sustainability Article A Comprehensive Framework for Evaluating Sustainable Green Building Indicators under an Uncertain Environment Mohamed Abdel-Basset 1 , Abduallah Gamal 1, * , Ripon K. Chakrabortty 2 , Michael Ryan 2 and Nissreen El-Saber 1   Citation: Abdel-Basset, M.; Gamal, A.; Chakrabortty, R.K.; Ryan, M.; El-Saber, N. A Comprehensive Framework for Evaluating Sustainable Green Building Indicators under an Uncertain Environment. Sustainability 2021, 13, 6243. https:// doi.org/10.3390/su13116243 Academic Editor: Vincenzo Costanzo Received: 29 March 2021 Accepted: 26 May 2021 Published: 1 June 2021 Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affil- iations. Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). 1 Faculty of Computers and Informatics, Zagazig University, Zagazig 44519, Egypt; mohamedbasset@zu.edu.eg (M.A.-B.); naelsaber@fci.zu.edu.eg (N.E.-S.) 2 Capability Systems Centre, School of Engineering and IT, University of New South Wales, Canberra 2052, Australia; r.chakrabortty@adfa.edu.au (R.K.C.); mike.ryan@ieee.org (M.R.) * Correspondence: abduallahgamal@zu.edu.eg Abstract: The development of sustainable green buildings (GBs) is a major contribution to the preservation of the environment. Sustainable thinking in GB construction is not a supplementary element, but rather necessary to achieve the building’s functional, economic, and environmental efficiency in order to preserve resources and meet current and future needs. In particular, developing countries can apply the idea of sustainability in GBs by following international policies and standards, combined with their local characteristics, to construct GBs that are aligned with the environment and are in line with the available local capabilities and resources. The paper focuses on the dimensions and indicators of sustainable design for GBs in developing countries to achieve the positive dimensions of building sustainability, such as preserving energy and natural resources, water management, adaptation to the surrounding environment, and respecting the needs of its users. We assess and prioritize the dimensions and indicators of GBs through the use of a multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method under a neutrosophic environment. Initially, the Delphi method is employed to capture preference and to determine the dimensions and their indicators in addition to provide preference among sub-indicators. The relative importance of the selected dimensions and indicators is assessed through the analytical hierarchy method (AHP) method. The results indicate that the water efficiency dimension is the most significant, with a weight of 0.330, while the energy efficiency dimension is the least significant for GBs in developing countries, with a weight of 0.100. The paper concludes with a set of administrative implications for applying sustainable development strategies in GBs. Keywords: multi-criteria decision-making; green building; uncertainty; sustainability; AHP; Delphi 1. Introduction Although the twentieth century has made great advances in scientific, technical, and industrial development [1], there is increasing recognition of the need for a new concept of development, a development that proposes a balanced vision between preserving both the environment and continued economic growth. The construction and urbanization sector receives great attention in the framework of sustainable and comprehensive development, because the practices of this sector in design, implementation, maintenance, operation and even demolition have a great impact on people and the environment [2]. The construction sector alone accounts for 40% of the total energy consumption in the world, some 30% of raw materials are consumed in building and urban activity, and 16% of total water consumption is used for building and construction [3,4]. Developing countries produce about 30% of greenhouse gases [4,5] and are therefore a significant component of plans to reduce greenhouse gases. The International Panel on Climate Change (2007) indicated that there could be a reduction in energy consumption and a reduction in greenhouse emissions of 6 gigatons in the next decade if practices were changed to be sustainable [6]. Sustainability 2021, 13, 6243. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13116243 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability