Building a lower-carbon future starts at the source

The building sector is at a pivotal moment. As designers, developers, manufacturers, and policymakers work toward ambitious climate goals, attention is increasingly turning to the materials that make up our buildings and the supply chains behind them.

The built environment is responsible for almost 40% of global carbon emissions when both operational and embodied carbon are considered. While the sector has made significant progress in reducing operational carbon through energy efficiency and improved building performance, embodied carbon has emerged as one of the next major frontiers in climate action. The decisions we make about materials today will have lasting impacts for decades to come.

That is why the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) is pleased to continue strengthening our relationship with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and supporting the evolution of LEED as a leading framework for sustainable building. Recent developments in LEED v5 represent an important step forward, helping project teams identify and source responsibly produced materials while advancing climate, environmental, and community goals.

A key milestone is the recognition of PEFC and SFI-certified products within LEED. This enhances market access for sustainably sourced wood products and provides greater flexibility for project teams seeking certified options across North America. It also reflects growing recognition that credible, third-party audited forest certification programs play a critical role in advancing sustainable construction.

For building professionals, this is important news. Access to certified wood products should not be a barrier to achieving ambitious sustainability objectives. SFI-certified products are widely available throughout the United States and Canada, helping ensure that project teams can source regionally available materials while meeting environmental performance goals. This supports sustainability outcomes while addressing practical supply chain considerations.

As we transition toward lower-carbon buildings, wood continues to offer a compelling value proposition. As a renewable building material, wood stores carbon throughout its useful life. But there is another important benefit that is sometimes overlooked: the role that sustainable forest management can play in reducing carbon emissions and supporting healthy, resilient forests.

The sustainability story of wood begins long before a product arrives at a construction site. It starts in the forest. SFI Standards support healthy, resilient forests that deliver environmental, social, and economic benefits. These practices help conserve biodiversity, safeguard water quality, support local communities, and promote long-term forest productivity.

This connection between responsible forest management and lower-carbon construction is becoming increasingly important as the sector takes a more holistic view of supply chains. Reducing carbon emissions is not simply about selecting better materials. It is also about understanding how those materials are grown, harvested, processed, and transported.

Organizations that are certified to the SFI 2022 Forest Management Standard, which includes objectives for Climate Smart Forestry and Fire Resilience, have identified climate change risks to their forest management operations and are implementing adaptation and mitigation strategies that promote forest resilience. We are taking it a step further with the SFI Climate Smart Forestry Initiative, developed to accelerate the implementation and interpretation of Climate Smart Forestry across the SFI footprint.

By adopting climate-informed management practices, SFI-certified organizations are contributing meaningfully to nature-based solutions while simultaneously supporting sustainable economic development. The work being done on the ground by forest managers, landowners, Indigenous communities, researchers, and conservation partners helps strengthen forests' ability to sequester and store carbon while maintaining the many ecosystem services that healthy forests provide. For the green building community, these upstream actions matter.

This systems-based perspective aligns closely with the direction of LEED v5 and the broader movement toward whole-life carbon reduction. Projects are no longer focused solely on operational performance. They are increasingly evaluating embodied carbon, material sourcing, resilience, ecosystem impacts, and supply chain transparency. These considerations are becoming essential components of what defines a truly sustainable building.

Across North America, project teams are already demonstrating how sustainably sourced wood can contribute to high-performing LEED-certified buildings. Mass timber projects like 619 Ponce illustrate a forest-to-frame approach, using cross-laminated timber (CLT) panels and glue-laminated (glulam) beams sourced from SFI-certified forests. The building’s wood was grown, harvested, and manufactured within 250 miles of the project site, helping reduce transportation-related emissions and connecting material sourcing more closely to the region.

As we look ahead, collaboration will be essential. No single organization can decarbonize the built environment alone. Success depends on partnerships among building professionals, material suppliers, forest managers, certification programs, and sustainability leaders. The continued engagement between SFI and USGBC reflects this shared commitment to advancing practical, science-based solutions that deliver measurable results.

The path to lower-carbon buildings starts with better decisions across the entire supply chain. Responsibly sourced wood products, supported by sustainable forest management and credible certification, offer a powerful opportunity to reduce embodied carbon while supporting healthy forests, clean water, biodiversity conservation, and resilient communities.

Are you attending Greenbuild in New York next month? Visit me at the SFI booth #1430 to learn more about low-carbon building solutions and join me for the Women in Green lunch. See you there!