Survey

Why participate?

Benchmarking the sustainability performance of real estate investments helps to generate and strengthen the market forces needed to bring sustainability issues to the forefront of business decision-making, encouraging more efficient use of energy and other resources and lowering operational costs. Increased transparency also allows real estate companies and funds to manage directly the risks of higher and more volatile energy prices, stricter legislation and the changing preferences of corporate tenants.

The GRESB Survey and Benchmark provide listed real estate companies and private funds with the tools to benchmark the sustainability performance of their portfolio against peers operating in the same property type and region, communicate the sustainability performance of the company/fund to the capital market and develop tailored action plans, set clear sustainability targets, and track performance over time.

There is no charge for participating in the annual GRESB Survey and all participating real estate companies and funds receive an overview of their Survey results free of charge. This overview contains a summary of the sustainability performance of the real estate portfolio (including strengths and weaknesses) relative to peers.

Resources

The 2013 GRESB Survey and other resources can be downloaded below

Respondent portal

Respondents can log in here both to complete the Survey and to view their Scorecards.

Methodology & Scoring

Each year between April and July, GRESB collects data via its online portal from real estate companies and private funds, regarding a range of sustainability issues. That data is then verified and analyzed. The annual Survey results are published in September each year.

The approximately 50 questions in the Survey are divided into seven unique sustainability aspects. The scores for the seven aspects generate the total GRESB score – a percentage of a 100 percent maximum. The total GRESB score is further divided into two dimensions Management & Policy and Implementation & Measurement. GRESB rewards actions more highly than policies and so a participant’s score for Implementation & Measurement comprises two-thirds of the total GRESB score.

GRESB also includes an additional aspect in the Survey for those companies and funds that undertake developments and major refurbishments. The New Construction and Major Renovation aspect is based on the same methodology as the remainder of the GRESB Survey but it is scored separately and is not included in the total GRESB score.