The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) has announced the release of a revised Timber credit effective 1 January, 2010, which allows for equal consideration of the Australian Forestry Standard (AFS) and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) schemes.
The announcement follows a detailed review of the GBCA's Timber credit, conducted by an independent Timber Expert Reference Panel.
With the revised Timber credit, all schemes will need to satisfy five essential criteria to be eligible.
GBCA chief executive, Romilly Madew, says "The revised Timber credit ... moves away from the recognition of a single scheme to a principles-based approach where several schemes could be rewarded - as long as the essential criteria are met. This means that projects using timber from any scheme, including the AFS, will be eligible for points through this credit, so long as the scheme has applied for, and met, the essential criteria."
"The GBCA supports an Australian Forest Industry which produces timber in a sustainable way and one of the aims of the GBCA's timber review was to 'shut the door' on the importation of illegal or questionable timber," she says.
The GBCA operates Green Star, Australia's only voluntary national comprehensive environmental rating system for buildings. A certified Green Star rating can be attained by achieving points through a variety of credits within nine key categories. The Timber credit is from the Materials category which projects can choose to document to achieve a Green Star rating.
Projects that have achieved the Green Star Timber credit include the Melbourne Convention Centre (Six Star Green Star), and Lend Lease's The Gauge in Melbourne (Six Star Green Star).
The GBCA is confident the revised Timber credit is fair and reasonable, with the essential criteria incorporating the assessment of chain of custody; governance; standards, development and revision; auditing and certification decisions; and verification of legality.
