The Plinthos DQI measures how well UK-listed real estate companies communicate their ESG position to investors. It scores disclosure quality — completeness, specificity, comparability, and decision-usefulness — not ESG performance itself.
Every year, UK real estate companies publish sustainability reports. Investors, lenders, and valuers read them — or try to. The problem is that a substantial share of these reports do not give readers the data they need to make decisions. They look like disclosure. They don't function as disclosure.
The Plinthos Disclosure Quality Index (DQI) was created to measure this gap systematically. It is an annual benchmarking index that scores the quality of ESG disclosure across 136 UK-listed real estate companies, using a 120-point framework derived from empirical analysis of what the sector's best reporters actually do.
Most ESG indices score what companies do. The Plinthos DQI scores what they say — and whether what they say gives investors the information they need.
Operational outcomes, certification status, targets met.
Exposure to material ESG risks relative to industry peers.
Whether published ESG information is complete, specific, and decision-useful.
A fund with strong carbon reduction performance can still score poorly on the DQI if it fails to communicate that performance in a way investors can verify. Conversely, a company with mediocre ESG operations might score well on disclosure quality if its reporting is structured, traceable, and framework-aligned.
This distinction matters because it is the disclosure quality — not the underlying performance — that determines whether a fund can satisfy LP due diligence questionnaires, access sustainability-linked finance, and achieve the GRESB score its operations warrant.
Each company is scored across six dimensions:
The quality gap between the highest- and lowest-scoring companies in the 136-company 2025 baseline — on a 120-point scale. The gap is not explained by portfolio size, sector, or sustainability team size. It is explained by disclosure architecture.
The 2025 baseline is the first systematic scoring of disclosure quality across the full UK listed real estate sector. The median company sits at DQI Grade C — meaning most UK real estate companies report Scope 1–3 emissions and align to at least one framework, but have significant gaps in data assurance and pillar completeness that prevent their reports functioning as institutional-grade disclosure.
| Grade | Tier | Score | What it means |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Sector Leader | 95–120 | Investor-grade across all pillars. Multi-framework, SBTi validated, 30+ assured metrics. |
| B | Advanced | 80–94 | Strong disclosure with minor gaps. GRESB 4–5 star aligned, external assurance. |
| C | Developing | 65–79 | Scope 1–3 reported, EPRA/GRI aligned, limited assurance. Not yet institutional-grade. |
| D | Foundation | 50–64 | Primarily qualitative, absolute emissions only, no assurance, single framework. |
| E | Pre-Disclosure | <50 | Material gaps across multiple pillars. Not usable for LP due diligence. |
Individual scores are shared privately with the companies themselves, on request, as a complimentary research output. Publishing scores publicly would risk companies treating the index as adversarial rather than diagnostic — the objective is to improve disclosure quality, not to produce a public ranking.
The framework is derived from empirical analysis of observed best practice — specifically, a seven-year maturity analysis of the UK sector's highest-rated REIT reporter, tracking how disclosure quality evolved across all three ESG pillars. This grounds the scoring in what the sector has demonstrated is achievable, not a theoretical ideal.
Yes. RICS 4th Edition requires valuers to assess ESG disclosure quality as part of Red Book valuations — specifically whether a client's sustainability data is sufficient to support the KPI dashboard and stranded asset timeline the standard requires. The DQI framework and tier system provide a reference point for making that assessment.
The annual refresh is planned for Q1 2027, scored against each company's most recently published 2026 sustainability report. From year two onward, the index will produce year-on-year trend data showing whether sector disclosure quality is improving.
If your organisation is in the 2025 dataset, you can request your individual score and pillar breakdown as a complimentary research output — no obligation.
Request score →