LEEDv5 Recognizes More Certified Wood—And That Matters for the Market
Jackson Morrill
President & CEO of the American Wood Council
For wood product manufacturers, suppliers, and buyers, market access often hinges on specifications. The U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) fifth version of its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standard (LEED) has taken new strides in advancing wood construction.
The new version of the standard, LEEDv5, recognizes Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) as acceptable wood certification systems. This change allows products certified under any of these widely used systems to contribute toward LEED credits, reducing friction in procurement and opening the door for more wood products to be specified, sourced, and used in LEED projects.
This recognition is many years in the making. The first LEED standard, published in 2000, was focused on the construction of new buildings and recognized limited wood sourcing certifications. Over the last two decades, the U.S. wood products industry has consistently advocated for a broader inclusion of certifications, leaning on the extensive, recognized data and third-party verification that shows the robust sustainable management and sourcing requirements of the three major certification bodies. LEEDv5 reflects that reality.
The explicit inclusion of all three is a key win that recognizes the sustainability of forestry and wood products, as well as the important role wood products play in constructing green buildings. As a low-embodied carbon resource, wood should be center stage when seeking to decrease the environmental impact of the built environment, and the recognition of these three certifications serves to remove barriers to accessing and using certified wood products for LEED buildings. Architects and developers now have greater flexibility when specifying certified wood, and buyers and suppliers can compete on a more level playing field, without having to navigate unnecessary certification exclusivity.
As one of the leading standards for designing, constructing and operating green buildings, LEED influences architects, engineers, developers, and companies in the U.S. and across the globe. The inclusion of SFI, PEFC and FSC not only opens additional market access for U.S. wood products but also helps push the needle towards recognizing the transparent frameworks the industry already has in place for wood sourcing and sustainable forest management.
For the wood products industry, LEEDv5 is more than a technical update—it’s a meaningful signal that the market is recognizing what responsible forestry and certified wood sourcing already deliver.
