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Responsible Wood, managers of the Australian Forestry Standard, have been recognised in the Green Building Council (GBCA) new Responsible Products Framework.
The new framework, which provides guidance for all building materials used in Green Star projects and will apply to all new Green Star Rating Tools published by the Green Building Council of Australia.
The Responsible Wood Certification Scheme was assessed as ‘Best Practice’ and ‘Good Practice’ across four credit categories – Responsible Structure, Responsible Envelope, Responsible Finishes and Responsible Systems.
A copy of the assessment is available for download.
Responsible Wood-certified timber is a major input in Australian timber furniture, much of this ends up in commercial office furniture in Green Star projects. Patrizia Torelli CEO of the Australasian Furnishing Association (AFA) explains:
“AFA members can use Responsible Wood or PEFC ‘Chain of Custody’ to demonstrate that timber, sourced in forests across more than 50 countries, is from a sustainable origin and where properly demonstrated maintains the link across the global import and export markets. It is a significant marketing tool in the armoury of any successful design and manufacturing business.”
In December 2021, Responsible Wood published the Australia-New Zealand Standard (AS / NZS 4708: 2021 – Sustainable Forest Management – requirements) following a rigorous 3-year process involving community, industry, scientific, academic, environmental, indigenous, employee and government representatives.
Under the framework, the Responsible Wood Certification Scheme is scored along with all other Green Star ‘recognised initiatives’ – examples include FSC, Global Green Tag and GECA.
The framework’s ‘recognised initiatives’ are used by products and manufacturers and contribute towards Green Star certification.
Responsible Wood CEO, Simon Dorries, noted that Responsible Wood’s Sustainable Forest Management standard was rated highly across all credit categories.
“The Responsible Products Framework provides a new definition for responsible products, it recognises schemes like Responsible Wood which have a positive environmental impact, are transparent, respect human rights, and take action to reduce carbon content.”
“Our new 2021 standard for Sustainable Forest Management has been assessed highly favourably and is amongst the world’s leading standards for sustainable forest management,” Mr Dorries said.
More than 18 million hectares of certified forest is now covered as part of the Responsible Wood making it Australia’s largest and most diverse forest certification scheme.
The GBCA’s internationally recognised Green Star rating system sets standards for healthy, resilient, positive buildings and places that reduce the impact of climate change, enhance our quality of life, restore, and protect biodiversity and ecosystems, drive resilience and contribute to market transformation and a sustainable economy.
Learn more about Responsible Wood HERE