In April 2016, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED\u00ae) Alternative Compliance Path (ACP) that greatly expands and encourages the recognition and use of legal, responsibly sourced, and certified forest products all along the green building supply chain, thereby contributing to LEED credits. MRpc102 Legal Wood is the new ACP for forest products to achieve points in the Materials and Resources credit. Pilot credits allow LEED projects to achieve existing credits using approaches that are not part of the existing rating tool. An ACP pilot is used to test and refine new approaches to LEED credits. If adopted, it becomes part of the LEED rating system.<\/p>\n
The new pilot ACP applies to all LEED v4 and LEED 2009 systems where forest certification is referenced. This includes Building Design and Construction (BD+C), Interior Design and Construction (ID+C), Existing Building: Operations and Maintenance (O+M), and Homes (H) v4.<\/p>\n
In the past, only forest products certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) were recognized in LEED. Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification ensures that products come from responsibly managed forests that provide environmental, social and economic benefits.\u00a0The FSC Principles and Criteria provide a foundation for all forest management standards globally, including the FSC US National Standard (v1.0) that guides forest management certification in the U.S.<\/p>\n
Now, under the new ACP pilot, architects and builders can use wood products certified to standards promulgated by the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), the American Tree Farm System (ATFS), the Canadian Standards Association (CSA), and other forest management standards that are sanctioned by the international Program for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), in addition to those of FSC. The change will encourage environmentally responsible forest management and the use of forest products in innovative, sustainable buildings supported by LEED.<\/p>\n
Why a New ACP?
\n<\/b>Wood products have always been a cornerstone of green building, with the life-cycle cost and environmental impact that are low compared to other common building materials. Wood is renewable and has a light carbon footprint in terms of manufacturing, transport and end-of-life recycling, re-use, or disposal.<\/p>\n
The environmental value of wood includes:<\/p>\n
The new ACP is an attempt to more widely recognize and establish credit for these benefits. With it, LEED has taken an important step in strengthening the framework for decision making about wood products by widening the scope of accepted certification schemes through the ACP pilot.<\/p>\n
The new LEED ACP offers greater access to responsibly sourced forest products and reinforces the value of certified forests, responsible sourcing, and chain-of-custody (CoC) for forest products.<\/p>\n
What is the New ACP?<\/b>
\nBuilders and architects can now use the new ACP pilot credit to count wood products certified to the SFI, ATFS, CSA or PEFC standards, as well as those of FSC, to achieve a point in the \u201ccertified wood\u201d ACP under LEED 2009 and achieve a point in the \u201csourcing of raw materials\u201d ACP under LEED v4. The ACP requires verification of the legality of forest products used in LEED buildings and awards credit for the use of forest products certified to recognized programs.<\/p>\n
The major direct route now opened for architects is through standards developed by certified third-party sources identified in ASTM D7612-10 (2015),\u00a0Standard Practice for Categorizing Wood and Wood-Based Products According to Their Fiber Sources<\/i>, which defines a framework for identifying and distinguishing among legal, non-controversial, responsible, and certified sources. The recognized third-party sources are:<\/p>\n Note that ATFS and CSA are forest management standards and do not have their own label or chain-of-custody program.<\/p>\n In order to count toward a LEED point, the user must verify the following, as defined by ASTM D7612-10 (2015):<\/p>\n As an example, among these recognized standards are those of SFI. SFI Program Participants are responsible for more than one quarter of the global supply of certified forests.<\/p>\n The three basic SFI standards, which meet the requirements set out in the new LEED ACP pilot, require independent audits by competent and accredited certification bodies. These standards are:<\/p>\n How to Count Certified Products for a LEED Point<\/b>\n
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\nUSGBC released LEED v4 in the summer of 2013, and it will eventually replace LEED 2009. However, builders, architects, and\/or building operators can still submit projects under LEED 2009 if they register their projects by October 31, 2016. If the projects are registered on or before this date, the builders, architects, and\/or building operators have until June 30, 2021 to complete their projects under LEED 2009. It\u2019s important to note that LEED v4 and LEED 2009 use different accounting methods.<\/p>\n