Documenting FSC-Certified Wood in LEED 2009 and LEED v4

Because of the differences between the LEED 2009 MRc7 credit and the LEED v4 credit, there are some minor differences in how the use of FSC-certified wood is calculated, but the similarities outweigh the differences.

Here are the rules that apply across all versions of LEED:

1. Wood product vendors—including manufacturers, distributors and off-site fabricators such as cabinetmakers and millworkers who sell wood products into a LEED project—must be CoC certified in order for the FSC-certified wood products they supply to count toward earning a point. General contractors and subcontractors, such as framers and flooring installers, do not need CoC certification as long as they do not modify the products away from the project site.
2. Vendor invoices for FSC-certified wood products purchased by the project contractor and subcontractors must be compiled. Each invoice must conform to the following requirements:
   
• Each wood product must be identified by line item.
• FSC-certified products must be identified as such with their FSC claim by line item.
• The dollar value of each line item must be included.
• The vendor’s chain-of-custody (CoC) certificate number must be shown on any invoice that includes FSC-certified products.
3. Wood products that are identified on invoices as “FSC 100%” and “FSC Mix Credit” are valued at 100 percent of cost. Wood products identified as “FSC Mix [NN]%” are valued at the indicated percentage of their cost, e.g., a product identified as “FSC Mix 75%,” is valued at 75 percent of the cost. Wood products that have an “FSC Recycled” claim are classified as recycled content.⁵

The main difference between the calculations for LEED 2009 and LEED v4 is that, for the LEED 2009 MRc7 credit, invoices for all wood (non-certified and certified) must be compiled in order to calculate if at least 50 percent of the wood used is FSC certified, while in LEED v4 only the invoices with FSC claims are required as the credit compares the cost of certified products to the overall total value of permanently installed building products on the project.

New Rules for Recycled Content and Woodworker Compliance

FSC and Recycled Content

FSC allows for a variety of inputs into the FSC Mix product category. Products identified as FSC Mix Credit or FSC Mix [NN%] may contain pre- and/or post-consumer recycled materials, which are both eligible inputs into an FSC-certified product. Recycled material is commonly reported separately by the manufacturer of FSC Mix products, and in these instances the project team must choose whether to classify the product as FSC certified or as recycled content. The material cannot be double-counted in the LEED v4 or contribute simultaneously to the LEED 2009 MRc4 (Recycled Content) and MRc7 (Certified Wood) credits.

It should be noted that this represents a change in policy that applies not only in LEED v4 but also—through updated LEED Reference Guides—to MRc7 in previous versions of LEED. For example, it supersedes the prior version of the LEED 2009 Reference Guide, which stated that only “new” wood products could count toward achieving the Certified Wood credit. Instead, FSC Mix products that have recycled content can contribute their value to achieving MRc7 per the above, and the recycled content does not have to be “backed out” of the credit calculation.