New GRESB Research Shows How Grid Trajectories Can Inform Smarter Real Estate Capital Planning

The first in a series of studies brings together two complementary datasets within GRESB's ecosystem, combining GRESB Real Estate Assessment asset-level performance data and Asset Impact's forward-looking power sector data to show where investment in efficiency, electrification and earlier action can have the greatest impact.

AMSTERDAM, October 15, 2026 — GRESB today released Know Your Grid: How Cleaner Electricity Shapes Real Estate Capital Planning. The new research examines how the interaction between buildings and grid carbon intensity trajectories can inform capital planning across real estate portfolios.  

The study addresses a practical investment question: how much of an asset’s future decarbonization can be delivered by changes in the electricity grid, and where will additional investment in efficiency, electrification and on-site clean energy be most impactful?

To answer it, the study brings together two asset-level datasets within GRESB for the first time: GRESB Real Estate Assessment asset-level data on building energy use and performance, comprising more than 800,000 annual asset records, and Asset Impact’s forward-looking data on more than 150,000 power plants across 217 countries and territories. Together, the datasets are used to model how grid decarbonization and asset-level improvements could affect real estate emissions between 2026 and 2040.

Across the analyzed building stock, anticipated grid changes alone reduce cumulative emissions by 15% by 2040. Combining grid change with rapid improvements to energy efficiency, electrification and on-site renewable generation increases the reduction to as much as 57%.

The findings point to four recommendations for real estate capital planning:  

• Know the grid. Investors and managers need to consider both the current emissions intensity of the grid serving an asset and how quickly it is expected to change. Holding asset performance constant, grid changes reduce modeled annual emissions by approximately 55% on fast-changing grids by 2040, compared with 10% on slow grids.  

• Plan investments around grid conditions. Where electricity is already comparatively clean, electrification can be prioritized. Most slow-changing grids analyzed are also clean enough for electrification to reduce emissions, while reducing energy demand first may be more effective where grids remain particularly emissions-intensive.  

• Base decisions on asset-level data. Property type, energy intensity, fuel use, and local grid conditions determine which interventions are most effective. Portfolio averages can obscure these differences and lead to capital being directed away from the assets where it could have the greatest impact.  

• Consider cumulative emissions, not only the endpoint. Pathways that reach similar annual emissions in 2040 can produce substantially different emissions along the way. In the study, the rapid improvement pathway produces 287 million metric tonnes fewer cumulative emissions than the slower pathway.

“Forward-looking power-sector data makes it possible to understand not only how clean a grid is today, but how quickly it is expected to change,” said Dr. Alex Clark, Research Director at Asset Impact. “In combination with GRESB’s real asset performance data, it provides a much more informed and realistic basis for setting priorities across buildings, portfolios, and markets than would otherwise be possible.”

“Real estate investors face difficult decisions about when, where, and how to allocate capital across their portfolios,” said Dr. Chris Pyke, Director, Thought Leadership and Industry Advocacy at GRESB. “By distinguishing grid-driven change from asset-level improvements, this research provides a clearer basis for targeting which interventions to prioritize, how quickly to act, and what managers can influence directly.”

The study provides an early example of the direction set out in GRESB’s September strategy announcement by connecting two of GRESB’s complementary datasets to put sustainability performance at the heart of investment and asset management decisions. GRESB provides validated sustainability performance data across real assets, while Asset Impact, part of GRESB since 2022, adds forward-looking transition data across high-emitting sectors. Together, they create a unique foundation for decision-grade intelligence that places asset performance in its market context and helps the industry translate sustainability data into action that advances decarbonization and delivers meaningful asset improvement at scale.

Dive deeper:

• Read Know Your Grid: How Cleaner Electricity Shapes Real Estate Capital Planning.

• Join one of the 2026 GRESB Insights events taking place in person across Asia Pacific, Europe and North America.

Media Contact:

Anissa Eleuterio, Head of Go-to-Market & Enablement, at a.eleuterio@gresb.com.  

About GRESB & Asset Impact

GRESB is the global sustainability intelligence standard for real assets. We transform sustainability data into decision-grade intelligence that drives capital allocation and asset improvement.

Through our industry-governed standards, established benchmarks, validated data, and performance analytics, GRESB equips organizations across real asset markets to compare sustainability performance, manage risk, improve asset economics, and make more informed capital and asset decisions.

Drawing on the world’s most extensive real asset sustainability dataset, covering 15+ years of validated sustainability data from more than 150,000 real assets across more than 70 markets, 41 property types and 10 infrastructure sectors, GRESB provides credible, comparable insights that put performance in context and support confident decision-making.

Through Asset Impact, GRESB expands the depth and breadth of its asset-level intelligence with forward-looking climate transition data and analytics across high-emitting sectors, helping customers track emissions and activity pathways, measure progress toward climate targets, assess alignment, and manage transition risk.

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