As the current Chair of MR TAG, and a member of the Sub-group on Raw Materials Extraction and Sourcing (aka MRc3), I thought it would be a good idea to see if we could crowd-source some ideas on LEEDUser on how to fix Option 1, which Nadav and others have correctly pointed out is impossible as currently written. The intent of Option 1, getting transparency about where and how your raw materials were extracted, is correct, this credit is scheduled for substantial revision in the recently initiated LEED v4.1 revision process. We need your ideas on how to honor the intent of Option while changing as much as we need to about the specifics of the credit language to make it usable. Ideas for benchmarks, tools, certifications, and other approaches to this important set of issues would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
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Dionisio Franca
DirectorWoonerf Inc.
30 thumbs up
January 21, 2018 - 8:27 pm
Mikhail,
It's great to know that the MR TAG is looking forward making this credit achievable. It seems to me that the success of previous versions of LEED was to pick up existing schemes in order to show compliance. An example is FSC wood. Getting back to the basics would be a good exercise in looking for a more achievable credit.
Another issue is that LEED v4 credits have a tendency to be more complex than previous versions. Making it simpler is also a good way to make it easier for the market to pick up. What is essential about the credit is the transparency of materials extraction, right. So maybe only this should be enough to get the LEED points. More complex things may be saved for the bonus point.
Finally, I think there should be a distinction between materials that are nearly impossible to trance, such as petrol based products.
Nelina Loiselle
Above Green239 thumbs up
February 12, 2018 - 1:47 pm
The credit could be changed to follow the pathway used by the Sustainable SITES initiative. Credit 5.7 option 1: Advocate for Sustainable extraction of raw materials parallels the intent of LEED BPDO Sourcing of raw materials in intent and is currently achievable. In SITES you can achieve credit compliance through advocating suppliers increase transparency as to how they obtain their raw materials. As the current marketplace is lacking in options that meet the current credit requirements, there may have to be an amount of time needed that advocacy could fulfill the credit requirements until the market can catch up.
Chloe Bendistis
Sustainability Technical ManagerThe Sheward Partnership, LLC
21 thumbs up
February 22, 2018 - 5:35 pm
My recommendation would be to pursue products from manufacturers that publically report annual corporate-wide sustainability data, through frameworks, such as GRI. Many manufacturers do not allocate the staff or resources to collect, verify, and report this data. You can't change what you don't measure! To be considered "third-party" verified, the LEED v4 credit currently requires a GRI report that has "level of assurance of reasonable/high" to be considered third-party verified, which I have not found to date.