With the start of a new year comes the beginning of a new GRESB reporting period. EnviroSustain has been supporting clients with GRESB submissions for almost a decade now and we are pleased to see participation growing. The GRESB portal will open on 1st April but now is the time to begin prepping your team and collecting data.

As ESG reporting gains more momentum in the mainstream, changes are needed to keep up with current developments. The Real Estate and Infrastructure Standards Committee works to gather feedback and make recommendations on changes to the GRESB Foundation Board.

This year, the changes to the Real Estate Standards include the following points:

• Establishing validity periods and imposing an expiry date for building certifications
• Introduction of scoring for the definition of net zero targets
• Isolating the energy consumption of EV charging stations from the operational energy consumption of real estate assets
• Introduction of an energy efficiency rating as an additional insight into the operational performance of the reported assets
•  Introducing a country-level benchmarking and scoring methodology that provides additional insight into the representativeness of intensity values for the portfolio in case of incomplete data collection by participants
• Enabling the reporting of multiple energy values for residential properties
• Expanding the scope of indicators to cover the strategy in relation to climate-related opportunities

That’s the top line. Let’s take a deeper dive into the changes and explain what they mean.

1. General 2024 standard changes

Climate resilience and opportunities (RM5)

Previously, RM5 only covered climate-related risks and did not address climate-related opportunities (CROs). However, CROs are an important aspect of the TCFD (Task Force on Climate-Related Disclosures) and will therefore be included in the assessment from now on.

In addition, the “Shared Socioeconomic Pathways” (SSP) were included in the list of options for physical and transition scenarios. RM5 was not previously assessed, but now has a score of 0.5.

Energy efficiency scoring

Work is underway to integrate the assessment of energy efficiency into the GRESB assessment model in future. This will have no impact on reporting for 2024 but will be continuously incorporated into the GRESB assessment over time.

Separation between operational and non-operational energy consumption

A new data entry field at asset level (via the GRESB portal) will be introduced with the aim of integrating types of energy consumption that are not considered operational separately into the assessment (this primarily refers to EV charging stations). The change will have no impact on the scoring, but the consumption of EV charging stations must be entered separately in the Asset Portal under indicator EN1 from now on.

Validity of building certifications

The validity of a new certification was previously based on the date of issue of the certification. In future, the BC1.1, BC1.2 and DBC1.2 indicators will be based on the actual performance or assessment period instead of the certification issue date. The change has no

impact on scoring, however, building certifications awarded after the end of the reporting year can now be submitted for indicators BC1.1, BC1.2 and DBC1.2 if:

• They relate to a performance period that is prior to or equal to the GRESB reporting year.
• The participant’s submission for certification took place before the end of the GRESB reporting year.
• The actual certificate was submitted to the participant before the official GRESB submission deadline (1 July).

Age and expiry year of building certifications

Building certifications are becoming more relevant and are to be more closely integrated into the GRESB standard. From now on, the year of expiry for determining the validity of the indicators BC1.1: Building certifications at the time of design/construction and BC1.2

Operational building certifications of the three types of building certification: Design / Construction (BC1.1), Operational (BC1.2) and Interior (BC1.1) is to be included. The metrics previously assessed in indicators BC1.1 and BC1.2 are now multiplied by a “time factor” to

take into account the age of the building certifications. For all building certifications reported under the GRESB standard, participants are now required to report their corresponding building certification year in indicators BC1.1 and BC1.2 (via the GRESB Asset Portal), which

are subsequently used in the GRESB assessment model.

2. 2024 Tactical Standard Changes

ESG Objectives (LE2)

The option “General sustainability” will be removed from the list of existing ESG objectives in indicator LE2. General sustainability will also be removed as an option from the general business strategy. The weighting of the removed option will be distributed across the remaining list of ESG objectives, the overall weighting of indicator LE2 will remain unchanged. Participants are no longer required to report on general sustainability targets and the integration of ESG objectives into the general business strategy.

ESG, climate-related and/or DEI senior decision maker (LE5)

The fund/portfolio manager option is removed from the list of senior functions for indicator LE5. The standard no longer rewards participants for reporting fund/portfolio managers as senior decision makers of the company. The overall scoring weight of the LE5 indicator remains unchanged. Fund and portfolio managers can no longer be reported in indicator LE5.

Personnel ESG performance targets (LE6)

ESG factors with non-financial consequences will be removed from the LE6 indicator. Overall, the weighting of the indicator remains unchanged and non-financial impacts no longer need to be reported.

ESG Reporting (RP1)

The option “ESG as part of the company’s reporting to investors” is removed from indicator RP1. The overall weighting of the RP1 indicator remains unchanged. Participants are no longer required to report on this option or provide evidence of this.

ESG Incident monitoring (RP2.1)

The indicator RP2.1 ESG incident monitoring will be weighted to incentivise companies to communicate a process for monitoring potential misconduct and communicating risks to stakeholders. In addition, the reference to ESG misconduct as a type of misconduct is

deleted, because any misconduct can be ESG-related. A weighting of 0.25 points is introduced for the indicator RP2.1, which is based on the relevance of the stakeholder types. From now on, procedures for monitoring controversies, misconduct etc. and communication to stakeholders will be rewarded.

Environmental Management System (RM1)

The allocation of points for the RM1 indicator has been revised to take better account of environmental management systems (EMS) that are adapted or certified to a standard. Participants no longer benefit from an EMS that is neither standardised nor certified. In addition, the weighting of the RM1 indicator will be reduced by 0.25 points, to now 1.25 points. There is no impact on reporting.

Net Zero Targets

Indicator T1.2 receives one point from indicator T1.1 (which is downgraded from 2 to one point). Participants will now be rewarded for demonstrating a net zero target in indicator T1.2. The full score for this indicator is achieved regardless of the characteristics underlying the net zero target. There is no impact on reporting.

Reclassification of property subtypes

The property subtype “Medical Office” is now reclassified from the office sector to the healthcare sector, sector in Appendix 3a – Classification of property types. The definition of “Medical Office” is now expanded to include buildings used for the diagnosis and treatment of outpatient medical, dental or psychiatric treatment. There is only an impact on scoring if benchmarking, scoring and scored metrics at the property sub-type level occur at a higher level (e.g. at the property type or sector level), – due to insufficient number of observations. There is no impact on reporting.

3 . 2025 Standard Change

Employee safety indicators

The following change applies from 2025 on: previously, not all options under indicator SE4 had to be specified in order to receive the total score. This will change from 2025 on: to achieve the full score, all four options must be specified. The weighting of the points is reduced from ½ to ¼ for each option. The total number of points remains unchanged.

4. Further changes

Facilitation of new reporting scenarios for large residential portfolios

Extension of the data input field at the asset level (via the GRESB Asset Portal) allowing multiple energy indicators to be reported per asset, together with the adjustment of the aggregation model (asset to portfolio) to take account of these new scenarios. In addition, the reporting guidelines (GRESB Asset Spreadsheet) for energy ratings, building certificates and year of construction have been clarified. There is no impact on the valuation.

Introduction of country into the benchmarking methodology

Country as a geographical factor will be included in the following metrics that are currently benchmarked and assessed. These include:

• Data coverage (under the control of tenants and landlords) for energy, greenhouse gas emissions, water and waste
• Comparable changes (under the control of tenants and landlords) for energy, greenhouse gases and water
• Renewable energy
• Recycled water
• Building certifications
• Energy ratings

GRESB participants benefit from more detailed benchmarking and ratings, which are now awarded at country level. Participants are now required to report the %GAV per property subtype at country level, through a new table that combines the previous indicators R1.1 The entity’s standing investments portfolio during the reporting year and R1.2 Countries/states included in the entity’s standing investments portfolio. The same applies to the indicators DR1.1 Composition of the entity’s development projects portfolio during the reporting year and DR1.2 Countries/states included in the entity’s development projects portfolio, which cover assets under development.

Representativeness of intensity values

In order to increase the portfolio representativeness of intensity values in the GRESB output, the threshold for data coverage was changed to > 50% data coverage. As such, a separate intensity value is added to the GRESB output, in addition to the previously calculated intensities in the energy, greenhouse gas emissions, water and waste sections. The change has no impact on the assessment and reporting.

Considering the many changes in the GRESB standard this year, it is important to prepare in good time and have the relevant data ready. ES helps you to complete the GRESB questionnaire and supports you throughout the entire process. Get in touch today.