GRESB – TCFD and SFDR updates

On April 1, the Assessment Portal opened for GRESB participation for 2022.

As usual, GRESB Real Estate and Infrastructure Assessment submissions are due by July 1, 2022. See the full Assessment timeline here.

This year, GRESB have made few updates to the full assessment but they have two new products which are relevant to our clients and the German market.

TCFD Alignment Report

The TCFD (Taskforce for Climate Related Financial Disclosure) is a framework that provides a set of recommendations for companies, banks and investors when reporting on their climate related risks and opportunities.

While these recommendations were originally voluntary, in many countries (for example the UK), they are now becoming mandatory, placing increased importance on ESG and climate-related reporting in line with the recommendations.

GRESB is developing a TCFD reporting tool to help companies simplify their TCFD disclosure efforts using data from GRESB Assessments.

You can read more on the GRESB product page here.

SFDR Reporting

The EU’s Sustainable Finance Disclosure Regulation (SFDR) is a transparency requirement for financial market participants related to key environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria.

The regulation which came into force on March 10, 2021 means that financial market participants must now report on sustainability risks and impacts at product and company level on their websites, in pre-contractual information and in their annual reports.

The regulation sets standards for classifying funds or products as:

“grey” or Non-Sustainable products – Article 6
“light green” or ESG strategy products – Article 8
“dark green” or Impact products – Article 9

With strict reporting requirements for “green” funds. You can read more about it in our blog here.

GRESB is leveraging its existing data infrastructure to make SFDR reporting easier, more accurate and more useful.

By using GRESB for SFDR reporting, your data can easily be turned into valuable business insights when you also participate in the main Assessments. You can, for example, compare performance against custom benchmarks and better understand areas for improvement.

With many new regulations and disclosures necessary, it can be daunting to know if you are meeting requirements. We are here to help with the entire process, from GRESB assessments through to ESG reporting in line with regulations and standards. Please get in touch with the team if you are looking for support.