Sustainable Real Estate: Certification Demonstrates Quality. Data Show Performance Over Time.

A BREEAM, LEED or WELL certification provides an independent and verifiable answer to one specific question: how well a building has been designed, constructed and operated against an internationally recognized framework.

Today, however, investors, owners, lenders and tenants are asking a broader set of questions - questions that certification alone is not designed to answer. How much carbon does the building generate in operation, and across its entire life cycle? Where is energy being wasted? What kind of indoor environment does it provide for its users? Is the asset aligned with the decarbonization pathway to 2050? And how does it perform compared with the wider market?

Certification schemes have increasingly moved towards measured performance. WELL Performance Testing is based on measured indoor environmental parameters, while BREEAM In-Use and LEED O+M incorporate actual operational consumption data. The distinction, therefore, is not between certification and data. Both certification and the questions above rely on the same underlying data - and the quality of that data is what ultimately matters.

Why the Scope of Questions Is Expanding

This shift is visible across the real estate market. Investors require better data to assess their portfolios, owners are looking for ways to reduce operating costs and emissions, and decarbonization requirements are increasingly being embedded in European legislation. The legislative information below reflects the position as of August 2026. Some related national transposition measures may continue to evolve. 
The revised Energy Performance of Buildings Directive, EPBD (EU) 2024/1275, requires under Article 7(2) that the life-cycle Global Warming Potential (GWP) of new buildings be calculated and disclosed in the Energy Performance Certificate: from 1 January 2028 for new buildings with a useful floor area above 1,000 m², and from 1 January 2030 for all new buildings. 

The European Commission adopted the delegated act establishing a common EU calculation framework in December 2025, and it entered into force in May 2026. In addition, Member States are required to publish their own roadmaps for the introduction of limit values by 1 January 2027. What was once a general policy direction is therefore becoming a specific calculation requirement with a defined timeline. 
A similar shift is taking place in the investment market. GRESB data is now used by approximately 150 institutional and financial investors representing USD 53 trillion in assets under management. The benchmark is no longer driven solely by policies and commitments; increasingly, it depends on the quality of underlying data and the actual environmental performance of portfolios.

The market is not looking for a different framework. It is looking for the numbers behind it.

In practice, this translates into six key questions - and six different types of data. They begin with carbon, because reduction cannot be managed without first establishing a baseline. They continue with building diagnostics and the quality of the indoor environment, and ultimately address how an individual asset - or an entire portfolio - will perform over time and against the wider market.

Carbon Footprint: You Cannot Manage Reduction Without a Baseline

“We want to reduce emissions” is a strategic ambition. Managing that ambition requires knowing where emissions come from and how significant they are. A carbon footprint assessment converts energy consumption, operational data and other relevant activities into a common greenhouse gas emissions metric. Only then can an organization establish a baseline, identify priorities and define a realistic pathway for reducing emissions.

At Grinity, we calculate carbon footprint in accordance with the GHG Protocol, including Scope 1, 2 and 3 emissions. We identify the main emission sources and recommend next steps to reduce them. 
A carbon footprint is therefore not an end in itself. It is the starting point for determining where decarbonization efforts can deliver the greatest value - and where their impact can be meaningfully measured.  

LCA: Understanding Emissions Across the Building’s Entire Life Cycle

Operational energy consumption is no longer the only carbon issue associated with buildings. As buildings become more energy-efficient and the energy sector continues to decarbonize, the relative importance of emissions associated with materials, construction, refurbishment and end-of-life processes is increasing.

A Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) quantifies the environmental impacts of a building across its entire life cycle - from material production and construction through operation to demolition, recycling or disposal. 
Importantly, LCA is not simply another calculation to be included in a final report. When carried out effectively, it can identify the structures and materials with the greatest environmental impact during the design stage itself, highlighting where the project’s carbon footprint can genuinely be reduced. 
At Grinity, we deliver comprehensive building LCAs in accordance with ČSN EN 15978 and ČSN EN 15804+A2, on a cradle-to-grave basis including Module D, using One Click LCA. We structure the outputs so they can support not only project optimization, but also BREEAM, LEED, the EU Taxonomy and the new EPBD requirements.  

Thermography: Identifying Where Buildings Are Losing Energy

Not all useful data comes from spreadsheets or energy models. Sometimes, the fastest route to improving a building is simply seeing a problem that is invisible to the naked eye. Thermographic assessments can reveal thermal bridges, insulation deficiencies, air leakage, areas of increased moisture and hidden defects in the building envelope. This makes thermography a practical tool not only for quality control in new construction, but especially for existing buildings, where it can help explain excessive energy consumption or occupant comfort issues. For building owners, however, the most important step comes after the measurement: turning the findings into actionable decisions. Where should intervention take place? What should be repaired first? Which investment is likely to have the greatest impact on energy consumption, comfort and operating costs?

This is how we approach thermography at Grinity – as a diagnostic tool that supports better building decisions, rather than simply a collection of thermal images. Measurements are carried out by our experienced specialists with international Level 1 and Level 2 thermography qualifications.  

WELL Performance Testing: Does a Healthy Indoor Environment Work in Practice?

We are seeing the same shift in the way health and occupant well-being are assessed. Designing the right ventilation, lighting, or acoustic strategy is not enough. What ultimately matters is what people actually experience once the building is completed and operational. WELL Performance Testing is therefore based on real-world measurements of indoor environmental parameters, including air and water quality, lighting conditions, acoustics and thermal comfort. It provides objective verification that the strategies designed on paper are delivering the intended results in day-to-day operation.

Grinity is the first organization in the Czech Republic accredited as a WELL Performance Testing Provider (PTP), with our listing publicly available in the IWBI directory. We provide onsite WELL Performance Verification (PV) and Performance Testing for projects in the Czech Republic and across the CEE region. 
The results support both certification and building operations. They provide a set of real-world data on the environment in which occupants work or live every day - and a basis for decisions relating to heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting and operational settings.  

CRREM: Will the Building Still Meet Market Expectations in Ten Years?

One of the most important questions in real estate today is no longer simply how energy- or carbon-intensive a building is now. It is whether its performance will remain sufficient in 2030, 2040 or 2050. 
The Carbon Risk Real Estate Monitor (CRREM) translates climate targets into specific decarbonization pathways by country and property type. It currently provides more than 1,000 pathways across 44 countries.

The performance of an individual building or an entire portfolio can be assessed against these pathways to determine its CRREM Misalignment Year - the year in which an asset is expected to fall out of alignment with a decarbonization-compatible trajectory. An important change took place in this area in 2026. The freely available CRREM Excel tool was discontinued as of 1 July 2026. The pathways, methodology and underlying datasets remain available through the open-access CRREM Library, but the calculation itself now needs to be carried out - and substantiated - separately. This places even greater emphasis on input data quality: correct allocation of energy carriers, appropriate district-heating emission factors for the relevant location, separation of tenant and common-area consumption, and proper treatment of vacancy.

At Grinity, we use CRREM outputs not only to identify transition risk, but also to support retrofit planning and the timing of future CAPEX. A Misalignment Year on its own is simply a number. Its real value emerges when it is linked to specific measures quantified through an energy model - showing how individual interventions can move that date and when the investment should be implemented. 
This moves the sustainability discussion into a much more practical context. The question is no longer simply whether a building is “green” today, but what investment it will require to remain competitive in the future.  

GRESB: How Does the Portfolio Compare with the Market?

For an individual building, asset-level performance matters. For investors and asset managers, however, it is equally important to understand how the portfolio performs as a whole - and how it compares with its peers.GRESB provides investors with a standardized view of environmental and other non-financial characteristics of real estate portfolios and enables benchmarking against comparable market participants. 

In 2025, 1,002 fund managers submitted 2,382 assessments to the GRESB Real Estate Assessment. GRESB also reported increased participation in the Czech Republic during that reporting cycle, making peer comparison increasingly relevant for domestic portfolios as well. Completing the GRESB Assessment itself, however, is not the main objective. The real value comes from establishing the right data collection processes, identifying gaps, defining priorities and translating benchmark results into a concrete portfolio improvement plan. 

This is also where we support our clients – from data preparation and reporting through to ESG strategy development and the implementation of measures designed to improve portfolio performance over the long term.  

One Data Foundation. Six Different Answers.

BREEAM, LEED and WELL certifications provide buildings with an independently verified framework for quality. Alongside them are a range of questions that can only be answered through measurement and calculation. What is the building’s carbon footprint? How much carbon is generated across its entire life cycle? Where is energy being lost? What kind of environment does it create for its occupants? Is its current technical performance aligned with the decarbonization pathway the market will expect in the future? And how does it compare with similar assets?

This is why, at Grinity, we combine our certification expertise with carbon footprinting, LCA, thermographic diagnostics, WELL Performance Testing, CRREM analysis and GRESB reporting. 
We help owners, developers and investors obtain the data they need to make informed decisions about their buildings - from design and day-to-day operation through to long-term investment strategy. 
Certification tells you how well a building is designed and operated. Data tells you how long that will remain true.

Get in touch with us. We would be happy to discuss which of these analyses makes the most sense for your building or portfolio as a first step, what scope is appropriate, and what data will be required.  

→ Learn more about LCA and Carbon Footprint
→ Learn more about Thermographic Assessments
→ Learn more about WELL Certification
→ Learn more about ESG Advisory