GRESB assessment and requirements, for real assets that investors can compare with confidence.

What it is

What is GRESB and what is it used for?

GRESB runs an annual sustainability assessment and benchmark for real assets. Property companies, funds, developers and infrastructure operators report on how they govern sustainability and on the measured performance of their buildings and assets. GRESB checks the submission, scores it, places the entity in a peer group and returns a benchmark report.

GRESB offers separate assessments for real estate and for infrastructure. The Real Estate Assessment covers standing investments and, through its Development Component, new construction and major renovation. On the infrastructure side there is a Fund Assessment for managers, an Asset Assessment for operators, and a separate Infrastructure Development Asset Assessment for assets still being built.

The result is a GRESB Score and a GRESB Rating of one to five stars, set by where the score falls among all participants that year. No certificate is involved; the rating is a relative position, recalculated every cycle.

Current cycle. For the 2026 assessments GRESB opened its portal on 1 April and closed it on 1 July, began validation in August, published preliminary results on 1 September with an Assessment Correction window from 1 to 15 September, and released final results to participants and investors on 1 October 2026. Dates for the next cycle are confirmed on gresb.com when GRESB announces them.

Who it is for

Who needs a GRESB assessment?

GRESB is voluntary, and participation is decided at entity level: the fund, the listed company or the operating asset. Organisations come to Sterling for GRESB from four starting points:

• Investors or limited partners ask for it. Institutional capital increasingly expects a GRESB submission from the managers it backs, and a missing or weak result becomes a question in due diligence or at the annual meeting.
• A mandate, fund raise or tender refers to it. Confirm exactly which assessment and result is expected before the cycle opens.
• Regulated disclosure raises the bar on data. Sustainability disclosure rules applying to asset managers and listed companies need the same energy, emissions, water and waste data that GRESB asks for, so one well-run data process serves both.
• A parent or fund manager rolls it out to assets. A fund's Performance score draws on its underlying assets that participate, so managers ask operators and portfolio companies to report, often for the first time.

Requirements

What are the main GRESB requirements?

Each GRESB assessment is built from components. The Management Component looks at how the organisation governs sustainability; the Performance Component looks at measured results for the assets; the Development parts look at projects in design and construction. The list below follows GRESB's own component and aspect names at title level; the indicators themselves are set in the reference guide GRESB publishes for each cycle.

• Management Component: strategy, leadership, policies, reporting, risk management and stakeholder engagement at organisation level; for infrastructure assets GRESB groups it into Leadership, Policies, Reporting, Risk Management and Stakeholder Engagement.
• Real Estate Performance Component: asset and portfolio data on energy, greenhouse gas emissions, water and waste for standing investments.
• Real Estate Development Component: sustainability in the design, construction and renovation of new projects and major refurbishments.
• Real Estate Residential Component: introduced by GRESB in 2025 for entities whose portfolios are more than 75% residential by value.
• Infrastructure Asset Performance Component: twelve aspects, from Implementation, Output & Impact and Health & Safety through Energy, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Air Pollution, Water, Waste and Biodiversity & Habitat to Employees, Customers and Certifications & Awards.
• Infrastructure Fund Performance Component: informed by the scores of underlying assets that take part in the Asset Assessment; GRESB states that 25% participation is needed for an overall fund score.
• Infrastructure Development Asset Assessment: a separate assessment for infrastructure assets in development.

Assessment process

How does the GRESB assessment work?

The route has two halves: your preparation and submission, then GRESB's validation, scoring and benchmarking. Sterling supports the first half. The second belongs entirely to GRESB, and that independence is what gives investors confidence in the result.

1. 01
   Choose the entity and the assessment.Decide which fund, company or asset reports, whether Real Estate, Infrastructure Fund, Infrastructure Asset or Development applies, and which components are in scope.
2. 02
   Gap analysis: test your position against the indicators.Each Management indicator is compared with the policies and records you hold, and data coverage by asset is measured for energy, emissions, water and waste. Actions, owners and dates follow.
3. 03
   Close gaps, collect data and assemble evidence.Policies approved, responsibilities assigned, risk and engagement processes documented, and a full reporting year of asset data gathered and checked for completeness.
4. 04
   Complete and submit in the GRESB portal.Answers entered and matched to evidence, reviewed internally, and submitted before the portal closes; in 2026 that was 1 July.
5. 05
   Validation, results and the next cycle.GRESB validates and scores the submission, publishes preliminary results with a correction window, then final results; the benchmark report becomes your plan for the following year.

Check the route before you sign. Only GRESB validates, scores and rates, and nobody can promise a star rating, because the rating depends on how every other participant performs that year. Check on gresb.com any relationship with GRESB a provider claims, and treat GRESB's own paid services, such as its Pre-Submission Check, as separate from consulting support: GRESB itself says that check does not affect validation or guarantee a better score.

Cost

How much does GRESB support cost?

The effort depends far more on the state of your data than on the size of the questionnaire. A listed company with metered, centrally held data needs a different scope from a fund whose assets have never reported.

Timeline

How long does GRESB preparation take?

The GRESB calendar sets the outer limits: the portal opens in spring and closes in summer, and results follow in the autumn. Inside that frame, preparation from gap analysis to results typically takes four to six months, longer where a full year of asset data has to be collected for the first time.

If an investor has set a deadline or a target rating, tell us at the start and we will say plainly what one cycle can realistically change.

Your engagement

What your GRESB engagement includes

Your scope covers what a credible submission and a lasting data process need, delivered by one team under one all-inclusive proposal. Sterling does not score, validate or rate GRESB submissions; GRESB alone does that. Work runs through Sterling OS™: after scoping and gap analysis, you choose Design™, where we guide and your team does the work, or Drive™, where we manage and carry it. Sustain™ keeps data and actions moving between cycles, and Automate™ is Effivity.

• Entity scoping and gap analysis

  Assessment and component choice, indicator-by-indicator review, and an action plan with owners and dates.

• Policies and governance

  Sustainability policies, responsibilities, risk and stakeholder processes written with your managers, on Sterling's own templates.

• Effivity ISO & GRC software

  Policies, asset data, evidence and actions held in Effivity, included with the engagement at no additional cost.

• Training for everyone

  Internal auditor training for the people who check the data, as applicable to your standard, and preferential Sterling Academy access, including complimentary awareness training for your people as part of the engagement.

• Data and evidence review

  Coverage, estimation and consistency checks by asset, and every answer matched to its supporting document.

• Submission and results support

  Portal completion support, the correction window, and a reading of the benchmark report turned into next year's plan.

Validation, scoring and ratings remain with GRESB.

Often combined with

Standards organisations pair with GRESB

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• API Spec Q1API Spec Q1 certification consulting for oil and gas suppliers: contract review, design, purchasing and release controlled, prepared for the APIQR audit.
• AWS StandardAWS water stewardship certification to the Alliance for Water Stewardship Standard: what it is, who asks for it and how Sterling prepares your site for audit.
• B Corp CertificationB Corp certification made clear: the new B Lab Standards, Foundation Requirements, seven Impact Topics, the audit route and how Sterling prepares you.
• CBAMCBAM compliance and requirements explained: authorised declarant status, the 50-tonne threshold, verified embedded emissions and how Sterling helps you prepare.
• CDPCDP disclosure consulting: a complete, evidenced response on climate, forests and water, prepared with your team.