reporting entity. See GRESB Guides for details on each user access level.

Real estate

There are four Components in the Real Estate Assessment: Management, Performance, Development, and Residential. Component selection affects the assessment output and is entirely at the participant’s discretion. However, once the participant chooses to complete a component, it must report 100% of owned assets within its scope. 

In cases where an entity has standing investments and development projects and considers itself both a building operator and involved in development activities, GRESB highly recommends participating in both benchmarks (Standing Investment & Development). This means completing the Management, Performance, and Development Components. 

In cases when the entity chooses to complete the Performance Component AND has a portfolio comprised of at least 75% residential assets (by gross asset value), GRESB also recommends completing the Residential Component, which is specifically tailored to this sector. 

Infrastructure

Infrastructure Fund participants only have one component to complete—the Management Component as part of the Infrastructure Fund Assessment. The underlying assets within a fund’s portfolio are responsible for completing the Performance and/or Development Components within their own respective GRESB Infrastructure Asset Assessments. 

First-time and returning participants can: 

• Use the Template Tool to complete answers for sections of the Assessment that are applicable across several entities.
  • See a list of indicators to which the template can be applied here for real estate and here for infrastructure. 

The GRESB Portal also includes several features to help participants carry forward previously reported data and reduce manual re-entry. 

Participants that submitted an assessment the previous year can: 

• Export the Asset Spreadsheet from the previous reporting year and use it as the basis for the current year’s submission. This allows you to retain asset-level characteristics and update performance data as needed. 
  • Note that this applies to real estate participants only. 

• Use the Pre-fill Tool, which automatically carries forward selected portfolio-level responses from the prior year into the current assessment.  
  • See a list of prefill-eligible indicators here for real estate and here for infrastructure. 

Together, these tools are designed to streamline year-on-year reporting while ensuring alignment with the latest version of the GRESB Standards. 

All assessment answers must directly apply to the entity identified in EC1, i.e., the investable entity for which participants submit an Assessment response, regardless of whether the indicator is manually validated. 

When a participating entity belongs to a larger investment management organization or group of companies (the “organization”), it must clearly explain the relationship between the entity and the organization. This ensures that group-level answers or evidence are appropriately linked to the reporting entity. Often, this clarification can be provided within the evidence itself or in an open text box. Note, however, that GRESB requires evidence for the “Climate-Related Risk Management” indicators to be entity-specific. 

Following the GRESB Standards Development Process, the GRESB Foundation reviews and approves updates to the GRESB Standards annually.  

The following pages cover all updates to the 2026 Standards: 

• Real Estate Standard Updates 
• Infrastructure Fund Standard Updates 
• Infrastructure Asset Standard Updates 
• Infrastructure Development Asset Standard Updates 

For a snapshot of the Foundation’s work at the end of 2025 and a high-level plan for the development of the GRESB Standards in 2026 and beyond, see the GRESB Foundation Roadmap. 

Real Estate participants can also find a tailored view of how the updates to the 2026 Real Estate Standard could affect an entity’s scoring (based on 2025 assessment data) within the Standards Methodology Insights Report. 

Lastly, participants who wish to discuss the Standards updates in more depth with experts from the Member Success Team can do so using GRESB’s Technical Expert Touchpoint service. 

Participants completing the Performance Component of the Real Estate Assessment must report on all standing investments in their portfolio during the reporting year, regardless of ownership or operational control percentage. This includes those sold or purchasedand/or assets that may not be recorded as physical assets on the entity’s balance sheet (e.g., assets structured as a financial lease).  

Only non-real estate assets owned by the entity should be excluded from the reporting boundary requirements. Participants must therefore exclude vacant land, dormant assets, cash, and ground leases. Assets owned for only one day during the reporting year should be excluded from the scope. 

See the Real Estate Reporting Scope & Boundaries guidance for more information. 

GRESB uses materiality‑based scoring across the Infrastructure Asset Assessments. This process ensures that all assets are assessed and scored based on the sustainability issues that are most material to their circumstances.  

Participants can use the Materiality & Scoring Tools (here for the Asset Assessment and here for the Development Asset Assessment) to simulate the materiality outcomes that will apply to their submission. For example, after inputting the asset’s primary sector, the tool will reveal which sustainability-related issues are deemed relevant or not. 

Real Estate 

As a rule, Real Estate Participants must use actual data (i.e., non-estimated data) when reporting on aspects of Energy, GHG, Water, and Waste in the Performance Component. However, when actual data is partially unavailable, participants may estimate, in accordance with GRESB estimation rules, to fill the gaps. See this page for a detailed overview of the data estimation rules. 

Infrastructure 

As a rule, Infrastructure Asset Participants are required to use actual data (i.e., directly measured from utilities or meters, documented, or derived using recognized standards) when reporting material performance data. Broad extrapolations of data and general estimates should not be reported.  

Participants must explain the methodology used to measure data and to calculate data coverage in an open text box below the performance table of the Infrastructure Asset Assessment (when relevant). 

Errors appear in red when the Portal detects logical inconsistences between related asset-level fields, or when a required input is missing or outside an accepted range. Follow these practical steps to identify and resolve errors:

1. Open the error and identify the triggering fields.

Most Portal errors are caused by a mismatch between two or more related fields.

2. Check for the most common root causes.

Common causes include: 

• Missing required fields
• Boundary inconsistency
• Floor area logic contradicts asset size 
• Incorrect mapping between Energy and GHG emissions 

See this page for a more detailed explanation of common error causes.  

3. Correct the underlying data in the Asset Spreadsheet, and re-import it.

Once you update the problematic fields, re-import the Asset Spreadsheet and confirm the error clears. If it does not, the error message usually points to the next dependency to fix.

If you still have trouble resolving errors, contact the GRESB Helpdesk at [email protected]. 

GRESB Scores are not made public. Results and data output of the GRESB assessments are only disclosed to the participants themselves and their investors, who use GRESB data to inform their investment decisions. 

• Non-listed entities: Must give explicit consent to GRESB Investor Members to see your data and GRESB Results. Non-listed Investor Members associated with the company/fund must request access to a non-listed participant’s Benchmark Report results. This gives the participant control over accepting or denying this request.
• Listed entities: All GRESB Investor Members with a listed subscription are granted automatic access to the Benchmark Report results of listed entities. 

Participants reporting to GRESB for the first time can choose the Grace Period, meaning that they can opt out of allowing GRESB investors members to request access to their first-year GRESB data and results.