New Guide to LEED v5 Points Rewarding Wood Products
New fact sheet on available points and opportunities for wood products in LEED v5 BD+C and ID+C
Green Building Team on September 9, 2026
- Rating System/Standard
- LEED
- LEED v5
- Theme
- Certification essentials
Wood products have always played a strong role in the LEED green building rating systems, and now project teams can benefit from a new USGBC fact sheet that clearly lays out the available points and opportunities for wood products in LEED v5 BD+C and ID+C: Forest Products and LEED: Sustainable Building Practices with Wood.
This document highlights the value of wood as a critical building material for sustainable buildings, and is a useful tool for discussion with clients on design opportunities. Wood products are important aspects of the Canadian economies and Natural Resources Canada (NRCan) recently outlined opportunities for the wood construction sector in Greening our built environments with wood and has offered its Green Construction Through Wood (GCWood) Program since 2017.
Achieving LEED certification at any level is possible regardless of what materials are chosen, but reaching the higher levels is easier when using responsibly sourced materials, like sustainably harvested wood products.
Specifically, structural and finish wood products can contribute to up to 25 points in LEED v5 for Building Design and Construction (BD+C) and up to 30 points in LEED v5 for Interior Design and Construction (ID+C). This has doubled from prior versions of LEED, demonstrating LEED’s commitment to promoting the responsible use of wood products. Further,
the LEED v5 rating system emphasizes opportunities to consider the embodied carbon aspects of wood, reuse and recycling, sustainable harvesting through various wood certification programs, and more.
For more details, check out: Forest Products and LEED: Sustainable Building Practices with Wood
Photo Credit: Lemay, Leclerc, Prisme in consortium, David Boyer
Interested in other information about the use of wood in LEED v5? See U.S. Green Building Council Aligns LEED v5 to Sustainable Wood Certification Standards (February 2026)