GRESB (Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark) serves as the definitive ESG performance standard for real estate investors and property owners worldwide.
Partnering with Smartvatten guarantees points for your GRESB benchmarking while improving your water efficiency and paving the way for greater sustainability efforts.
Full data coverage from manual readings grants 4 points towards your GRESB benchmarking. As a Smartvatten customer, you have the potential to gain up to 7.67 total points through intelligent water management.“
Success in GRESB benchmarking represents an accessible path towards better property performance, investor appeal, and risk mitigation. Read how Smartvatten can help you reach your real estate sustainability goals while opening the door to meaningful cost savings.
Understanding GRESB: The global standard for real estate sustainability
Why does water performance matter for your GRESB assessment?
Smartvatten's GRESB impact: Guaranteed points towards your GRESB evaluation
The water advantage: Benefits of water management beyond GRESB
Water management and monitoring challenges: Solutions for GRESB performance
Succeed in your GRESB assessment with Smartvatten
Much like BREEAM, GRESB demonstrates your commitment to sustainability efforts. It provides standardised, comparable data that helps investors evaluate and compare properties across several criteria.
GRESB encompasses multiple categories with their own evaluation criteria. Making meaningful improvements in water management can be a quick win to gain points in your GRESB evaluation.
The GRESB benchmark evaluates funds, portfolios or companies across multiple dimensions. While GRESB includes water as a key environmental metric, performance in this area often lags behind energy and carbon. This is largely because investor attention and regulatory pressure tend to prioritise climate-related targets over water efficiency.
Investing in water usage and efficiency may be the missing piece in accomplishing outstanding scores in your GRESB evaluation and ESG certifications, such as BREEAM.
For property owners, GRESB scores translate directly into substantial business outcomes:
Access to green financing, often with lower interest rates for ESG-compliant properties.
Competitive advantage in attracting institutional investors prioritising proven ESG performance. Investors compare GRESB performance, and low scores may result in decreased competitive advantage.
Risk mitigation as regulatory requirements tighten across Europe. GRESB is a way to demonstrate your commitment to improvement.
Contact us and learn how we can help!
Smartvatten customers automatically earn 4.916 guaranteed GRESB points, with potential for up to 7.67 total points.
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WT1 - Water Data Coverage (4 points)
You are entitled to 4 points when 100% of the portfolio has 12 months of water consumption data for the full floor area. Data coverage of your portfolio is benchmarked and scored dynamically, with scores ranging from 0-4 points.
MR3 - External Review of Water Data (0.4166 points)
We provide annual review statements confirming water usage accuracy and deliver professional third-party validation recognised by GRESB.
RA4 - Water Efficiency Measures (0.5 points)
Demonstrating water leak detection capabilities by implementing smart meters grants you 0.5 points.
Besides the aforementioned GRESB points you are guaranteed as a Smartvatten customer, you can earn additional points with further water efficiency measures.
Like-for-Like Performance Improvement (up to 2 points): Smartvatten’s analytical tools and real-time monitoring support continuous performance improvement.
Sub-metering Capabilities (0.25 points): Implementing additional sub-metering services can grant you an additional 0.25 points. Apartment-level water tracking provides granular insights into consumption patterns across tenant spaces.
RA1 - Performance Risk Assessments (0.5 points): Our dedicated water efficiency risk report provides portfolio-wide ranking and performance insights. Portfolios encompassing more than 50 properties can achieve additional GRESB points by utilising the Asset Benchmark Report.
THE WATER ADVANTAGE
Water management is among the most accessible sustainability upgrades available to property owners today. Unlike energy efficiency retrofits and other sustainability measures requiring significant capital investment and complex planning, you can implement water monitoring systems rapidly, often with substantial results from day one.
Water-related ESG actions deliver value far beyond GRESB assessments:
Immediate financial impact: Modern water monitoring prevents costly leaks that can waste thousands of euros annually. These savings add up the larger your property portfolio is. For instance, a single undetected toilet leak can cost over €1,000 annually. Smartvatten customers regularly save 20% on water expenses through optimised consumption with our solutions. Even a single detected leak can offset the entire investment’s cost.
Regulatory alignment: Besides performing in the annual GRESB benchmarking, you are better aligned with more widespread sustainability requirements requiring detailed water consumption reporting, such as the CSDR, or the EU Taxonomy’s water efficiency criteria. Comprehensive water monitoring positions properties ahead of mandatory requirements.
Resilience and climate adaptation: As climate change increases the frequency of droughts and water restrictions, properties with efficient water systems are more resilient. Proactive water management reduces exposure to operational disruptions and helps assets adapt to future climate risks.
Simple implementation: Smartvatten’s water monitoring systems install in minutes without disrupting operations. Properties begin generating actionable data immediately for measurable improvements over time.
Positive ESG momentum: Water efficiency presents a rare opportunity for a clear, measurable win in a compliance-driven ESG environment. Achieving meaningful water savings is typically faster, less costly, and easier to communicate than other environmental upgrades. This gives sustainability teams a proactive success story to share internally and externally.
Scope 3 and embodied resource savings: Reducing water waste can reduce the embodied energy and emissions tied to water processing, pumping, and heating. This makes water reduction a subtle but valuable contributor to Scope 3 emissions reductions.
Data-driven performance and stakeholder engagement: Smart water monitoring generates actionable data that goes beyond leak detection. It also informs long-term asset strategies, supports ESG reporting, and can be used to engage tenants with transparent, measurable improvements. Demonstrating active water management builds trust with both internal stakeholders and occupants, reinforcing your commitment to operational excellence and sustainability.
The case for better GRESB ratings is clear, but you may encounter certain roadblocks when taking the necessary steps to excel in your assessment. Fortunately, tackling these barriers is made simpler with the right solutions and support.
Challenge: Missing, outdated, or manual meters provide incomplete consumption data and prevent property owners from gaining a realistic overview of water usage. When water data is available, it may be not detailed enough to be of any use in making actionable insights. Furthermore, multiple operators and data sources can complicate demonstrating year-over-year improvements. Inconsistent reporting formats are another challenge to assembling data for the annual GRESB submission
Solution: Smartvatten’s system automatically collects accurate, real-time data from your entire portfolio and consolidates it into a single, unified platform. All data is formatted to GRESB requirements, with automated reporting that tracks year-over-year improvements and generates submission-ready documentation. In case you need additional support, we offer dedicated GRESB reporting services that deliver data for your annual submission and eliminate manual compilation work.
Challenge: Without proper leak detection in place, you might discover problems only once the monthly utility bills arrive. Properties must resort to expensive emergency repairs to hunt down and fix undetected issues if leaks are not identified and repaired immediately as they appear. Without a systematic approach to leak detection, properties spend their time and resources on reactive measures, rather than proactive prevention
Solution: Smartvatten’s advanced monitoring system detects leaks in real-time, often within minutes of occurrence. Our optical monitoring technology works with both analog and digital water meters, eliminating the need for expensive infrastructure upgrades. Immediate leak alerts enable rapid response before minor issues turn into costly emergencies. The system establishes baseline consumption patterns for each property and automatically flags any unusual activity. Properties avoid both water waste and potential structural damage while making meaningful strides towards better GRESB performance.
Read more about leak detection
Transform your approach to water management and ESG performance with Smartvatten's platform. Our solutions deliver immediate GRESB points while building long-term competitive advantages through smarter water monitoring, leak detection, and real-time data collection.
Ready to enhance your GRESB performance through intelligent water management? Contact us today to discover how our comprehensive platform can transform your water data into measurable sustainability success.
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