The Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturers Association (BIFMA) is pleased to announce that the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Steering Committee has approved the level® Certification Program as a “USGBC Approved Program” for the LEED v4 Material & Resource, Building Product Disclosure and Optimization (Option 1) credit.

level-certified products achieving Credit 7.5.1.3 of the ANSI-BIFMA e3-2014 Furniture Sustainability Standard (and Credit 7.4.1.3 in the 2012 version) will qualify once the announcement is published on April 1. This represents another step forward in our ongoing pursuit of overall recognition of level within the LEED rating system. Along with this achievement, LEED and its Pilot Credits currently reference BIFMA standards and credits for emissions, ergonomics, social equity within the supply chain, and environmentally preferable interior furnishings.

Work is presently underway on the next version of the ANSI/BIFMA e3 Furniture Sustainability Standard that will allow even greater alignment with LEED and other leading programs. To participate in the current update to this standard, interested parties should contact Kianda Franklin of NSF at <kfranklin@nsf.org> or Brad Miller of BIFMA at <bmiller@bifma.org> to learn more about the process and opportunities for involvement.