INDUSTRY ADVOCACY
Currently, only the timber and stone industries have established third-party certified standards for sustainable resource extraction and fair labor practices that can be specifically referenced in purchasing and specifying materials. Project teams must meet requirements for Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood products and advocate to stone suppliers to certify to ANSI/NSC 373 Sustainable Production of Natural Dimension Stone standards. See section on Stone Industry Advocacy below.
For those industries that do not yet have third-party certified standards in place for raw material extraction (rock, metal, and minerals), the project team must send one advocacy letter per industry sector to the corresponding National Trade Association or ASTM International, encouraging the development and enforcement of independent, third-party standards that are not funded by the industry which the standard is intended to regulate.
STONE INDUSTRY ADVOCACY
The requirement for teams to advocate to stone suppliers for certification under the ANSI/NSC 373 Sustainable Production of Natural Dimension Stone standard is in place to catalyze the market toward sustainable resource extraction and fair labor practices. When market conditions begin to shift, and adoption of the standard becomes more common, the Institute will update Imperative requirements to mandate stone suppliers to be certified to a specific level. Until that time, advocacy to the stone industry to use the certification program is the minimum requirement, and project teams are encouraged to advocate to suppliers for adoption at the Silver level or higher. See Approved Regional Equivalencies for the standard relevant to Oceania.
