How Restoration Work Shows Up in GRESB and CDP Disclosures

Understanding where restoration contractor data appears in GRESB and CDP disclosures helps contractors frame their value proposition and helps property managers understand what they need from their vendor base. The specific indicators, scoring weight, and data format requirements are all defined — the gap has been the absence of a contractor-side standard for producing the data.

Where Restoration Emissions Appear in GRESB

The GRESB Real Estate Assessment includes GHG Emissions indicators (GHG1–GHG4) and a Supply Chain section covering ESG engagement with contractors. Restoration emissions appear in both.

In the GHG Emissions section, restoration contractor activity contributes to Scope 3 disclosures under Category 1 (purchased services/materials) and Category 5 (waste). GRESB asks whether companies have quantified Scope 3 emissions, which categories are covered, and the data quality (primary vs. estimated). Companies with primary contractor data score higher on the data quality indicator.

In the Supply Chain section, GRESB asks whether the company has engaged with major contractors to understand and reduce emissions. A restoration contractor providing RCP-format per-job carbon reports is supply chain engagement evidence — the property manager can point to those reports as documentation of active contractor engagement on emissions transparency.

Where Restoration Emissions Appear in CDP

CDP’s Climate questionnaire asks companies to report Scope 3 emissions by category with data quality ratings. For commercial real estate companies, restoration contractor emissions sit primarily in Category 1 and Category 5. CDP also asks about supplier engagement on climate change, including whether companies require suppliers to report their emissions.

The Data Format Required

Both GRESB and CDP require: tCO2e by GHG Protocol Scope 3 category, attributable to a specific reporting period, with a methodology description, and evidence of supply chain engagement. An RCP per-job carbon report provides all four elements — the tCO2e figure by category, the reporting period (job dates), the methodology (RCP v1.0, GHG Protocol, EPA/DEFRA factors), and evidence of contractor engagement (the report itself demonstrates communication about emissions).

Aggregating to Portfolio Level

GRESB and CDP require portfolio-level Scope 3 disclosures — totals across all managed properties in the reporting period. The consistent format of RCP reports makes this aggregation straightforward: the same categories appear in every report, allowing simple summation. This is one of the primary reasons standardization matters — if each contractor produces a differently structured report, the ESG team has to reconcile formats before aggregating. RCP eliminates that step.

The Specific GRESB Indicator Where Your Data Lands: GH1

GRESB’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions indicator is designated GH1 in the Real Estate Assessment. It is one of the highest-weighted performance indicators in the entire assessment, alongside EN1 (Energy) and WT1 (Water). The 2025 GRESB Real Estate Scoring Document confirms that GH1 is scored using a relative methodology — meaning an entity’s score is determined not just by its standalone performance but by how it compares against benchmark groups of comparable properties by type and geography.

Understanding GH1 is essential for contractors because it is the specific field in the GRESB Assessment Portal where your client’s ESG team enters the emissions data you provide. The more complete and primary-data-quality your RCP records are, the higher your client’s GH1 data coverage score — which in 2025 became a newly scored metric in the assessment.

What GH1 Requires

GH1 assesses the entity’s measurement of GHG emissions across Scope 1, 2, and 3. The 2025 updates specifically require:

• Scope 2: Location-based reporting is mandatory and scored. Market-based is optional and does not affect the score.
• Scope 3: Participants must identify and report material Scope 3 emission categories. Restoration contractor emissions land in Category 1 (purchased goods and services) and Category 4 (upstream transportation) of the client’s Scope 3 inventory.
• Data coverage: A newly scored metric in 2025. GH1 now explicitly scores data coverage — the percentage of the portfolio’s floor area for which verified GHG data is reported. Higher coverage = higher score. RCP records that cover more of a client’s restoration events improve their data coverage metric.
• Third-party review: Also newly scored in 2025. For entities of sufficient size (per indicator RC7), third-party assurance of GHG emissions data is now a scoring factor. This is the long-term trajectory toward verifiable contractor data.

The 2026 Scope Reclassification

GRESB has announced a significant methodology change for 2026: Tenant Spaces–Landlord Controlled emissions, which were previously classified as Scope 3, will be reclassified as Scope 1 and 2. This affects how landlord-controlled tenant space energy is categorized. It does not affect restoration contractor emissions, which remain Scope 3 Category 1 and 4 for the property owner. But it means your clients’ ESG teams are actively restructuring their Scope 3 inventory in 2026 — which is an ideal moment to be the vendor that provides clean, structured Scope 3 data that reduces their workload.

GRESB Assessment Submission Deadline

The GRESB Real Estate Assessment submission window is April–July each year. The 2026 assessment covers calendar year 2025 performance data. Contractors should deliver annual RCP Portfolio Summaries to GRESB-reporting clients by May at the latest to allow time for data entry before the July deadline.

CDP Supply Chain: Where Your Data Appears and What Format It Needs

CDP operates a Supply Chain program through which member companies — many of them institutional property owners, REITs, and commercial facility operators — request annual emissions data from their suppliers via a standardized questionnaire. If a commercial property manager client is a CDP Supply Chain member, they will send you a questionnaire link at some point. Understanding the questionnaire structure helps you respond efficiently using RCP data.

CDP Supply Chain Questionnaire Structure

The CDP Supply Chain questionnaire asks suppliers to disclose:

• Scope 1, 2, and 3 GHG emissions for the most recent reporting year
• Whether you have set science-based emissions reduction targets
• Whether you have board-level oversight of climate risks
• Your approach to climate risk management and opportunity identification
• Whether you engage your own supply chain on emissions reduction

For restoration contractors, the relevant sections are Scope 1, 2, and 3 disclosure. Scope 1 covers your company’s direct emissions (your offices, equipment you own). Scope 2 covers your purchased electricity for operations. Scope 3 covers upstream and downstream emissions in your value chain — which, for restoration contractors, includes the materials you purchase, the waste you generate, and eventually the client-facing emissions tracked by RCP.

RCP Job Carbon Reports aggregate into a portfolio Scope 3 figure that the contractor can disclose as their Category 11 (use of sold products, if applicable) or as context for their supplier’s Category 1 emissions. The key data point CDP needs is a total annual Scope 3 figure with methodology disclosure. Your RCP Portfolio Summary (all per-job records summed for the year) provides this directly.

ESG Data Management Platforms That Accept RCP Data

Commercial property managers rarely enter vendor data manually into GRESB or CDP. They use ESG data management platforms that aggregate across their vendor base and generate GRESB/CDP-ready submissions. The leading platforms in commercial real estate:

• Measurabl: Used by major REITs and institutional property managers. Accepts structured CSV and API data inputs. A Measurabl-compatible RCP CSV uses columns: property_id, vendor_name, reporting_period, scope3_category, emissions_tco2e, calculation_method, data_quality.
• Yardi Elevate: Yardi’s ESG module integrated with its property management suite. Accepts vendor emissions data via CSV import aligned with GHG Protocol category structure.
• Deepki: European-headquartered, used by CSRD-obligated property companies with US assets. Accepts API integrations for Scope 3 supplier data.
• Atrius (formerly BuildingIQ): Uses CBECS data for estimation where supplier data is unavailable. Accepts actual supplier data uploads that override estimates — which is why delivering RCP data matters even if the client has an ESG platform that estimates your contribution.

The RCP-JCR-1.0 JSON schema is designed to be translatable to any of these platform formats. The emissions_summary object maps directly to GHG Protocol category totals. The data_quality section maps to the methodology disclosure fields all four platforms require.