Subject: BOOST rename — decision framework for WG review (and GTFT context)

All,

Alongside the in-flight charter amendment [#283](https://github.com/BOOST-Working-Group/BOOST/issues/283) (XC-1) extending BOOST scope to timber and forest fiber, a second question is surfacing from forest-products outreach: whether BOOST as a brand reads as forest-relevant. Charter language doesn't reach this — in conversation people still expand BOOST as "Biomass…" regardless of what the document says. I've drafted a memo laying out the rename decision space so the WG can deliberate without re-deriving the option space.

Memo: https://github.com/BOOST-Working-Group/BOOST/blob/main/project_planning/rename_decision_framework.org

Why GTFT is in the air on this question

The Global Traceability Framework for Timber (GTFT) is a WWF-led initiative being incubated as one of five planned commodity Extensions under a Global Traceability Framework (GTF) meta-initiative. Two extant Extensions already sit in the IFT-stewarded family: GDST (Seafood) and GTFBL (Beef & Leather); peer Extensions for cocoa, palm oil, and soy are advancing under Moore Foundation funding, and rubber on a GPSNR-aligned track. The GTF umbrella is expected to land at the UNECE Team of Specialists on ESG Traceability for long-term governance. WWF has been explicit that it does not intend to own the GTF meta-initiative — the convening and governance are to be brokered through UNECE and IFT.

I've been engaged by WWF-US (Jason Grant, lead) for May–September 2026. The engagement produces four deliverables: M1 data-standard alignment (BOOST ↔ IFT Core CTE/KDE mapping); M1 landscape review (overlap with FSC Trace, PEFC EUDR DDS, FLEGT national legality systems, UNECE Rec. 49, GS1 EPCIS, UNTP, ISEAL, etc.); M2 stakeholder identification; M3 phased workplan and budget.

Important boundary: the engagement does not modify BOOST itself. Alignment mapping and extension-point recommendations are produced as GTFT-side deliverables; any changes to the BOOST standard move through this WG's normal W3C CG governance and timeline. The rename question sits at the seam between these two tracks: most of the engagement's analytical work assumes the BOOST data model serves GTFT as-is — with the charter amendment landing in [#283](https://github.com/BOOST-Working-Group/BOOST/issues/283) and the EPCIS vocabulary emission gap closed via [#298](https://github.com/BOOST-Working-Group/BOOST/issues/298) — but the question of what the standard is called is independent of the technical alignment and materially affects how M1 deliverables refer to the underlying standard.

GTFT white paper attached for fuller WWF-side context.

Three paths from the memo (short version)

- Path A — Keep BOOST, re-expand the "B" (working candidate: Biogenic Open Origin Standard for Traceability). Marginal cost; preserves accumulated brand equity in CA-state-agency and W3C circles; doesn't reach brand-level objectors who hear "BOOST" itself as energy-coded.
- Path B — Descriptive rename, two sub-patterns:

- B1: GTF-X pattern (GTFT/GTFW/GTFF) — sibling to GTFBL and GDST under WWF's GTF umbrella.
- B2: Plain descriptive (DSW, FPDS, OFDS — Open Forest Data Standard) — framework-agnostic; signals the open-standard governance posture explicitly.

- Path C — New pronounceable acronym (FORTE, TRACS). Both candidates have hard conflicts: Forté NZ is a PEFC CoC-certified timber-flooring company; TRACS sits one phoneme from TRACT (forestry ERP) and TRACES (the EU EUDR DDS portal). I'd rule these out unless someone wants to argue otherwise.

My working lean (open to revision through WG discussion): B2-direct, OFDS as the working candidate

Reasoning: Path A doesn't reach the brand-level objection — people still hear "Biomass" in conversation no matter what we put in the charter, and fighting that is fighting headwinds. Path B1 makes BOOST inseparable from the WWF/GTFT framework brand, which conflates an open standard with a sponsor framework — the exact structural posture our W3C CG governance is built to avoid. Path C has hard collisions we can't recover from. B2 keeps BOOST governance-independent and lets GTFT (the umbrella name on the WWF side) reference the standard however the framework needs to.

I've separately surfaced the structural fork (B1 vs B2) to Jason Grant on the WWF side — whether WWF reads GTFT as the umbrella with BOOST occupying a different layer underneath, or whether they want a clear GTF-X sibling. Their answer affects B1's viability but doesn't touch the WG's decision authority on the rename itself.

Ask of the WG

I've opened [#299](https://github.com/BOOST-Working-Group/BOOST/issues/299) ([XC-4]) to track the rename decision as a permanent discussion thread. Please file responses to the asks below either in the issue or at the next WG meeting — both venues are open.

- Read or skim the memo.
- Push back on any of the three paths, or surface options I missed.
- Identify stakeholders we should consult before settling — forest-products orgs in the CG, CA state agencies (CARB, CEC, USFS), funders, anyone else.
- Views on whether to deliberate this as a separate workstream from the charter amendment, or land them together.

Zulip workspace for GTFT-adjacent coordination

I've stood up a small Zulip workspace for BOOST WG (currently used for WWF-side coordination with Jason) and I'm opening it to BOOST WG members who'd find a real-time channel useful for rename-related discussion or other topics. The workspace is at https://biomass-data-standard.zulipchat.com — reply to me and I'll send an invite, or follow this [invitation lin](https://biomass-data-standard.zulipchat.com/join/mmqevjrsrama4ps5m6346vyf/)k directly to join. Current streams: general for cross-cutting topics and four workstream streams (gtft-alignment, gtft-landscape, gtft-stakeholders, gtft-workplan). Planning to add a boost-coordination stream as well as channels for upcoming work on the data standard sponsored by the Governor's Office of Land Use and Climate Innovation and CA Board of Forestry.

Best, Pete

[arbos](https://arbos.bio)
Peter Tittmann, PhD
Founder and Principal Consultant, Arbos
(707) 849-4135 | arbos.bio | peter@arbos.bio | [Book a meeting](https://cal.com/arbos-group/30min)