Washington, DC, May 24, 2006--The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) Board of Directors announced today that it has directed the USGBC's LEED Steering Committee to address two proposed changes to LEED's wood and bio-based materials credits recommended in a white paper prepared for and accepted by USGBC's Board.
As with any change to the LEED rating system, the proposal will follow USGBC's consensus process including being posted for public comment and balloted by USGBC's full membership prior to implementation.
USGBC's Board took action in response to the escalating debate over wood and wood certification as related to USGBC's LEED Green Building Rating System. While wood and wood-related issues are just one small aspect of LEED's integrated approach to green building practice--an approach which comprehensively addresses energy and water usage, indoor environmental quality, site selection, and innovation as well as materials and resources--they had grown to dominate the green building agenda in some state and local forums, and were becoming a distraction from the broader goals of the movement.
"The role of a board is to assess and address issues that might impede the progress of an organization's mission," said Kevin Hydes, chairman of USGBC's board of directors. "As leaders of the green building movement, it's incumbent upon us to face issues head-on and, grounded in our core values, seek consensus and move forward. As a board, we're committed to decisive action and continuous improvement, and to that end, look to USGBC's consensus processes and the wisdom of its membership to swiftly reach a conclusion that both supports the intent of LEED's materials and resources credits to foster a sustainable materials economy and keeps the market moving."
Entitled "Dealing with Wood and Bio-Based Materials in the LEED Rating System," the white paper that formed the basis for the board's action was researched and prepared by Alex Wilson of BuildingGreen at USGBC's request, and includes an LCA analysis completed by Greg Norris, Ph.D. of Sylvatica. (Both the full white paper and a summary of the proposed changes are available for download.) The white paper offered two recommendations that will be deliberated and refined through USGBC's consensus process by the LEED steering committee, its materials and resources technical advisory group (TAG), and Wood sub-TAG:
That materials and resources credit 6 (MRc6) be changed from a rapidly renewable credit into a biobased credit, under which wood that is not derived from illegal logging would be recognized.
With this change, wood certified through the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), and possibly other certification systems could obtain this credit along with all of the rapidly renewable materials that are currently covered under MRc6.
The basis for this recommendation is that MRc6 currently rewards conventional agricultural products; and according to the LCA study commissioned as a part of the report, standard forestry practices perform better than agriculture from an environmental standpoint; therefore it makes environmental sense to broaden MRc6 to address biobased materials including wood.
That Materials and Resources Credit 7 (MRc7) should be changed from a wood-only credit to a credit that recognizes certified biobased materials that satisfy as-yet-to-be-developed, robust certification criteria, along with waste agricultural products such as straw-based particleboard, by definition (i.e., without certification required).
Initially, for wood products, it is anticipated that only FSC would satisfy the top-tier certification requirements for this credit at this stage. However; as other certification systems for wood advance and as certification systems for bamboo, cork, or agricultural products emerge that would meet the USGBC criteria; they, too, could gain recognition under MRc7.
