Friday, 10 May 2019
Living Building Challenge 4.0 Meets Market Demand for Increased Scalability
May 13, 2019
At the Living Future unConference earlier this month, the International Living Future Institute (ILFI) rolled out the latest version of its industry-leading green building standard, the Living Building Challenge 4.0 (LBC 4.0). At the same time, the Institute also released the Core Green Building Certification, and a new Volume Certification program which will make it more efficient for organizations to certify an entire portfolio of projects. Google, Salesforce, and Kingspan were among the organizations making commitments to test the new standards in their real estate development projects.
While there are many changes in the standards, ILFI’s commitment to FSC as the world benchmark for responsible sourcing of wood products remains a central part of their requirements, and FSC remains the only forest certification system referenced in the programs.
In response to feedback from the marketplace, the Institute refined various parts of the Living Building Challenge, with an intent to focus 80% of the effort on 80% of the impact. For the requirements related to FSC, LBC 4.0 adds FSC Project Certification as a pathway to allow for more flexibility in wood procurement. The team at FSC US will be working with Institute staff to develop supporting materials for project teams.
In addition, the Institute created a new Core Green Building Certification (CGBC), which includes ten requirements that any green building must address in order to be certified. Designed for scalability, the new Core standard requires that 50% of new wood in a construction project be FSC certified. While this is less than that required for LBC 4.0, the CGBC’s objective is to make this component applicable to many more thousands of projects around the world, making it a major new driver of increased demand for FSC.
Taken as a whole, the Living Building Challenge and suite of related certifications represents the “North Star” for design and construction. FSC is excited to support the Institute as it expands around the world.