Southern Pine & Green Building

When it comes to green building, wood wins hands down. The life cycle graphic below explains why wood building products are sustainable, responsible and environmentally friendly. Refer to this fact sheet that includes all the information presented here.

The Think Wood initiative aims to project a unified front and present a common message as it relates to wood performance, cost and sustainability, making it easier for the industry to speak with a cohesive voice and educate about the advantages of using wood in nonresidential buildings.  Similar messages are delivered to the residential construction market by the Wood, Naturally campaign.

VIDEO —  Wood Wise: Building Planet- and People-Friendly Homes

Forest Certification

Wood products are the only major building products that have third-party certification systems in place to verify their origination from sustainable managed resources.

Certification types include:

• Forest Management certifies that the forest area is being sustainably managed according to the standard requirements.
• Fiber Sourcing certifies that the fiber used to make the wood products is from sustainable sources.
• Chain of Custody (CoC) is a record keeping process to trace raw material from the forest to the finished product.

Certification programs include:

• American Tree Farm System (ATFS)
• Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)
• Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC)
• Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI)

Green Building Rating Systems

Green building rating systems rate and measure the environmental impact of building systems and products.

Major programs include:

• Green Globes
• Leadership in Environmental & Energy Design
• National Green Building Standard (ICC 700)