The US Green Building Council has confirmed that FSC will continue as the only forest certification system qualifying under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) MRc7 credit for certified wood.
The council had proposed changes to the credit earlier this year – revisions which FSC said would have resulted in a significant reduction of the council’s definition of exemplary forestry in MRc7. But the revisions failed to meet the two-thirds majority required to pass.
FSC said it strongly encouraged the council not to abandon the benchmark process and to consider strengthening it before the full revision of the programme is adopted in 2012.
LEED is a third-party certification system for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. Certification is based on the total point score achieved, following an independent review and audit of selected credits.
