THE American Hardwood Export Council (AHEC), the leading international trade association for the American hardwood industry, has announced the completion of its groundbreaking life cycle assessment (LCA) research into American hardwoods by PE International.

Following the first meeting earlier this year, the critical review panel met once again to assess and comment on the LCA project and has now given its approval to the report that covers 19 different US hardwood lumber species.

The panel acknowledged that the quality of the life cycle inventory data had been significantly improved with the additional input of around 40 companies since the first review meeting.

The next phase will include incorporating all technical comments that were raised by the panel into the report, following which it can be published by AHEC as fully compliant with ISO 14040 standard for life cycle.