USGBC, Chemical Industry Reach Historic Compromise on Product Optimization

LEED v4 contained a curious and unprecedented gap when it was published in 2013. Wrangling between chemical transparency advocates and chemical manufacturers had a cascading effect on the rating systems, and one of the credit options in the reference guide came with no guidance, no explanations, no calculations—and thus no possible way to achieve the point.

That all changed on November 10 when the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) released implementation guidance for Option 3 (Product Manufacturer Supply-Chain Optimization) of MRC4: Building Product Disclosure and Optimization—Material Ingredients.