A motion at a meeting of forestry ministers today, backed by the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union, will seek to push the council to accept the alternative standard which certifies 90 per cent of timber cut in Australia as ''green''.

The council is a privately run not-for-profit organisation which gives ''green-star'' ratings to buildings based on the construction materials and energy use. The highest rating is six stars.

Sustainable timber certification schemes aim to identify forestry programs with the fewest environmental effects and most sustainable values.

The council promotes the internationally recognised Forestry Stewardship Council timber certification, which is backed by environment groups and accredits just 5 per cent of global timber as sustainable.

The union also wants the council to accept the forestry industry-backed Australian Forestry Standard as the forestry council's equal.

The head of the union's forestry division, Michael O'Connor, said yesterday he wanted ministers to ''pressure'' the Green Building Council to accept the forestry standard. He said most of the forestry council's accredited timber was imported and was costing local jobs. And the limited supply of forestry council-accredited timber meant builders were turning to steel - which has other environmental effects - as a replacement to achieve green-star ratings.

A director of forestry council Australia, Kevin O'Grady, said sustainable forestry accreditation operates in the open market and the market should decide what scheme is supported.