Chartered surveyors producing RICS 4th Edition-compliant valuations need data from at least five sources: the domestic EPC register for energy performance certificates, the CRREM Library for pathway data and emission factors, the Environment Agency for flood risk classification, industry benchmarking databases for energy performance context, and published retrofit cost guides for proportionate capex estimates. Most of these are free and publicly accessible.
The most common barrier to ESG compliance is not the RICS standard itself — it is knowing where to find the data. Many surveyors who have the professional competence to assess and document ESG risk factors simply don't know which databases to access or how to interpret the output. This guide covers the essential sources.
EPC Data
Source: Open Data Communities EPC Register (opendatacommunities.org/data/domestic-energy-performance). Covers both domestic and non-domestic EPCs for England and Wales. Scotland has a separate register (scottishepcregister.org.uk).
What it provides: Current EPC rating, certificate date, energy efficiency metrics, estimated energy costs, and recommendations for improvement. Note that EPCs are valid for 10 years, so a certificate from 2017 may not reflect current building condition.
Limitation: EPCs measure design efficiency, not operational performance. A building with EPC B may consume significantly more energy than the certificate suggests (the "performance gap"). The EPC is a starting point, not a complete picture.
CRREM Pathway Data
Source: CRREM Library (crrem.org/library). Open-access. The Global Pathways dataset provides year-by-year energy and carbon budgets by country and property type. The Emission Factors dataset provides per-carrier emission factors by country and year. The Technical Blueprint provides the complete calculation specification.
What it provides: Everything needed to calculate the CRREM misalignment year — the year a building's trajectory crosses the 1.5°C-aligned pathway. This is the key data point for the stranded asset timeline module of an ESG valuation insert.
Limitation: Requires actual energy consumption data for the building being valued, which may not be available to the valuer. Where consumption data is unavailable, EPC-estimated consumption can be used as a proxy with appropriate limitations stated.
Flood Risk Data
Source: Environment Agency Flood Map for Planning (flood-map-for-planning.service.gov.uk). Free. Provides flood zone classification (Zone 1, 2, 3a, 3b) for any location in England.
What it provides: The minimum physical climate risk data point required under RICS 4th Edition — whether the property is in a flood risk area and at what classification level.
Energy Benchmarks
Source: CIBSE Guide F and TM46. CIBSE Energy Benchmarks provide typical and good-practice energy consumption figures by building type. Display Energy Certificates (DECs) for public buildings are also a useful reference.
What it provides: Context for the KPI dashboard — allowing the valuer to state whether a building's energy intensity is above, below, or in line with sector benchmarks for its type.
Retrofit Cost Estimates
Source: RICS Building Cost Information Service (BCIS), Spon's price guides, and industry benchmarks. General range for UK commercial retrofit from EPC D to EPC B: £80–£150 per square foot.
The technology shortcut: If accessing and cross-referencing five separate data sources for every valuation instruction sounds disproportionate — it is, for most individual instructions. This is precisely why RICS Section 3 permits technology solutions to deliver this data in a structured format. Plinthos for Valuers integrates these data sources into a single workflow that produces the complete four-module ESG valuation insert.