AWC Forges Pathway to Engage on International Standards

For the past two years, AWC staff have collaborated with international experts to develop the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 13391 standards on greenhouse gas dynamics for wood products. When the work on this standard series began, there was no U.S. Technical Advisory Group (TAG), providing no pathway for AWC to participate in the standards’ development. Member companies and staff agreed that AWC’s participation in this standard was crucial to ensure international alignment with U.S. methodologies and practices for forestry and wood products manufacturing. AWC successfully created the TAG in 2023, opening the door to developing the wood and wood-based products standards. Since the creation of the TAG, AWC has led the U.S. delegation, including in the final 2024 meetings, to resolve comments for ISO/TR 25078 and ISO/TR 25080, the two technical reports connected to ISO 13391.

The standards are important for U.S. wood products as they provide a methodology for reporting the greenhouse gas dynamics associated with wood products, including value chain emissions, contribution to the harvested wood product pool, forest carbon balance, and potential displacement of emissions from alternative products. This methodology is generally favorable for wood products and can potentially be used as an alternative to the Greenhouse Gas Protocol for organizational reporting. The standard series was approved for registration as a Final Draft International Standard and will go to balloting after final editing. It is expected to pass and be published in March 2025, along with the technical reports.

These standards serve as an important tool for showcasing the benefits of wood products, offering new avenues to demonstrate the potential carbon storage and low carbon benefits of wood products. AWC and our industry’s involvement in ISO 13391 help us meet consumer and governmental demands for sustainability and transparency, ultimately securing continued market access.