Minneapolis - On Monday, June 4th, Rick Fedrizzi, the President, CEO and Founding Chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council announced they have decided to delay the ballot on LEED 2012 until June 1, 2013. Mr. Fedrizzi also announced a fifth public comment period, which will open October 2 – December 10, 2012. Importantly, this comment period will include public forums at Greenbuild in San Francisco in November.

The Forest Stewardship Council applauds this decision, which was driven in large part by strong input from sustainable design leaders and others who called for more time to refine and test the new standard. We commend the staff and volunteers of the US Green Building Council for their commitment to deliver a truly transformational leadership standard, and for recognizing that more time is needed to get there.

While the new standard — now known as LEED v4 — is under development, LEED 2009 will remain available for new projects. And importantly, USGBC announced that LEED 2009 will remain available for new project registration for three years. As a result, the Certified Wood credit, based on use of FSC-certified wood, will now remain in effect until 2015.

In the months ahead, FSC will stay deeply engaged in efforts to ensure LEED v4 maintains a strong market driver for responsible forest management. And we encourage our entire community of stakeholders to begin planning to participate in Greenbuild 2012. Already expected to be the largest green building event ever, this year will be even more exciting with the addition of public forums about the future of LEED.

More than 1.6 million square feet of space is certified to LEED standards every day. The stakes in this effort are huge, which is why enormous pressure is being brought to bear on USGBC by interests opposed to market transformation.

The Certified Wood credit in LEED has been one of the single most significant conservation policies ever. FSC and our partners will continue to support USGBC in every way possible to ensure LEED v4 promotes the use of wood from responsibly managed FSC-certified forests to grow this legacy into the future.

Source: Forest Stewardship Council U.S.