# PERFORM Performance Metrics

<details>

<summary>Acknowledgements</summary>



**USGBC and GBCI STAFF**

_PERFORM product design, development and technical content_

* Annea Hapçiu
* Jeanne Friedlander
* Jeff Benavides
* Sean McMahon
* Vijaya Yellamraju

_Subject matter expert review_

* Amy Gallo
* Celia Ristow
* Danielle Pieranunzi
* Douglas Smith
* Gail Hampsmire
* Holly Griffith
* Ian LaHiff
* Jessica Gracie Griffin
* Josh Droege
* Karema Seliem
* Ken Simpson
* Larissa McFall
* Larissa Oaks
* Laurie Kerr
* Melisa Baker
* Melissa Cox
* Micah Silvey
* Paul Mathew
* Samuel Leu
* Seema Bhangar
* Wes Sullens

_Document design and editing_

* Ashley Katz
* Elizabeth Thompson
* Nora Knox

**ADVISORS & CONSULTANTS**

* 3R Sustainability
* BranchPattern
* Aamidor Consulting
* Chris Pyke

</details>

<details>

<summary>Copyright &#x26; Disclaimer</summary>

**COPYRIGHT**

© 2024 by the U.S. Green Building Council. All rights reserved.

**DISCLAIMER**

None of the parties involved in the funding or creation of this document, including the USGBC, its members, its contractors, or the United States government, assume any liability or responsibility to the user or any third parties for the accuracy, completeness, or use of or reliance on any information contained in this document, or for any injuries, losses, or damages (including, without limitation, equitable relief ) arising from such use or reliance. Although the information contained in this document is believed to be reliable and accurate, all materials set forth within are provided without warranties of any kind, either express or implied, including but not limited to warranties of the accuracy or completeness of information contained in the training or the suitability of the information for any particular purpose.

As a condition of use, the user covenants not to sue and agrees to waive and release the U.S. Green Building Council, its members, its contractors, and the United States government from any and all claims, demands, and causes of action for any injuries, losses, or damages (including, without limitation, equitable relief ) that the user may now or hereafter have a right to assert against such parties as a result of the use of, or reliance on, this document.

U.S. Green Building Council 2101 L Street, NW Suite 600 Washington, DC 20037

</details>

## Background <a href="#toc181743887" id="toc181743887"></a>

The green building community needs to accelerate action at greater scale. Existing buildings represent a substantial and critical opportunity for reducing the negative impact of buildings on the climate, on health and on our communities. However, advancing decarbonization, resource efficiency and social impact throughout the buildings sector has remained a challenge. Because existing buildings account for up to 80% of building stock, retrofits have an especially important role in improving environmental, social and economic performance. Driving the sustainability and resilience of existing real estate portfolios is not a distant goal but an immediate imperative. Whether driven by regulatory standards, responses to market demands or corporate sustainability commitments, organizations of all sizes are focusing on demonstrating impact. While many organizations have set ambitious sustainability targets, too few have achieved meaningful improvements or aligned their sustainability strategies with their publicly stated performance commitments.

Addressing this challenge has prompted the U.S. Green Building Council® (USGBC) and Green Business Certification Inc.™ (GBCI) to think differently, to reconsider how to engage existing building portfolios, many of which are not able or prepared to engage with a leadership standard like LEED® and others that are moving quickly to adapt to mandatory disclosure and reporting.

PERFORM offers a comprehensive and accessible path for owners and operators to improve real estate portfolio performance. PERFORM focuses on critical areas such as decarbonization, energy efficiency, water management, biodiversity, resilience, social impact and human health.

Recognizing organizations are at different stages of their sustainability journey, PERFORM is designed to engage a broad spectrum of real estate stakeholders from those who are beginning to address these challenges to those already implementing advanced sustainability measures.

As a **low-barrier-to-entry program**, PERFORM empowers organizations to set custom goals, track progress over time and verify performance outcomes. PERFORM’s flexible nature means participants are not required to meet predefined performance thresholds. Incremental improvements with custom goals — such as moving from underperformance to baseline standards across a large portfolio — can create significant benefits. As such, PERFORM is a complement to LEED certification, acknowledging not all buildings in a portfolio are ready to achieve a level of excellence across holistic metrics.

**PERFORM’s performance metrics and technical requirements are aligned with industry standards**, including LEED, and are structured to reflect best practice in real estate performance. However, these metrics and requirements are not rigid benchmarks, nor do they reflect a cutting edge “leadership” standard which may be aspirational for much of the market. **They serve as a guidance framework for organizations seeking to improve performance at their own pace** and demonstrate progress against their own goals.

For those ready to verify and showcase achievements, PERFORM offers an optional verification process, enabling organizations to receive third-party recognition for demonstrating improvement or for reaching self-defined milestones. This flexibility is especially important for organizations managing diverse portfolios, allowing them to demonstrate improved performance across a variety of asset types without requiring every asset within a portfolio meet the minimum requirements set for LEED-certified projects.

In summary, **PERFORM supports the striving majority**, those real estate owners and operators committed to making meaningful progress, regardless of where they start. By emphasizing personalized goal-setting and incremental improvement, PERFORM ensures every step forward contributes to broader environmental and social objectives. Whether using PERFORM as a roadmap for improvements or pursuing verification, organizations are empowered to track, measure and celebrate progress on their own terms.

## Overview <a href="#toc181743888" id="toc181743888"></a>

PERFORM helps organizations manage and enhance the sustainability of real estate portfolios. Organizations can set goals, measure progress against defined targets as well as receive third-party verification from GBCI for demonstrating improvement and achieving targets. The program supports a range of portfolio-level metrics across the following eight categories: emissions, energy, water, waste, health, resilience, biodiversity and social impact.

PERFORM is available to any organization with operational real estate assets. Organizations can be a non-profit entity, a government agency, a listed or unlisted company, a fund, a direct investment portfolio, a joint venture, a special purpose vehicle or similar. To participate in the program, the organization must own, manage or control the real estate assets in the defined portfolio, and have more than one property in the portfolio.

A portfolio is defined as a collection of real estate assets (properties) owned, managed and/or controlled by the legal entity (organization) participating in the program. The properties should include both the building(s) and any land associated with the building(s). **The defined portfolio must include all underlying properties associated with the performance goals, claims or targets being verified.**

PERFORM’s engagement cycle includes the following steps:

* **Enroll** in the program by creating a portfolio and selecting applicable performance criteria.
* **Track progress** against selected performance criteria.
* **Verify performance** by submitting for review and receive verification.
* **Continuously improve** a portfolio's performance by adding performance metrics and/or creating new targets for previously verified metrics.

![](https://499883804-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FDzV1luoOcqzfid6knCl8%2Fuploads%2FPEBkrThB70Cu19UVv9Rd%2F1.png?alt=media)

PERFORM is delivered through the enhanced Arc™ platform and the third-party verification is administered exclusively by GBCI. The [PERFORM Program Guide](https://app.gitbook.com/o/zUAaWnE8Blxuko2MXKfm/s/DzV1luoOcqzfid6knCl8/) further describes engagement with the program.

### **Why PERFORM?** <a href="#toc181743889" id="toc181743889"></a>

PERFORM helps organizations manage and enhance the sustainability of entire real estate portfolios. Organizations can:

* Set goals and measure progress against user-defined performance targets.
* View guidance and access tools to improve performance.
* Enhance transparency, credibility and accountability, and communicate performance improvements to stakeholders.
* Receive third-party verification from GBCI for achieving milestones and demonstrating improvement.

### PERFORM Performance Metrics Overview <a href="#toc181743890" id="toc181743890"></a>

This document outlines the performance categories and metrics that are available for an organization to track, report and verify across a portfolio. The metrics are organized within eight categories that reflect key material themes and impact areas driving sustainability action. All metrics are optional. Organizations may set targets for one or more metrics and submit for verification. There are no minimum thresholds associated with the metrics. Organizations define their own targets and may receive verification of performance against these user-defined targets.

Each metric is described using the following structure.

* **INTENT**: The objective, benefit and importance of the metric.
* **DEFINITION**: The meaning of the metric in the context of PERFORM.
* **UNITS OF MEASURE**: Applicable units by which the metric may be measured.
* **VERIFICATION SCOPE**: The performance outcomes that will be verified. Performance can be measured in two ways — absolute performance or change in performance. The verification scope articulates what will be verified for each approach.

| Performance Approach A                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  | Performance Approach B                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Absolute performance for a reporting year                                                                                                                                                                                                               | Performance change from a baseline year                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              |
| Using Performance Approach A, organizations may track and seek verification for a single absolute value. Depending on the metric, this value may be a number (e.g., total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions) or a percentage (e.g., waste diversion rate). | <p>Using Performance Approach B, organizations may track and seek verification for the change in performance in the reporting year from a user-defined baseline year (e.g., GHG emission reduction of 5% in reporting year compared to baseline year). This is calculated in two ways depending on the performance metric.</p><p></p><p>Percentage Change: Change in performance from a baseline year:</p><p></p><p><span class="math">\cfrac{RY-BY}{BY}*100=\%Change</span></p><p></p><p>RY = Reporting Year Value<br>BY = Baseline Year Value</p><p></p><p>Percentage Point Change: Change in performance from a baseline year, calculated by the formula:</p><p></p><p><span class="math">RY\%-BY\%=\%PointChange</span></p><p></p><p>RY% = Reporting Year Value<br>BY% = Baseline Year Value</p> |

* **REQUIREMENTS**: The actions needed by the organization to report on a metric and submit for verification.
* **VERIFICATION EVIDENCE**: The documentation required to support verification review.

| Portfolio-Level Documentation                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        | Property-Level Documentation                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          |
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Documents that are applicable at an organizational level and consistent for all properties in the portfolio. The following documents may be required.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                | Documents that provide information specific to the properties within the portfolio. The following documents are required for all metrics.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             |
| <p><strong>Policies</strong>: organization-wide policies related to the metric.</p><p><strong>Methodology</strong>: procedures and/or standards used to implement and document the metric.</p><p><strong>Letter(s) of Attestation</strong>: confirmation the baseline year data was calculated in a manner similar to the reporting year.</p><p><strong>Plans and Actions</strong>: portfolio-wide plans and actions to achieve the defined targets.</p><p><strong>Portfolio-wide templates</strong>: common templates (e.g., checklists, plans, spreadsheets, tools) used across the portfolio.</p> | <p><strong>PERFORM Property-Level Data Form</strong>: a spreadsheet which includes performance data for each property in the portfolio and summarizes the portfolio-level values. Alternative documentation is acceptable if it contains the same information as the PERFORM Property-Level Data Form.</p><p><strong>Property-Level Sample Documents</strong>: documents for a sample of SQRT(n) properties where ‘n’ is the number of properties in the portfolio. A list of properties selected for sampling is provided during the portfolio creation process.</p> |

* **CALCULATION GUIDANCE**: The key calculations that may be necessary to determine the performance outcomes.
* **REFERENCES**: The resources and/or standards related to the metric.
* **TERMINOLOGY**: Key terms used in the metrics.

### PERFORM Performance Metrics Snapshot

Performance Approach A (absolute performance) and Performance Approach B (performance change) are optional approaches for each of the metrics.

| Category       | Performance Metric                                           | Performance Approach A (absolute performance) | Performance Approach B (performance change) |
| -------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------- |
| Emissions      | Total GHG Emissions                                          | Total GHGs                                    | Total GHGs                                  |
| Emissions      | GHG Emissions Intensity                                      | GHGs/unit area                                | GHGs/unit area                              |
| Energy         | Total Energy Use                                             | Total energy                                  | Total energy                                |
| Energy         | Energy Use Intensity                                         | Energy/unit area                              | Energy/unit area                            |
| Energy         | Renewable Energy Use                                         | Ren Energy (RE) or % RE                       | Ren Energy (RE) or % RE                     |
| Water          | Total Water Use                                              | Total Water                                   | Total Water                                 |
| Water          | Water Use Intensity                                          | Water/ unit area                              | Water/ unit area                            |
| Waste          | Total Waste Diversion                                        | % waste diverted                              | % waste diverted                            |
| Health         | Occupant Satisfaction                                        | % or # of properties                          | % of properties                             |
| Health         | Worker Health and Safety Plan                                | % or # of properties                          | % of properties                             |
| Health         | Indoor Air Quality Monitoring                                | % or # of properties                          | % of properties                             |
| Health         | Indoor Air Quality Testing                                   | % or # of properties                          | % of properties                             |
| Resilience     | Physical Climate Risk Screening                              | % or # of properties                          | % of properties                             |
| Resilience     | Physical Climate Risk Assessment                             | % or # of properties                          | % of properties                             |
| Resilience     | Climate Transition Risk Assessment                           | % or # of properties                          | % of properties                             |
| Resilience     | Operational Planning for Resilience-Emergency Response Plan  | % or # of properties                          | % of properties                             |
| Resilience     | Operational Planning for Resilience-Business Continuity Plan | % or # of properties                          | % of properties                             |
| Biodiversity   | Protected and/or Restored Biodiverse Habitat                 | Area or % Area                                | Area or % Area                              |
| Social Impact  | Social and Community Impact Assessment                       | % or # of properties                          | % of properties                             |
| Social Impact  | Area Designated for Community Use                            | Area or % Area                                | Area or % Area                              |
| Social Impact  | Community Investment                                         | % or # of properties                          | % of properties                             |

### Key Terms <a href="#toc181743892" id="toc181743892"></a>

* **Portfolio**: A collection of real estate assets (properties) owned, managed and/or controlled by the legal entity (organization) participating in the program. The defined portfolio must include all underlying properties associated with the performance goals, claims or targets being verified.
* **Properties**: The real estate assets in a portfolio, including any buildings and any land associated with the buildings.
* **Performance Category**: A key impact area to measure, track and verify sustainability performance of a portfolio.
* **Performance Metric**: A key indicator to measure, track and verify performance outcomes of a portfolio.
* **Target:** A user-defined goal to achieve a desired performance outcome by a user-defined date.
* **Interim Target**: A user-defined goal to demonstrate incremental progress toward the defined target.
* **Percentage of Properties:** Percentage of properties in the portfolio where a performance metric has been implemented, calculated by the formula:&#x20;

$$
\cfrac{N}{T}*100 = \%Properties
$$

N = Number of properties in portfolio where metric has been implemented\
T = Total number of properties in portfolio

* **Percentage Change:** Change in performance from a baseline year, calculated by the formula:

$$
\cfrac{RY-BY}{BY}*100=\%Change
$$

RY = Reporting Year Value\
BY = Baseline Year Value

* **Percentage Point Change**: Change in performance from a baseline year, calculated by the formula:

$$
RY\%-BY\%=\%PointChange
$$

RY% = Reporting Year Value\
BY% = Baseline Year Value

* **Performance Approaches**: Ways in which performance may be measured and verified.
* **Performance Approach A:** Measures absolute performance of a metric.
* **Performance Approach B:** Measures change in performance of a metric from a baseline year.
* **Baseline Year**: A 12-month period used to track changes in performance over time.
* **Reporting Year**: The most recent or current 12-month period for which performance is being tracked and submitted for verification.
* **Gross Floor Area**: Gross floor area is the sum of the floor areas within a building excluding floor area dedicated to parking and the circulation of motor vehicles, non-enclosed areas, non-enclosable areas and roofed areas.
* **Portfolio Gross Floor Area**: Sum of total gross floor area for all properties within a portfolio.&#x20;
