This article covers steps and settings specific to GRESB submissions. It assumes you are already familiar with how to enter data in Scaler and focuses on what is unique to the GRESB workflow. For the full data collection and report generation process, see the 2026 Reporting Guide — During Season.
Purpose of this article
This article covers the GRESB-specific configuration, generation choices, and reporting rules you need to complete a GRESB submission in Scaler.
The article is organised into four blocks:
- Workflow — the short checklist to follow, in order.
- Setup — one-time alignment between Scaler and the GRESB Portal.
- Generating the GRESB Asset Spreadsheet — the decisions you make in the generate modal.
- GRESB reporting rules to know — reference material for indicators, certifications, joint ventures, and F-gas.
Watch the walkthrough — a ~1-hour recorded webinar covers the Reports Portal end-to-end, with GRESB as the worked example. Open recording · Passcode: oAn.+1R@
Workflow
- Align portfolio settings — reporting year type, units, currency, emission factors, maximum floor area coverage. See the Setup sections below.
- Confirm asset-level data is complete.
- Generate a draft and test-upload to the GRESB Portal early. Drafts can be generated with blocking issues still open. See the generation-choice sections below for the modal decisions.
- Lock your data before generating the final report — see Data locking (Period Lock).
- Resolve all blocking issues, then Generate & Save the final report in Scaler via Generate & Save Report. See Blocking issues and the final ALS below.
- Manually enter indicators not included in the spreadsheet — Risk Assessment, Tenants & Occupier, Building Measures. See the reporting rules sections below.
Generate a draft submission and upload it to the GRESB Portal well before the deadline. GRESB doesn't publish an exhaustive list of validation rules — uploading early serves as an additional validation check in the portal itself and helps surface any submission-specific issues in time for review and resolution. When GRESB returns validation errors not yet surfaced in Scaler, share them with your Account Operations representative so they can be built into the platform.
Setup
One-time alignment between Scaler and the GRESB Portal. Complete these before generating any outputs.
Reporting year type
Scaler defaults to calendar year. Fiscal year reporters must enable it manually in Data Collection Portal → Portfolio → Settings.
Unit system and currency
Two settings must align with your GRESB Portal entity:
Unit system – Reporting outputmust match the unit system set for RC3 in the GRESB Portal
Portfolio currencymust match the currency set for RC1 in the GRESB Portal
Navigate to Data Collection Portal → Portfolio → Settings to confirm. Mismatches will cause reporting outputs to differ from what the GRESB Portal expects.
Emission factors
Verify all location-based emission factors before generating the GRESB Asset Spreadsheet. If your submission requires market-based GHG emissions, also configure market-based factors. Navigate to Data Collection Portal → Portfolio → Emission Factors.
For detail, see Configuring location-based emission factors and Configuring market-based emission factors.
Maximum floor area coverage
GRESB scores factor in how much of each asset's floor area has data coverage. If your meters only cover part of the floor area but consumption exists across the full building, your GRESB data coverage will be incorrect unless you configure the maximum coverage settings.
Navigate to Data Collection Portal → Portfolio → Settings → Maximum Coverage and enable Configure coverage defaults. Set a start year (typically 2025) and configure the Covers full area toggles per Energy category (electricity, DHC, fuels) and Area type.
Only enable Covers full area when consumption genuinely exists across the entire floor area for that area type. If consumption is partial — for example, only some floors have gas supply — leave the toggle OFF and use placeholder meters for the portion that does have consumption but isn't metered. Overstating coverage will inflate your GRESB data coverage metrics.
For asset-level overrides, go to Data Collection Portal → Asset List → [Asset name] → Meters & Consumption and adjust per energy type.
For full guidance, including a visual explanation of the three coverage scenarios and migration steps from placeholder meters, see Configuring maximum floor area coverage settings.
Generating the GRESB Asset Spreadsheet
Once your data is entered and settings are confirmed, generate the GRESB Asset Spreadsheet from Data Collection Portal → Portfolio → Reports. Select the GRESB report and click Generate.
The generate report modal includes options for pre-acquisition data, asset groups, and estimated data. Each is covered below.
Pre-acquisition data for like-for-like
The Include available pre-acquisition performance data toggle in the generate report modal controls whether Scaler includes data from before the acquisition date in like-for-like calculations.
By default, Scaler calculates like-for-like performance using data from the period of ownership only. If your GRESB submission requires pre-acquisition data, check this option when generating.
GRESB criteria for including pre-acquisition data
Based on Scaler's interpretation of the GRESB Reference Guide, pre-acquisition data may be included in like-for-like calculations when all of the following criteria are met:
- A minimum of 355 days of data is available, including from the period prior to ownership
- Data coverage is positive
- Year-over-year data coverage remains consistent within a 1% margin
- The asset qualifies as a Standing Investment
If these criteria are satisfied, the asset may be included in like-for-like analysis using the full-year data.
Asset groups
Asset group features in GRESB, including Automated aggregation, are available to Scale license clients only and is controlled by a feature flag. Contact your Account Operations representative to enable access.
If your portfolio includes asset groups, check the Include asset groups in the report option when generating.
Before an asset group can be included in a GRESB submission, it must exist as an asset in the GRESB Portal with its ID pasted into the GRESB Asset Group ID field in Scaler. This is different from regular assets — which can be exported to the spreadsheet first and receive their GRESB Asset ID on upload — so asset groups need the ID in place beforehand.
You then have three output modes, controlled by two sub-options in the generate modal:
- Manual (both sub-options off) — The report exports one row per asset group plus one row per underlying member asset. Member rows are highlighted in purple and flagged in column A for review. You fill in the aggregated values in the asset group row yourself and delete the purple member rows before uploading.
- Automated (
Auto-aggregate member data into group rowson,Include member rows for auditoff) — Scaler computes group-level values from each group's member assets and writes them into the asset group row across all tabs. Only group rows appear in the spreadsheet. Submission-ready.
- Automated with audit (both sub-options on) — Scaler computes group rows automatically and keeps member rows visible below each group for verification. Delete member rows before uploading.
Screenshots below show the modal sub-options, then the Manual-mode spreadsheet output, then the Automated-with-audit spreadsheet output.
When automated aggregation is turned on, the report is delivered as a zip file containing the GRESB Asset Spreadsheet and an error_log.txt file. The error log flags any asset groups where Scaler could not aggregate cleanly, typically because member assets have inconsistent values for fields that must be uniform across the group.
Fields that must be uniform across all member properties of an asset group:
- Building / asset status (e.g.
In operationvsIn development)
Whole building tenant controlled(i.e. whether each member is reported as whole-building or as base building + common areas)
Whole buildingflag (Energy)
- Standing investment
Status
When these values are inconsistent within a group, Scaler cannot aggregate cleanly and skips the affected columns at the asset-group level. For energy, this means all energy columns are dropped from that group's row in the spreadsheet, and the error log captures an entry like:
Error 31
Sheet: Energy
Asset group: [group name]
Column: whole_building
Message: not all assets have same value for whole_building, all other energy columns are skipped
Year: [year]How to resolve:
- Decide upfront whether the asset group reports as whole-building or as base building + common areas. Both setups are valid GRESB representations, but every member property in the group must follow the same one. This is a portfolio-level operational decision and needs to be aligned internally first.
- Align the meter setup of all underlying properties within the group accordingly.
- Resolve any blocking issues flagged on the underlying assets, since these also prevent clean aggregation at the group level.
- Re-generate the report and confirm the error log is clean.
Whenever member asset rows appear in the spreadsheet (Manual or Automated with audit mode), delete them across every tab before uploading to the GRESB Portal. Any member rows that remain will be included in the submission.
In the Manual flow, if the asset group row references a formula that depends on underlying member rows, copy the calculated value and paste it as a value only (Ctrl+C → Paste Special → Values) before deleting those rows. Formulas will return errors or empty values once their source rows are gone.
The full field-by-field aggregation methodology is available on request — contact your Account Operations representative.
Estimated meter data
Beta — feature flag. The estimation mode selector is currently in beta and available only to clients who have requested access. Clients without the feature flag continue to receive all client-provided estimates in their GRESB report by default — the flag only gates the mode selector, not the underlying data inclusion. Contact your Account Operations representative to enable it. Test the output before relying on it for a final GRESB submission.
The Include estimated data toggle in the generate report modal controls whether and how client-entered estimates are included in the GRESB Asset Spreadsheet export. When toggled off, all meter data entered via the Manual estimate and Standard consumption (postal code) monitoring methods is excluded from the report, which may significantly reduce coverage.
When enabled, three estimation modes are available:
All client-provided estimates(default) — exports all client-entered estimated data without validation. GRESB estimation rules are not enforced, so output may exceed GRESB limits. Use this if you validate compliance outside Scaler.
GRESB-compliant, client-provided estimates(BETA) — validates client-entered estimates against GRESB rules. Scaler checks data against the 20% and 3-month limits and excludes non-compliant estimates. Resulting gaps remain unfilled.
GRESB-compliant, client-provided estimates + linear extrapolation(BETA) — validates and fills gaps automatically. Scaler excludes non-compliant data, then fills remaining gaps using Scaler's linear extrapolation model, up to GRESB limits.
By default the toggle is on with All client-provided estimates selected. Scaler remembers the last estimation mode used for each portfolio's GRESB report.
GRESB estimation rules reference
Scaler enforces GRESB's official estimation constraints automatically in the compliant modes:
- The 20% rule — estimated data may not cover more than 20% of the total period for which actual data is available
- The 3-month cap — no single estimation period may exceed 3 consecutive months
- Same-data-type matching — estimates must correspond to the same resource type
- Prohibited practices — no full-year estimation from prior year data, no cross-area proration, no national benchmarks
These rules apply to Energy, GHG, Water, and Waste in the Performance Component.
For the full GRESB specification, see: GRESB 2026 Estimation Rules
Blocking issues and the final ALS
Scaler lets you generate a draft GRESB ALS at any time, even when assets have outstanding blocking issues (missing data alerts). This is useful for early test uploads to the GRESB Portal during the workflow.
Before generating the final ALS for submission, resolve all blocking issues across the portfolio. A blocking issue is not isolated to the section or field it flags — it can disrupt back-end calculations elsewhere in the spreadsheet too, so a single unresolved blocker can leave the rest of an asset's data unreliable. Some blockers also trigger GRESB validation errors on upload regardless of how the rest of the spreadsheet looks (see Active meters required per material category below).
To review blocking issues for a portfolio: Data Collection Portal → Portfolio → Alerts → Blocking Issues. To review them for a single asset: Data Collection Portal → Asset → Overview → Blocking Issues.
How a blocking issue is resolved can affect your GRESB score. For example, setting a Renewable Energy Contract field to Unknown clears the blocking alert in Scaler but may stop GRESB from awarding market-based claim or procurement quality points. Choose the resolution that best reflects the underlying data, not the one that just clears the alert.
[Screenshot: Asset Overview page with the Blocking Issues tab selected, showing a sample missing-data alert — crop to the alerts table]
GRESB reporting rules to know
Reference material — things to know so your data and expectations line up with how GRESB treats them. You don't "do" these during the workflow; read them when a specific GRESB nuance applies.
Indicators that require manual entry in the GRESB Portal
Some GRESB indicators are not included in the GRESB Asset Spreadsheet and must be entered manually in the GRESB Portal. Scaler surfaces the aggregated values you need in Analytics Portal → Portfolio → Scores, under the Risk Assessments, Tenants & Occupier, and Building Measures dashboards. Each indicator view shows a blue banner confirming the figure can be used directly to fill in the corresponding GRESB indicator.
Indicators calculated here include:
- Risk Assessments
- RA1
- Tenants & Occupier
- TC1 (Tenant engagement program)
- TC3 (Fit-out & refurbishment program)
These indicators are not exported in the GRESB Asset Spreadsheet. You must copy the values from Analytics Portal → Portfolio → Scores and enter them manually in the GRESB Portal.
Asset status: Standing Investments vs. New Construction and Major Renovation
GRESB treats assets differently depending on their reporting status. Operational performance data (energy, GHG, water, and waste) is only exported for assets marked as Standing Investment. Assets marked as New Construction Project or Major Renovation Project are excluded from the operational performance sections of the GRESB Asset Spreadsheet by design, even when consumption data exists in Scaler.
Set the GRESB status on each asset under Data Collection Portal → Asset list → [Asset] → Reporting data → Status. The field accepts Standing Investment, New Construction Project, or Major Renovation Project. Scaler tracks status history with start and end dates, so an asset can shift between statuses across reporting years without losing the trail.
[Screenshot: Reporting data → Status field with the dropdown open showing the three options, and the status History table below — crop tightly to the Status section]
When operational data appears in Scaler but not in the GRESB Asset Spreadsheet export, check the asset's GRESB status first. If it is set to New Construction Project or Major Renovation Project, the export is working as designed — per GRESB rules, those assets are excluded from the operational performance sections.
Active meters required per material category
For every asset, GRESB requires at least one active meter in Scaler for each material category — energy, water, and waste. Without an active meter, the asset's data coverage for that category cannot be computed, and GRESB returns a validation error on upload to the GRESB Portal. For water, GRESB additionally requires an active meter in the previous reporting year.
This applies even when an asset has no consumption to record and even when the GRESB Asset Spreadsheet appears to generate successfully in Scaler — the empty cells will fail validation at the upload step.
Why GRESB requires this — every building is assumed to have some energy use, water use, and waste output somewhere across its floor area. Scaler cannot infer the source type or the floor area covered without an explicit meter, so the meter has to be created even when no consumption is actively collected against it. GRESB also needs the data coverage value for each category, which cannot be computed without a meter.
[Screenshot: GRESB ALS Waste tab showing the Data Coverage (%) field highlighted with the "Waste data coverage must be present" validation error — crop to the Data Availability section]
What to do when an asset has no meter for a required category:
- Create at least one active meter for the missing category in Data Collection Portal → Asset → Meters & Consumption. For water, ensure meters are active in both the current and the previous reporting year per GRESB.
- If the resource only supplies part of the floor area, set the meter's
Covered areato reflect the actual supplied portion. The covered area should describe where the resource physically reaches, not where you happen to have metered.
- For energy categories only (electricity, DHC, fuels), if the full floor area is supplied but only part is metered, enable the maximum floor area coverage toggle for the relevant area type + energy category. This signals that the resource supplies the whole asset even though metering is partial. The toggle is not available for water or waste — those rely on the meter setup alone. See Configuring maximum floor area coverage settings.
If unsure which approach fits the asset, contact your Account Operations representative.
Certifications
Certification reporting in the GRESB Asset Spreadsheet follows three rules that apply across all certification types (e.g. EPCs, NABERS, BREEAM In-Use, and other operational/design/construction and energy ratings):
- Up to five certifications and five energy ratings per asset may be reported to GRESB
- If multiple entries share the same level, only one entry per level is reported, and the covered area is capped at the asset's Gross floor area (GFA)
- Expired and forward-looking certifications are automatically excluded:
- Expired — certifications that expired before the reporting year. For example, if the reporting year is 2025, a rating that expired in 2024 is excluded; one that expired during 2025 is included.
- Forward-looking — certifications not yet achieved (e.g. projected or target certifications).
Record certifications at their native, granular level in Scaler. Scaler handles the aggregation, capping, and exclusion logic for GRESB export automatically.
Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs)
Where an asset has multiple certifications at the same rating level — for example, separate certificates for individual units within a building — Scaler sums their covered floor areas and caps the total at the asset's GFA, reporting a single entry per rating level. GRESB does not distinguish between EPC versions (e.g. A2015, A2020) — all are reported by rating level (A–G) with floor area aggregated per level.
NABERS
In the GRESB Asset Spreadsheet, NABERS Energy is reported directly. GRESB also includes a NABERS / Multi-rating category, which requires at least three of the four NABERS ratings (Energy, Water, Waste, Indoor Environment) to be held.
In Scaler, NABERS Energy is recorded under Group = Energy rating. Water, Waste, Indoor Environment, and Multi-rating are recorded under Group = Operational certifications. The Multi-rating must be selected separately in Scaler as its own certification entry — it is not generated automatically when multiple individual NABERS ratings are recorded. Only select it when the GRESB criteria are met.
BREEAM In-Use
In the GRESB Asset Spreadsheet, BREEAM In-Use is reported as a single category — BREEAM/In Use — without distinguishing between parts. Scaler automatically maps part-level entries to this category on export.
In Scaler, BREEAM In-Use can be recorded at part level: Part 1 (Asset Performance), Part 2 (Building Management), and Part 3 (Occupier Management). Where multiple parts have different levels (e.g. Excellent and Outstanding), each is reported as a separate entry. Where multiple parts share the same level, Scaler aggregates the covered area and caps the total at the asset's GFA.
Which certifications are included
Scaler captures any certification whose Date obtained falls within the reporting year + 6 months. The 6-month buffer picks up certificates obtained shortly after year-end that still apply to the reporting year, which is common given administrative lag at certifiers. Certificates with a Date obtained outside this window are reported in the next GRESB cycle.
GRESB requirements and interpretation may change over time, and their published guidance and Helpdesk responses are not always consistent. Always refer to the latest GRESB Reference Guide, and contact the GRESB Helpdesk directly for edge-case questions specific to your portfolio. Scaler is not a contracted GRESB member, so we cannot escalate clarification requests on your behalf.
From GRESB Guides
Joint venture assets
For assets co-owned across multiple funds or portfolios, see the Joint ventures: asset setup and data collection guide for guidance on how to structure consumption, floor area, and ownership data in Scaler, and how this maps to GRESB reporting requirements.
Heat pumps and CHP systems
Heat pumps and CHP (combined heat and power) systems need special consideration when reporting to GRESB. Scaler's setup guidance for these systems represents both energy input and output as separate meters so the renewable contribution is visible in your reporting. GRESB's current FAQ takes a different position for CHP, instructing participants to report only fuel input and not the electricity generated, to avoid double-counting. The same principle may apply to heat pumps.
If your portfolio includes assets with heat pumps or CHP systems, contact the GRESB Helpdesk directly to confirm which approach applies to your specific configuration before submitting. Reference: GRESB EN1 Operational Energy FAQ.
For meter setup detail, see Reporting district heating & cooling (DHC) and heat pump systems and Meter setup scenarios & examples.
F-gas and fugitive emissions
As of the 2026 GRESB Real Estate Assessment, fugitive emissions are not captured in the GRESB assessment. Participants are only required to report GHG emissions related to the energy consumption of each asset. You do not need to include F-gas data in your GRESB Asset Spreadsheet. For details, see the GRESB 2026 GH1 Scope 1–3 emissions guidance.
FAQ
Asset operational data exists in Scaler but doesn't appear in the GRESB Asset Spreadsheet
Symptom: An asset has full meter setup and consumption data in Scaler, and shows 100% data coverage on the asset page. After generating the GRESB Asset Spreadsheet, the asset's operational performance rows (energy, GHG, water, waste) come out empty.
Why this happens: Under GRESB rules, operational performance data in the Asset Spreadsheet applies to Standing Investments only. Assets with Status set to New Construction Project or Major Renovation Project are excluded from the operational performance sections by design, regardless of how complete the data is in Scaler.
What to do: Check the asset's GRESB status under Data Collection Portal → Asset list → [Asset] → Reporting data → Status.
- If the asset should be Standing Investment, update the status. The next export will include its operational data.
- If
New Construction ProjectorMajor Renovation Projectis correct, the export is behaving as expected — no fix needed.
Mid-year change in meter control type
Symptom: A meter on an asset switched from tenant-controlled to landlord-controlled (or the reverse) during the reporting year — typically by closing the old meter and opening a new one. After generating the GRESB Asset Spreadsheet, the asset's Whole building tenant controlled value does not match what the latest meter setup would suggest, and may stay consistent across years where you'd expect it to change.
Why this happens: Whole building tenant controlled is not an input field in the Data Collection Portal. It is calculated on export from the meters' Covered area and Max covered area values, summed across each asset's tenant-controlled meters. When meters covering different parts of the year carry different control types, the calculation reflects the area each meter covers — not the most recent control state on its own. There is no override on the asset to force a particular value.
What to do: This cannot be auto-resolved in Scaler. Both setups below are valid representations of the asset, so the client picks one before submitting:
- Option A — change the meter setup in Scaler. Adjust the meter configuration so the calculated
Whole building tenant controlledvalue matches the latest reality. Trade-off: the meter history will no longer fully reflect the in-year switch.
- Option B — keep the meter setup accurate and override in the GRESB Portal. Leave Scaler as-is so the meter history stays correct, generate the spreadsheet, then manually adjust the
Whole building tenant controlledvalue for that asset directly in the GRESB Portal after upload. TheWhole building tenant controlledaffects all consumption data linked to that asset. This is a known limitation of the less granular data collection required by GRESB
If multiple assets had meters switch control type mid-year, audit the Whole building tenant controlled column in the spreadsheet output before uploading. Each affected asset needs Option A or Option B applied — pick a consistent approach across the portfolio.
Covered area is blank for an asset with on-site renewable meters
Symptom: An asset has no off-site electricity, but does have on-site renewable electricity meters configured — the Meters & Consumption page shows 100% Scaler data coverage and full floor area coverage. In the GRESB Asset Spreadsheet, the Floor Area Covered column is blank for that energy category, the GRESB Data coverage widget on the asset shows dashes, and the asset's data coverage on Analytics Portal → Portfolio → Scores → Energy → Data coverage appears empty.
Why this happens: GRESB does not count on-site renewable generation toward Floor Area Covered. On-site renewable consumption is reported separately under the spreadsheet's Renewable Energy section (Generated and consumed on-site by landlord or Generated and consumed on-site by third party or tenant). Data in the Renewable Energy section does not feed the Energy Data Coverage calculation — this is by GRESB design.
Impact on data coverage: GRESB Energy Data Coverage is computed from the Floor Area Covered values. If an asset's only metered energy is on-site renewable, that asset contributes 0% to the portfolio's Energy Data Coverage for that energy category — even though the on-site generation is fully credited toward GRESB Renewable Energy points. The result is a lower Data Coverage score at portfolio level.
What to do:
- If the asset also draws procured electricity from the grid, or has district heating/cooling or fuels supply, configure those meters in Scaler.
- If on-site renewable is genuinely the only energy supply, no further action is needed in Scaler — the lower Data Coverage contribution is the correct GRESB representation. Document this in your submission narrative if it's material to your score.
Renewable Energy reporting and Data Coverage are scored independently in GRESB. An asset can have a strong renewable profile and still pull down portfolio Data Coverage if procured energy isn't separately metered.
Energy columns are blank for one of my asset groups in the export
Symptom: A GRESB Asset Spreadsheet generated with automated aggregation comes out with empty energy columns for one specific asset group, even though the underlying member properties have full consumption data in Scaler. The error_log.txt file inside the export zip contains an entry like Error 31, Sheet: Energy, Column: whole_building, Message: not all assets have same value for whole_building, all other energy columns are skipped.
Why this happens: Automated aggregation requires every member property of an asset group to share the same value for fields that must be uniform across the group, including Whole building tenant controlled. When some properties in the group are reported as whole-building and others as base building + common areas, Scaler cannot aggregate the energy data cleanly and skips the energy columns for that group.
What to do: Align the allocation setup across all member properties in the group before re-generating the report. See the Asset groups section above for the full list of fields that must be uniform and the resolution steps.
My certification was for 2025 but was only issued in March 2026. Will it appear in my 2025 GRESB spreadsheet?
Short answer: Yes, as long as Date obtained is on or before 30 June 2026.
Why: Scaler captures certifications using a reporting year + 6 months window, so any certificate obtained by the end of June following the reporting year falls inside the window for that cycle. Certificates obtained later are reported in the next GRESB cycle. See the Certifications section above for the full rule.