A call for new thinking on wood
Forest certification standards from twelve nations have called on the USGBC to end its discrimination against wood and accept all credible sustainable forest certification standards.
The certification programs pointed out that wood is one of the best environmental choices for construction, as long as it is from a responsible source – and that fibre certified to the 26 national forest certification programs recognized by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) meets this demand.
Currently, the USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating tool only recognizes wood certified to Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards. The USGBC is involved in a process to evaluate forest certification programs, and recently released a fourth round of draft benchmarks for public comments.
“Less than 10 per cent of the world’s forests are certified, yet LEED does not recognize the more than two thirds of the world’s certified forests that meet PEFC’s Sustainability Benchmarks,” says PEFC International Secretary General Ben Gunneberg. “The United Nations has warned that by giving exclusive recognition to one forest certification brand, green building standards may help drive demand for these brands at the expense of wider appreciation for the environmental merits of wood.”
23-Jul-2010
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