Nadine Block, who manages Government Outreach for SFI, shares announcement of world-wide support for USGBC to open its LEED standard.

The call for a change in the LEED standard is truly global.  Twelve nations have urged USGBC to end LEED’s discrimination against wood and accept all credible forest certification standards.

In a July 22nd press release, the international non-profit Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC), a leading umbrella organization that endorses national forest certification systems, stated:  “Standards from Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Malaysia, the Slovak Republic, Spain, the United Kingdom and the United States, along with forest industry associations and companies from many of these countries, have joined North American elected and government officials, professional foresters and other leaders who have told USGBC that  in order to increase the use of wood in buildings, all credible certification systems, including PEFC and FSC, need to be accepted.”

Approximately 543 million acres are certified to national standards endorsed by PEFC- including 377 million acres in North America alone- none of which are recognized by the USGBC’s LEED standard.

Several of these same countries, along with others, accounted for the more than 5,800 signatures on SFI’s online petition that was delivered to USGBC’s President and CEO, Rick Fedrizzi, Thursday, July 15th.

USGBC must do the right thing.  It is not just North America.  The whole world is watching.

Nadine Block, who focuses on Government Outreach for SFI,  headed to the USGBC Federal Summit. The Summit was held at the Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center May 18-19. Check out her coverage of the event below.

The USGBC Federal Summit in Washington DC last week was a great opportunity to promote SFI forest certification and certified wood products in green building and to display the groundswell of support that has been built to end LEED’s FSC-only stance.  We have gathered 5,700 petition signatures (ipetitions.com/petition/leed), a multitude of letters, articles and opinion pieces, and many other signs of support (sfiprogram.org/leed/). These have come from a whole host of voices including builders, elected officials, scientists, professional foresters, green building organizations, family forest landowners, conservation groups, architects and many more.

Participating in the Summit built on this momentum.  I hosted a “Knowledge Bar” which provided an excellent opportunity to showcase the SFI name and label to the 700+ participants at the Summit. It also provided a great venue to engage participants one-on-one in a dialogue about the role of forest certification in green building rating systems. I talked with participants about the credibility, strength, and scope of the SFI program. Many were impressed with what the SFI program does and appreciated our concern that the LEED rating system is not inclusive of all third-party forest certification systems.

More and more people are learning about SFI and why LEED should be open to all credible forest certification standards.  Our efforts are building a strong force.  The USGBC Federal Summit not only showed this, but it also added to what we’ve built. Let’s keep the ball rolling.

Let me start out by saying how grateful I am to all of the SFI, ATFS, CSA and PEFC supporters who have stood behind us in our efforts urging the U.S. Green Building Council to open its LEED Rating System to all credible third-party forest certification systems. We asked you to add your name to a petition, and in less than 24 hours, more than 1,000 people who believe in our cause expressed comments of general encouragement toward this mission. I thank you for this, but we’re not done yet. We’re now at more than 2,450 signatures and hope to see that number keep rising.

We encourage you to add your name to the petition if you haven’t done so already. Email this message to employees, friends, family, colleagues and anyone you feel supports responsible forestry, our communities and the future of green building. The momentum of the USGBC petition is strong—and we hope to keep the numbers climbing!

I want to share just a few of the great comments posted with signatures on the petition:

Trees are the only truly renewable resource. It is tragic to think that mined and energy intensive products such as steel, sheet rock and concrete are considered more environmentally friendly than wood. Let ALL recognized and independently verified certification programs into the LEED standard!
–Kurt Zweizig

There is no doubt that SFI has established credible standards supporting best management practices in forestry along with verifiable data. It is time for science and verifiable data to drive the certification. Good forestry follows good markets as data will show. We will plant, grow, harvest, and replant as the market grows. This will enhance clean air, clean water, wildlife and all the supports of our quality of life. As 2009 National Tree Farmer of the Year and 2010 Governor’s Agricultural Stewardship Award winners, Earl and I know firsthand how important sustainability, stewardship and conservation are to our industry, state and nation.
–Wanda T. Barrs

I respect the LEED standard, but LEED seems not to have respect for SFI, ATFS or PEFC. We all want the same thing…and it is a great shame that LEED wants to lock out these wonderful groups with the highest of standards that include so many good stewards of the land. WAKE UP, LEED!
–Chuck Leavell

Your signatures and comments make us proud to be involved with SFI and reinforce what we stand for. We value your continued support.

We’ve heard from a lot of people and organizations over the past few weeks about dissatisfaction with the direction the USGBC is taking the forest certification benchmarks. The deadline to submit comments on this latest round has passed, but there is still more we can all do. Another way you can get involved and take action is by signing this petition for USGBC to open the LEED Rating System.

All credible certification standards, including SFI, ATFS, CSA, and PEFC should be recognized by LEED.
Why should you sign? Well, for a couple of reasons:

For the sake of our forests, our communities and the future of green building, I urge you to sign the petition. For more information about this issue, download SFI’s statement and read what voices in leadership roles are saying. From politicians to community leaders to forestry experts to environmental groups, all walks of life are taking a stance and recognizing SFI, ATFS and CSA as viable systems for the LEED Rating System.