###### Abstract  
In response to escalating global environmental challenges, developed countries have embarked on an ecological transition across a range of sectors. Among these, the construction industry plays a key role due to its extensive use of raw materials and energy resources. In particular, research into sustainable construction materials, here named eco-materials, has seen a boost in recent years because of their potential to replace less environmentally friendly materials such as concrete and steel. This paper proposes a large-scale group decision-making methodology to select among a set of candidate structural eco-materials based on sustainability considerations. The proposed approach is based on a novel quantitative SWOT analysis using survey data from a diverse group of experts, considering not only the technical aspects of the materials but also their impact in the context of the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. As a result, a range of eco-materials are probabilistically assessed and ranked, taking into account the variability and uncertainty in the survey data. The results of this research demonstrate the suitability of the proposed methodology for eco-material selection based on sustainability criteria, but also provide a new generic methodology for group decision assessment considering the uncertainty in the survey data, which can be extended to multiple applications. eco-materials; multiple criteria decision-making; probabilistic models; quantitative SWOT analysis; Sustainable Development Goals; uninorms +
Footnote †: journal: Applied Sciences  
1
Footnote 1: Sustainable Structural Engineering Laboratory (SESLab), University of Granada, 18071 Granada, Spain  
[EMAIL_ADDRESS] (M.A.S. ); [EMAIL_ADDRESS] (E.  
regulations aimed at fostering the utilization of environmentally friendly materials in construction, with variations observed from one country to another. Within the European Union, sustainable materials are promoted through directives such as the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive [6] and the Construction Products Regulation (CPR) [7]. France, for instance, has introduced the RE2020 regulation [8] to promote eco-materials and energy efficiency, while Germany employs standards and certification procedures facilitated by the German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB) [8]. In pursuit of eco-materials and sustainable construction practices, the United Kingdom, Canada, China, Australia, Japan, and Brazil have each established their own sets of regulations and certification programs; an overview of these can be found in [9; 10]. In the United States, green building rating systems, such as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), have been instituted to provide project management teams with a comprehensive framework aimed at facilitating the achievement of more sustainable developments, complemented by localized state regulations [11]. Besides these regulations and initiatives, the widespread use of eco-materials in construction is still quite limited for a number of reasons, the most important ones being the lack of comprehensive data and information about the long-term behavior of these materials [12; 13] and the absence of rational and comparable criteria to determine the advantages and disadvantages of sustainable building materials and their feasibility to replace conventional building materials in construction projects [14; 15]. To date, the selection of the most appropriate sustainable building material is fundamentally dependent on the (subjective) expertise and judgment of the designer, as well as the preferences of the project owner [16]. This choice must take into account a wide range of factors, including but not limited to structural strength requirements, sustainability attributes, economic considerations, aesthetics, and a wide variety of other project-specific variables [17; 18].