Worldwide, over one-third of all CO2 emissions come from the construction and operation of buildings. That's why the construction industry is looking for solutions to make buildings more sustainable. A sustainable building, for example, consists of materials that are long lasting, already recycled or recyclable. It saves space and resources.

In 1990, the Swiss Federal Office for the Environment first published the Ecological Scarcity Method, also known as the UBP method (UBP = eco-points, from the German term “Umweltbelastungspunkte”). Since then, it has been updated several times, most recently in 2021.