Guidance for GRESB Participants

A step-by-step guide to successfully completing your GRESB Assessment

• STEP 1: Review Assessment resources

  Review the updated Assessment Resources and identify the information you will need to complete the Assessment.

  Review the GRESB Assessment resources

  • Core Assessment Documents
  • Resources Library
  • Online Assessment Training
• STEP 2: Engage your organization’s sustainability lead

  Bring your Sustainability Manager or the person in your organization responsible for sustainability issues into the Assessment reporting process at the beginning. In addition to providing their expertise, they can help ensure all stakeholders are involved to successfully respond to each indicator in the Assessment.

  If your organization does not have a dedicated person responsible for sustainability issues, use the Assessment as a framework for mapping ESG responsibility across various departments.

• STEP 3: Login to the GRESB Portal

  On April 1, you can log into the Portal to start your Assessment. Current users can log in using their existing account details. If you have not previously reported to GRESB, please create an account.

  Once logged in, you will be asked to choose which Assessment and Component you are reporting to and whether you will be completing a voluntary module. You’ll also be asked to provide the name of the reporting entity and your intent to submit. This information will be visible to GRESB Investor Members, who can track reporting progress.

• STEP 4: Fill in the “entity and reporting characteristics” section

  This section identifies the reporting entity. The information you provide will be used to define your reporting scope and peer group.

• STEP 5: Review the Assessment indicators and refer to the guidance in the Portal

  As you run through the indicators and review the guidance for each, it makes sense to place the indicators into the following categories:

  • Indicators that you can give identical answers to for several entities
  • Indicators that you can answer immediately
  • Indicators that are more time-consuming to answer
  • Indicators that require involvement from other employees from your organization or external consultants

  This guidance is also provided in the Assessment Reference Guide, available in Resources and under STEP 1 above.

• STEP 6: Aim to get a first draft of the Assessment ready by the middle of June

  The first draft should include all document uploads and hyperlinks. This will give you plenty of time to check that all required information has been included, arrange for internal approvals and to request a Pre-Submission Check before submitting your response.

  A Pre-Submission Check is a high-level check of your Assessment prior to final submission. It helps you reduce errors that may adversely impact your Assessment results and ensure that your submission is as complete as possible.

  Once you have obtained internal approval to submit your Assessment, you will need to formally submit your response in the Portal.

  The deadline for submission is July 1 at 23:59 PDT.

• STEP 7: Review your preliminary GRESB Results

  The Review Period is designed to further strengthen the reliability of our Assessments and benchmark results.

  In light of the updated timeline, your preliminary individual GRESB Results will be available in the Portal on September 1. During the Review Period, you will be able to submit a review request to GRESB using a dedicated form.

  The final results will be launched to both participants and Investor Members on October 1.

• STEP 8: Review your final Assessment results

  Following the updated timeline, the final results will be available in the Portal on October 1. The two primary reports are the GRESB Scorecard and Benchmark Report.

  The Scorecard provides you with your overall GRESB Score, GRESB Rating and a summary analysis of how your performance compares to your peers.

  The Benchmark Report includes a more in-depth analysis of your sustainability performance, providing the basis for competitive analysis and communication. It begins with the Scorecard and is followed by indicator-by-indicator information of your ESG performance and how this compares against your peers. The report is designed to help you identify areas of risk and opportunity, make informed decisions and deepen your engagement with investors.

  For an in-depth review of your results with a member of the GRESB team you can request a Results Consultation.

• STEP 9: Communicate your results to your investors and stakeholders

  Your GRESB results provide you with a practical way to understand your ESG performance and communicate that performance to investors.

  The key to analyzing GRESB data is in peer-group comparisons that take into account country, regional, sectoral and investment type variations. This richer analysis will enable you to understand your results in the context of your investment strategies and communicate this to investors.