I read Andrew Laver’s article with great interest and was heartened to note the recognition that both global sustainable forest management certification schemes – PEFC and FSC – have an important role to play in helping to eliminate illegal and unsustainable timber from the market place.
However, I feel that it might be helpful to clarify the current PEFC rating within BREEAM. Since 2007 BREEAM has rated PEFC and FSC as providing equivalent assurances of legal and sustainable timber and ranks both schemes in Tier One. Although a new national standard for the sustainable design and construction of new homes, The Code for Sustainable Homes, launched in April 2007, has now replaced BRE EcoHomes for new builds in England and Wales, BRE EcoHomes is still used for refurbished housing in England and for new builds in Scotland and Wales.
Since then PEFC has been awarded the equivalent number of points in the Responsible Sourcing of Materials section as FSC, CSA and SFI – ie Tier One, three points towards materials credits. This change was announced in a July 2007 Process Note from BRE which was sent to all BREEAM assessors.
In this respect, BREEAM now accords with all leading public sector procurement policies including the Olympic Delivery Authority responsible for 2012 Olympic procurement which view PEFC and FSC as equivalent.
Peter Latham
Chairman
PEFC UK
