The 2007 ULI/Shaw Forum on Urban Community Issues addressed a topic of increasing interest to the affordable housing community: What can be done to make environmentally sustainable affordable housing the standard practice of the day? Green building has drawn considerable attention over the past several years for a variety of reasons. First, the built environment has a profound impact on our natural environment. In the United States alone, according to the U.S. Green Building Council and the interest in reducing carbon emissions has increased dramatically in just the past year as concern about climate protection has moved to the top of the public agenda. Seven hundred and seventy mayors have signed the 2030 Challenge, endorsed by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which calls for new construction to achieve carbon neutrality over the next two decades. The green building with affordable housing is a natural fit. With oil prices skirting $100 per barrel, it simply makes sense to build green. Yet, beyond reducing residents’ energy bills, green development also offers healthier living environments and more efficient, durable buildings with a lighter environmental impact and lower costs of operation. According to leading scientific research, we must substantially reduce global greenhouse gas emissions within the next decade in order to avoid disastrous climate change. Curtailing the increase of greenhouse gas emissions and then decreasing emissions over the next ten years is the key to keeping global warming under one degree centigrade above today’s level.