LEED Pilots Legal Wood, Expansion of Certified Wood

Many new buildings—including, presumably, many LEED buildings—contain illegally harvested wood. LEED has no requirement for project teams to vet non-certified timber sources when specifying wood products.

A new alternative compliance path (ACP), now available throughout the LEED rating systems as a pilot credit, aims to address the issue of sourcing illegal wood. The credit, Legal Wood, encourages market testing and feedback that may be used to develop and refine a future LEED prerequisite prohibiting illegal wood and fiber.