Data Quality & Validation

Introduction

As part of its value proposition to investors, managers, and operators participating in the assessments, GRESB conducts both automated and manual data quality checks on data submitted through the Portal.

These checks are designed to reduce the risk of misreporting and ensure the integrity of the data submitted to GRESB.

Together, the validation and data quality mechanisms outlined within this page aim to improve the consistency, reliability, and integrity of reported data across the assessment.

How Fundamentals Validation Works

1

Submit your assessment response

2

GRESB and third-party validators review evidence

3

Review the Fundamentals Report in the Portal once available

4

Edit response and re-submit [as needed]

Validation Scope

What is manually validated?

GRESB and subject matter experts from Sustainability Assurance Services (SAS) manually verify the following content:

1. Evidence uploaded to the indicators that require it. In most cases, GRESB and its third-party validation provider validate this evidence against GRESB’s requirements. Refer to the' Criteria' section below for a summary of indicators subject to manual validation and their specific requirements.

2. All scored ‘Other’ answers. Most indicators allow participants to report an additional option if it is not already included in the indicator’s assessment choices. These ‘Other’ answers are also subject to manual validation. ‘Other’ answers should not be duplicates or subsets of existing options. Multiple ‘Other’ answers can be reported, but only one will count toward the final score, as long as it meets the acceptance criteria.

Validation Criteria

Evidence Format

Document: Participants may upload multiple documents of any file type. GRESB encourages participants to follow the following documentation best practices to ensure that validators can identify relevant information as efficiently and clearly as possible:

• Use an evidence cover page (see GRESB’s template here) or open text box to specify where evidence for each selection can be found.

• Participants may upload evidence as a document or an active hyperlink.

• When using multiple documents, consolidate them into one file (but avoid using zip files).

• Make sure section headings and page numbers are clear.

Hyperlink: The evidence must be accessible within two clicks. Note that to support selections pertaining to public availability, participants must upload a hyperlink.

Reporting Year Applicability

Regardless of whether the indicator is manually validated, all assessment answers must refer to the reporting year identified in indicator EC4: Reporting year.

However, certain indicators have different reporting year requirements. They may refer to the past three calendar years or fiscal years, including the current one, depending on the entity's reporting period selection:

• RRM3.1: Social Risk Assessments

• RRM3.2: Governance Risk Assessments

• RRA1: Risk Assessments Performed on Standing Investments Portfolio

A response to an indicator must be true at the close of the reporting year; however, the response does not need to have been true for the entire reporting year.

• For example, if a policy was implemented one month before the end of the reporting year, this is acceptable; it does not need to have been in place for the entire reporting year.

For manually validated indicators, it is mandatory to clearly specify the year to which the evidence corresponds within the evidence or open text box.

Reporting Entity Applicability

Answers must directly apply to the entity identified in EC1, i.e., the investable entity for which participants submit an assessment response, regardless of whether the indicator is manually validated.

When a participating entity belongs to a larger investment management organization or group of companies (the 'organization'), it must clearly explain the relationship between the entity and the organization. This ensures that group-level answers or evidence are appropriately linked to the reporting entity.

This clarification can be provided within the evidence itself or in an open text box.

Indicator Applicability

Participants must upload evidence directly under the relevant indicator for the validation team to consider it. GRESB does not consider evidence submitted under other indicators.

Language

GRESB accepts evidence in any language. However, the systems must be able to read the text contained in the file. Information or text contained in pictures will only be accepted if accompanied by a translation.

Note that information provided in open text boxes that appear in the Benchmark Report will be displayed exactly as submitted, in the original language.

Summary of Indicator-Specific Requirements

The table below highlights the manually validated indicators in the GRESB Ready Assessment, providing a high-level summary of the validation requirements for each.

For detailed guidance on the evidence required for each indicator, refer to the ‘Validation’ section on the specific page for that indicator.

In addition to the summarized requirements listed below, it is mandatory that all submitted evidence clearly and directly supports each option selected by participants within every indicator.

Indicator	Indicator Title	Requirement Summary
RLE2	Sustainability Objectives	Actionable sustainability objectives must relate to specific issues within the selected topics. Objectives must have been formally adopted and/or implemented.
RPO1, RPO2, RPO3	Environmental, Social and Governance Policies	Formal policy documents must address each selected issue. General goals/commitments are not considered formal policies.
RRM3.1	Social Risk Assessments	Confirm a social risk assessment was conducted within the last three years. Clarifies elements of the risk assessment process and social issues that it covered. Presents outcomes of the risk assessment.
RRM3.2	Governance Risk Assessments	Confirm a governance risk assessment was conducted within the last three years. Clarifies elements of the risk assessment process and governance issues that it covered. Presents outcomes of the risk assessment.
RRA1	Risk Assessments Performed on Standing Investments	Coming Soon

Validation Outcomes

What are the impacts of each validation decision?

Validators will make one of the three decisions below depending on the degree to which evidence meets GRESB’s requirements.

Each validation outcome corresponds with a scoring weight that impacts the indicator’s final score. See the Scoring Basics page for more information.

'Other' Answers

Validation status	Explanation	Scoring impact
Accepted	'Other' answer falls outside the provided options and fulfills indicator requirements.	Full points
Duplicate	'Other' answer fulfills indicator requirements but duplicates an already selected answer.	No points will be awarded for this answer
Not Accepted	No points will be awarded for this answer'Other' answers do not fulfill indicator requirements.	No points will be awarded for this answer

Evidence and Open Text Boxes

Validation Status	Explanation	Scoring Impact
Accepted	Evidence fully meets the validation requirements.	Full points, resulting in the application of the full multiplier (100%) to the indicator's score
Partially Accepted	Evidence fully meets general requirements but fails to meet some indicator-specific requirements and/or support all selected options.	Partial points, resulting in a reduced multiplier (50%) to the indicator's score
Not Accepted	Evidence does not meet general requirements and/or does not support the selected options.	No points, resulting in a 0 multiplier to the indicator's score