Australia’s Green Star Program Accepts FSC and PEFC

Dec. 16, 2009

The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) will give equal consideration in its Green Star Timber Credit to forest certification standards accepted by the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) schemes as well as the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC). PEFC-endorsed standards include the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) and the Australian Forest Certification Scheme.

The revised timber credit, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2010, moves from recognition of FSC only to a principles-based approach where timber certified to a forest certification scheme that satisfies five ‘essential’ criteria is eligible for one Green Star point. Essential criteria include assessment of chain of custody; governance; standards development and revision; auditing and certification decisions; and verification of legality.

“The GBCA has determined that FSC and PEFC standards both meet the five essential criteria, and no further evaluation is needed,” says Kayt Watts, CEO of Australian Forestry Standard Limited, which manages the Australian scheme. “This recognition will provide the Australian construction industry with an abundant certified supply of locally produced and processed timber for Green Star projects.”

Ben Gunneberg, Director General of PEFC International, welcomed the decision: “Considering that 90 percent of the world’s forests are not certified to any sustainable forest management systems, rewarding the leaders in this field will promote the uptake of certification, strengthen the supply chain and improve forest management globally.”

The revised credit follows a detailed review by an independent Timber Expert Reference Panel and calls by governments and unions for a more inclusive approach. In a statement, federal, state and territorial governments told the council it should recognize the Australian scheme, which supports sustainable forestry practices.

A similar review process is underway in the United States where the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), which currently only recognizes FSC certification, is creating a set of forest certification benchmarks for the certified wood credit in its LEED rating system. Once the benchmarks are finalized, the USGBC will assess the certification programs against the set of benchmarks to determine which forest certification standards are recognized under LEED. The Canadian Green Building Council (CaGBC) follows the direction of the USGBC on this issue and, therefore, whatever is decided for LEED rating tools under USGBC will also apply to LEED rating tools under CaGBC.

As was the case in Australia, numerous government officials in the United States and Canada have spoken out against LEED’s limited recognition of wood products, saying it should more broadly recognize the merits of wood grown in their country, state or province. They also say it should more broadly recognize forest certification programs, including the SFI program.

SFI and many other forest certification programs are hopeful the USGBC will follow the lead taken by the Green Building Council of Australia and recognize all credible forest certification programs, given that only 10 percent of the world’s forests are certified to any of these standards.

In Australia, the Construction, Forestry, Mining, Energy Union had threatened to make the GBCA’s refusal to accredit domestic sustainable timber products an election issue unless state ministers defended local jobs. Union spokesman Michael O’Connor said recognizing FSC only meant timber products must be sourced from overseas, ironically from countries where illegal and unsustainable logging has occurred.

“Domestic timber that is harvested according to sustainable world’s best practice must be able to compete with overseas products,” says O’Connor. “The union is tired of seeing job losses around the country as a result of this unrepresentative organization and its absurd accreditation system. Currently multi-million-dollar contracts are being lost by Australian companies for no good reason.”

The GBCA is involved in further discussions with stakeholders, including environmental groups, the timber industry and certification schemes, on ‘significant criteria’ as it continues to evolve the timber credit.

The council is an independent, not-for-profit organization that develops and administers the Green Star suite of building rating tools in Australia, which is similar to LEED in North America.