After mounting pressure from unions, as well as state and federal governments, the Green Building Council of Australia has relaxed its Green Star Timber credit rating.
The new, more lenient, code will consider the use of Australian Forestry Standard for sustainable timber when assessing buildings using the Green Star rating tool.
Previously, the council’s accreditation backed only the stricter Forestry Stewardship Council standard, which authorizes just 5 per cent of global timber as sustainable.
Australian Greens Leader Bob Brown said the change signaled the “death knell of the Council's authenticity”. ?
“Timber ripped by Gunns out of Tasmania’s ancient forests, habitat for endangered species and ecosystems, will now get the Council’s ‘green’ imprimatur. It is a farce,” Brown said.
The campaign had been an exercise in green wash, orchestrated by the Rudd government, he said.
Construction union CFMEU welcomed the decision, saying the GBCA did not deserve its “monopoly status” in terms of government procurement.??“For this mob to have created a scenario where domestic timber harvested according to sustainable world’s best practice has been at such a disadvantage is unforgiveable and deserves further scrutiny,” CFMEU forestry and furnishing division national secretary, Michael O’Conner, said.
