Last month, we talked about how third party green certification provides the most trustworthy assurance in theory that you’re buying truly green furniture because one party makes the product, a second party sets a green standard, and a third party certifies the product if it meets the green standard. And now LEED, originally a second party certification for green buildings, has decided to take the next step and upgrade to third party certification status starting in January 2009. This means that US Green Building Council (USGBC), the developer of LEED certification, will cede its certification duties to independent parties trained and overseen by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI). With LEED becoming more popular than ever, the USGBC wants to meet the growing demand by “outsourcing” its esteemed green seal of approval.

But is there really such a thing as third party certification? GBCI is still basically a “sister nonprofit corporation” to USGBC according to the article posted on the Environmental News Network (ENN), and both nonprofits will train certain firms to “manage the [certification] process.” The ENN post also notes that while both organizations are “legally distinct and have separate boards of directors,” they do have the same senior management. So despite the headlines, don’t expect USGBC to be able to completely separate itself from the certification side of LEED, at least not right away. Regardless, the industry trusts LEED a great deal and the move toward a more distinct third party certification process should add to its credibility and ultimately increase demand even more.

(Photo courtesy of bigfoto)