Newsletter Stories


Wednesday, 05 December 2018
Greenbuild 2018: Remarkable Momentum

December 5, 2018


The marketing team was encouraged to see a strong upswing in momentum for FSC at this year’s Greenbuild Expo, held November 14-16 in Chicago.

Noted demand growth from commercial sector
The interest was attributable in part to an increase in demand for FSC from the commercial construction sector. In 2018 we’ve seen several major brands - including Apple, Microsoft, Starbucks and McDonald’s – start or complete commercial projects with FSC building products, and we see the owner-occupied construction sector as an even stronger growth driver in years to come.

FSC US efforts to inform on benefits and make sourcing easier
Another likely cause is that FSC US has worked hard over the last year to make it easier than ever to source and use FSC, and to educate the building industry on why they should make the effort:

  • FSC earns credits in LEED and meets the Living Building Challenge.
  • FSC-certified products are now available from hundreds of lumberyards and suppliers around the country.
  • Forests managed to FSC standards store more carbon than those managed conventionally, which helps fight climate change.
  • FSC is better for people and planet with the world’s most rigorous standards for environmental and social protections.
  • FSC wood tells a sustainability story everyone involved will be proud to tell: Building owners report seeing a median increase of 7% in the value of their green buildings when compared to traditional buildings.

We also told attendees about the many things we’ve worked on to help teams find and earn credit for the use of FSC products:

  • Everything needed to use FSC in green building can now be found at advocate.us.fsc.org/construction – including a new searchable database of suppliers across the US and Canada, co-developed with our friends at NNRG.
  • Just in time for Greenbuild, FSC US completed a fully-revised and updated version of our Continuing Education Unit (CEU, now available here). We let visitors know they can earn AIA and GBCI continuing education credit learning about FSC and how to earn credits in LEED and other programs.

Help from many partners
This year, we were also glad to work with some of our strongest brand partners to offer booth visitors Kleenex tissues, gift cards from McDonald’s, the chance to win one of three Pottery Barn furniture pieces, and a furniture piece from Geiger/Herman Miller. We are grateful for their contributions.

The FSC US team also got help from FSC International at Greenbuild this year, providing greater ability to conduct outreach to key attendees. This helped foster conversations with companies of strategic potential value to FSC in flooring, windows, furniture, and other sectors.

We also had great fun with some of our best industry partners to capture their point of view on film, asking:

  • What do you say to folks who think all wood is the same?
  • What are some interesting ways you’ve found to identify and reach markets and buyers for your FSC products? And…
  • What most excites you about the future for FSC?

More to come as we process this footage and make it “ready for prime time.”

Incredible session on FSC, climate and carbon
Finally, FSC US conducted a well-attended session titled, “Achieving the Promise of Mass Timber.” Speakers Corey Brinkema (Forest Stewardship Council - United States), Kathrina Simonen (Carbon Leadership Forum, University of Washington), and Brent Davies (Ecotrust) spoke to a packed room about the latest research indicating the unique climate/carbon benefits of FSC.

Superb FSC Leadership Awards
We were gratified at the unusually high number of FSC Leadership Awards submissions we received this year. These submissions indicate the level of enthusiasm, passion, and progress that embodies FSC today. FSC US and FSC Canada will look forward to celebrating all our nominees and winners in social media and on us.fsc.org throughout the coming year.

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and visited us, and to all who attended the FSC Leadership Awards. See you next year!