The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) released a new LEED pilot credit designed to increase transparency in timber supply chains and reduce the risk of illegally harvested wood entering the supply chain.
Development of the Timber Traceability LEED pilot credit was led by a team of timber legality, forestry, and environmental representatives from organizations recognized for leading the fight against illegal logging. Transparency regarding the origin of timber, combined with the use of modern wood identification technologies, can significantly reduce the risk of illegal timber entering the supply chain, according to a USGBC news release.
Drawing on successful anti-counterfeiting initiatives in fashion and the global honey trade, experts believe that DNA, mass spectrometry, and stable isotope analysis can help wood to be traced from end product to its forest origin. This will make it significantly more difficult to falsify documentation about where the timber was harvested.
“Many of the most destructive illegal logging operations around the world depend on masking the true identity and origin of the wood, and this initiative by USGBC tackles that problem directly by incentivizing the latest wood ID technologies,” said Alexander von Bismarck, executive director, Environmental Investigation Agency. “Implementing this credit can lay a foundation to ensure that green buildings don’t become unwitting hiding places for wood stolen from the last great forests of the world.”
Related Stories
| Sep 5, 2013
State legislatures continue to raise the bar on green school construction
Since the beginning of 2013, the USGBC has followed more than 125 bills across 34 states that seek to advance healthy, high-performing schools.
| Sep 5, 2013
Construction industry groups create coalition to respond to new OSHA silica rule
A group of 11 construction trade associations has created the Construction Industry Safety Coalition in response to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) proposed rule on silica for the construction industry.
| Sep 5, 2013
Red tape delays California county jail construction projects
California authorized $1.2 billion for jail construction in 2007, but not a single county in the state has completed a jail project since then.
| Sep 5, 2013
New CM-at-risk and design-build options create controversy in Ohio
Some contractors say Ohio's new system puts small and midsize construction companies at a disadvantage.
| Sep 5, 2013
Outdated codes slowed disaster recovery in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Outdated building codes and lack of a master plan slowed the initial rebuilding stage after a devastating tornado leveled parts of Tuscaloosa, Ala. in 2011, according to the city’s mayor.
| Aug 28, 2013
Building collapse prompts legislation to beef up demolition regulations in Philadelphia
Philadelphia City Council will introduce legislation next month to strengthen the regulation of building demolition practices.
| Aug 28, 2013
Rules requiring contractors to boost hiring of veterans criticized
Some businesses are pushing back against proposed rules requiring federal contractors to step up their hiring of returning military service personnel.
| Aug 28, 2013
OSHA moves to reduced exposure to crystalline silica
Under a proposal from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the new permissible exposure limit to crystalline silica per cubic meter of air could be changed from 250 micrograms to 50 micrograms.
| Aug 28, 2013
IPMSC chooses members of committee for global property measurement standard
The International Property Measurement Standards Coalition (IPMSC) has selected 19 real estate experts from around the world to join its Standards Setting Committee to develop a global standard for measuring property.
| Aug 20, 2013
Code amendment in Dallas would limit building exterior reflectivity
The Dallas City Council is expected to vote soon on a proposed code amendment that would limit a building’s exterior reflectivity of “visible light” to 15%.