Revised LEED Wood Credit Slammed from Both Sides

The latest draft of LEED’s proposed new Forest Certification credit includes a significant change from the previous version—and stakeholders on all sides are sounding alarms.

While the previous public comment draft—the second version—took an all-or-nothing approach to endorsing certification programs, the current (third) draft now allows for multiple levels of compliance, and assigns half-credit, full-credit, or double-credit to programs based on the degree of compliance. While it isn’t stated explicitly, the likely outcome of this approach, if implemented, is that the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) would comply at the full-credit level, while industry-supported certifications such as the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) would comply at the half-credit level. FSC-certified wood will contribute to LEED points just as it has in the past, while wood certified by other programs will, for the first time, gain a long-sought foothold in LEED.