The 2025 GRESB Standards & Reference Guides and reporting resources are now available

We are excited to announce that the newly released 2025 GRESB Standards & Reference Guides, Scoring Documents, Real Estate Asset Spreadsheet, and other supporting materials are now available on the GRESB website. Access these key resources below:

Real estate

• 2025 Real Estate Standard & Reference Guide and Scoring Document
• 2025 Real Estate Asset Spreadsheet

Infrastructure

• 2025 Infrastructure Fund Standard & Reference Guide and Scoring Document
• 2025 Infrastructure Asset Standard & Reference Guide and Scoring Document
• 2025 Infrastructure Development Asset Standard & Reference Guide and Scoring Document

Supplementary guidance

• Technical FAQs for real estate and infrastructure 
• Indicator Summary documents for real estate and infrastructure

As GRESB continues to evolve in response to industry needs, these updates are the result of extensive member feedback, reflecting our commitment to transparency, usability, and alignment with global standards.

GRESB has taken significant steps in 2025 to deliver clearer resources that are more practical and easier to navigate, helping Participant Members and Partners understand GRESB reporting requirements and scoring methodologies. These changes are guided by three core objectives:

• Alignment with global standards: As reporting frameworks evolve, GRESB aims to stay at the forefront of this transformation. The 2025 Standards updates ensure the Real Estate and Infrastructure Assessments remain relevant to the industry and aligned with the world’s leading standards.
• Smoother reporting process: More structured and user-friendly guidance materials eliminate unnecessary complexity, making it easier to understand reporting requirements and navigate GRESB resources.
• Clear and comprehensive content: Clearer methodologies and refined guidance support high-quality data submissions, leading to insights that investors and managers can trust when making sustainability-driven decisions.

Standard & Reference Guides

A more focused and user-friendly guide:

Clear, well-structured resources are a top priority for GRESB. In 2025, we have reduced the scope of the Reference Guides, retaining only essential input-related assessment content while shifting scoring details and other sections to separate resources.

Efficient navigation is also essential for a smooth reporting process. The 2025 Reference Guides feature a well-organized appendix list, accessible right from the navigation menu. Additionally, new appendices have been added to cover key topics like data privacy (“Data Sharing & Confidentiality”) and to provide an overview of support resources for participants, partners, and investors in navigating the GRESB reporting process and results interpretation (“Additional Guidance & Resources”).

Greater clarity on reporting requirements:

Understanding what to report—and how—remains central to the reporting process. In response to key challenges faced by participants, GRESB has refined reporting requirements, definitions, and methodologies across the board to improve clarity and consistency. Some examples in the Real Estate Standard and Reference Guide include a defined Reporting Scope and Boundaries section or streamlined criteria for the Building Certifications indicators, all designed to simplify the process and ensure more reliable data.

For the Infrastructure Standards and Reference Guides, GRESB consolidated key requirements across the Asset Assessment Performance Component and simplified all scoring-related content, ensuring the documents focus primarily on reporting guidance.

Smarter validation:

Validation plays a crucial role in maintaining high-quality data. GRESB has updated validation requirements for some indicators, offering more flexibility and ensuring that rigorous standards remain in place while reducing unnecessary reporting burden. Additionally, the Validation Appendices now include a summary table that provides members with a high-level summary of the validation requirements by indicator.

A more practical estimation methodology:

Actual and reliable data is the foundation of accurate and meaningful benchmarking insights. In response to member feedback, GRESB has clarified its estimation methodology for the Real Estate Assessment to provide clearer, more structured guidance, now including detailed explanations and concrete examples.

Alignment with global standards:

Beyond improving structure, our resources now include updates to the 2025 Standards as approved by the GRESB Foundation in 2024. GRESB remains aligned with the latest reporting frameworks and global standards, reinforcing its role as a forward-looking framework for sustainability performance.

Scoring Documents

In response to key challenges faced by participants, GRESB has refined the Scoring Documents to address common areas of confusion and enhance clarity and transparency.

For real estate, these updates have been focused on the following sections:

• Introduction: The new introduction provides a detailed breakdown of GRESB’s scoring methodology. It lays out the different factors that impact the scoring process with explanations and illustrative examples. It also delves into the different relative and static scoring methods to which different indicators in the assessment are subject.
• Content: GRESB has significantly refined the scoring methodologies of scored metrics across all indicators benchmarked at the property sub-type and country level: EN1 (energy), GH1 (GHG emissions), WT1 (water), WS1 (waste), and BC1.1/BC1.2/BC2 (building certifications and energy ratings). The new scoring methodology for Energy Efficiency was also included in the scope.
• Appendices: GRESB created two appendices for further clarity. Appendix 1 outlines a direct comparison between GRESB’s property sub-type classification and ASHRAE categories; and Appendix 3 details scoring examples to provide step-by-step guidance, making it easier for participants to understand asset-, property sub-type-, and portfolio-level calculations.

For the Infrastructure Scoring Documents, GRESB simplified challenging scoring concepts:

• Introduction: The updated introductions explain key elements of GRESB’s scoring methodology. For the Fund Assessment, it clarifies how and when funds’ underlying assets influence their GRESB Scores. For the Asset Assessments, it distinguishes concepts such as “diminishing increase in scoring,” scoring multipliers, and materiality.
• Content: GRESB improved the organization and visualization of scoring intricacies within the Asset Assessment Scoring Document, particularly for indicators involving performance tables (i.e., EN1, GH1). The document also includes information for newly scored metrics such as Data Coverage and GHG Assurance/Verification.
• Appendix: All three Infrastructure Scoring Documents contain a new Appendix to summarize the redistribution of scoring weights across indicators, as GRESB retired several indicators in 2025.

Real Estate Asset Spreadsheet

The Instructions tab of the GRESB Asset Spreadsheet is the primary reference point of information for real estate participants to report asset-level data accurately. GRESB has redesigned the Instructions tab for a more intuitive and efficient user experience, making relevant data entry points, explanations, and examples easier to locate. The new tab is laid out with a structured tabular format for each performance indicator, prominent headings, and visual cues.

Other supporting materials

Indicator summary: This document provides a comprehensive overview of all indicators in the GRESB Real Estate and Infrastructure Assessment. It highlights each indicator’s corresponding Aspect, weight, evidence requirements, and whether it is pre-filled for returning participants.

Technical FAQs: This compilation of commonly asked inquiries by GRESB Members enhances understanding and provides further clarity regarding technical reporting aspects of the indicators through the Real Estate and Infrastructure Assessments.

GRESB remains committed to ongoing improvement, continuously refining methodologies, enhancing user support, and expanding resources. The 2025 updates mark an important milestone, and we will keep working closely with our members and the broader industry to drive meaningful progress.

At the beginning of March, GRESB will launch the 2025 version of the Real Estate GRESB Accredited Professional (GRESB AP) program in conjunction with the first GRESB AP for Infrastructure. The AP is aimed at empowering professionals with the expertise needed to excel in sustainability reporting within the real estate and infrastructure industry. 

Alongside the launch of the GRESB AP exams, GRESB will be releasing the new Training Platform, offering a user-friendly, centralized hub for training and educational resources. Key features include refreshed training videos, a resource library with guidance documents, a dedicated Investor Member Training Module, and an integrated GRESB AP Training Module with exclusive study materials. Hosted on the same site as the GRESB AP program, it will ensure seamless access to all training content. 

As we move forward, we encourage participants to engage with GRESB, share feedback, and take full advantage of the tools and insights available.