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December 21, 2009—The Green Building Council of Australia (GBCA) has announced the release of a revised Green Star Timber credit effective January 1, 2010, which allows for equal consideration of Australian forestry schemes. The announcement, part of the ongoing Green Star Materials review, follows a detailed review of the GBCA's Timber credit.

With the revised Timber credit, all forestry schemes will need to satisfy five "Essential" criteria to be eligible. This will provide one Green Star point to timber certified by any project which applies for and can meet these criteria.

A second point, for "Significant" criteria, will only be available once the GBCA has undertaken a further round of stakeholder engagement with GBCA members and stakeholders including environmental groups, the timber industry and certification programs.

The nine categories included within all Green Star rating tools are Management, Indoor Environment Quality, Energy, Transport, Water, Materials, Land Use & Ecology, Emissions and Innovation. The Timber credit, which projects can choose to document to contribute towards a Green Star rating, is from the Materials category.