{"id":4759,"date":"2025-12-05T14:43:59","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T03:43:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buenoanalytics.com\/?p=4759"},"modified":"2025-12-05T15:21:06","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T04:21:06","slug":"what-is-gresb-and-improve-your-gresb-score","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buenoanalytics.com\/us\/news\/what-is-gresb-and-improve-your-gresb-score\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is GRESB and How to Improve Your GRESB Score?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The GRESB Score<\/strong><\/a> has become one of the most important benchmarks in global real estate. Investors, asset owners and sustainability leaders increasingly rely on GRESB to understand how well a building or portfolio is performing across environmental, social and governance (ESG) measures.<\/p>

Yet many people still ask the same foundational questions:
What is GRESB? How does the scoring work? And how exactly can analytics improve a GRESB Score?<\/strong><\/p>

This article provides a clear, accessible overview for anyone trying to understand how the framework operates and why high-quality building data is now essential for improving performance.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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What Is GRESB?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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GRESB<\/strong> (Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark)<\/a> is an annual ESG assessment used by property companies, REITs, fund managers and investors to benchmark their sustainability performance.<\/p>

A GRESB Score evaluates two major areas:<\/p>

  1. Management<\/strong> \u2013 How strong the organisation\u2019s ESG policies, governance structures and risk processes are.<\/p><\/li>

  2. Performance<\/strong> \u2013 How well the buildings actually perform in practice, based on measurable environmental data such as energy, emissions, water and waste.<\/p><\/li><\/ol>

    At the end of the assessment, organisations receive:
    \u2022 A numerical GRESB Score<\/strong> (0\u2013100)
    \u2022 A GRESB Rating<\/strong> (1\u20135 Stars)
    \u2022 Peer comparison results<\/p>

    Investors increasingly use these scores to evaluate asset resilience, climate risk exposure and long-term value. In many markets, a high GRESB Score has become a requirement for attracting capital.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    What is a GRESB Score?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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    A GRESB score is divided into two main components with different weightings:<\/p>

    1. Management Component \u2013 30% of the GRESB Score<\/strong><\/h6>

    This section evaluates:
    \u2022 ESG policies and procedures
    \u2022 Leadership and governance
    \u2022 Roles and responsibilities
    \u2022 Risk management processes
    \u2022 Stakeholder engagement<\/p>

    It mainly assesses how well sustainability is managed<\/em>, not the environmental outcomes themselves.<\/p>

    Scores in this section are typically very high across most portfolios globally, because strong governance is now standard practice.<\/p>

    2. Performance Component \u2013 70% of the GRESB Score<\/strong><\/h6>

    This is the section where most organisations struggle\u2014and where the greatest opportunity for improvement lies.<\/p>

    GRESB analyses actual asset performance based on:
    \u2022 Energy use<\/strong>
    \u2022 GHG emissions<\/strong>
    \u2022 Water consumption<\/strong>
    \u2022 Waste management<\/strong>
    \u2022 Building certifications<\/strong>
    \u2022 Data coverage and completeness<\/strong>
    \u2022 Year-on-year improvement<\/strong><\/p>

    Performance accounts for the majority of the overall GRESB Score, and it relies entirely on accurate, complete, verifiable building data<\/strong>.<\/p>

    GRESB uses a materiality approach, meaning only relevant indicators (e.g., energy for offices, water for hotels) are scored. However, regardless of asset type, data quality and improvement trends<\/strong> are weighted heavily.<\/p>

    This is the part of GRESB where analytics has the biggest impact.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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    Why Building Analytics Is Essential for Improving a GRESB Score<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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    Improving a GRESB Score<\/strong> is no longer about writing better policies. In most regions\u2014especially the UK and Australia\u2014the Management component<\/strong> of GRESB is already close to perfect. In 2023, the average Management score across UK participants was 29 out of 30<\/strong>, meaning almost every organisation has mature ESG governance, defined roles, risk assessments and stakeholder processes.<\/p>

    The real challenge\u2014and the real opportunity\u2014sits within the Performance component<\/strong>, which makes up 70% of the total GRESB Score<\/strong>.<\/p>

    And this is where most portfolios underperform.<\/p>

    Where Performance Scores Fall Behind (and Why It Matters)<\/strong><\/h6>

    The 2023 UK market averages reveal clear weaknesses in the indicators tied to actual building performance:<\/p>