From the Editor
If you use products made totally or partially from wood in your facilities, you may want to take note of a burgeoning industry controversy — especially if you are now working or plan to soon work on a LEED initiative. Since its inception 10 years ago, the LEED rating system exclusively has used one certification system — the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) — for its wood credit, Materials and Resources, Credit 7: Certified Wood. Users can achieve one point for using “a minimum of 50 percent (based on cost) of wood-based materials and products that are certified in accordance with the Forest Stewardships Council’s principles and criteria for wood building components.”

The idea behind the credit is simply to ensure wood products are made from wood grown and harvested in a sustainable way. And the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) always has recognized FSC as the most rigorous wood certification standard.

The controversy stems from the fact that USGBC uses only one single certification is, and at least for now, USGBC doesn’t seem too interested in changing the credit. A competing forestry certifying body — the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) — has begun a campaign to argue that its forestry certification, as well as others like the American Tree Farm System (ATFS) and the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), should be included in LEED as well. SFI recently collected more than 5,000 signatures on a petition that calls for USGBC to open its LEED credit to all “wood and paper products certified to independent, respected and credible standards.”

According to SFI, less than one-quarter of North American forests are FSC-certified, meaning it’s difficult for facility managers to find local products that fit into the LEED criteria. Expanding the LEED credit to include SFI, CSA and ATFS would encompass more than three-quarters of certified forests in North America.

Some facility managers have scratched their heads, though, and wondered if this controversy isn’t much ado about nothing. After all, the wood credit represents only one out of 100 possible LEED points. But those in the know say that how this controversy is resolved may set a precedent for how similar LEED-related controversies are sorted out in the future — including the still-roiling controversy over a credit that would give a point for avoiding the use of vinyl or plastic in a building.

Have you heard the rumblings regarding this wood controversy? What’s your take? Should USGBC stick to its FSC guns, or should it expand the credit to other certification systems?

Cheers,

Green Strategies
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