The way materials are used plays a role in all areas of sustainability: in protecting the immediate and the global environment; in the way they are integrated in socio-spatial processes; and in their economic application. Systems for the evaluation of sustainability like LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) or the German seal of quality for sustainable building (DGNB) offer more or less precise support in this respect, and in the medium term they could lead to a recognized planning methodology. At the moment, however, planners are left more or less to their own devices in evaluating strategies for choosing sustainable materials.