Sustainble project managment

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Contents

Introduction

One of the greatest and most far-reaching challenges of our time is to ensure that the impact of human activity on the planet is becoming more sustainable to enable future generations, wildlife, and nature to thrive and sustain itself. We, as humans, are still facing social inequality, poverty and hunger while we are deteriorating nature, wildlife and the planet itself with our immense impact and footprint. Sustainable action and mindset is has for many become the most important agenda. A developing approach companies use to address implementation of sustainability in their processes is sustainable project management.

The UN Sustainability Goals has since 2015 put sustainability on the world agenda, but also agreements like the Paris Agreement, shows that there is a political consensus towards a more sustainable world. Companies all over the world are realizing that they also need to take action to support these goals. The customers of companies are starting to expect sustainable action while directives and legislation like the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) and upcoming Corporate Sustainability Reporting Standards (CSRD) dictates companies to report their sustainable actions. Furthermore, companies are also realizing that future economic profit is tightly connected to a more sustainable world and that sustainability actually can become a profitable business.

Several different approaches can be taken to implement sustainability in a company from top management to local initiatives at employee level. Sustainable Project management can help execute and communicate a systematized inclusion of sustainability into projects that puts action behind sustainability strategies and proactively suggest a mindset and work approach.

This article starts with an overview of sustainable project management and the role of the project manager. Along this, the topic is compared to the more traditional view of project management while also briefly describing how it coheres with program and portfolio management. The article continuous with a state-of-the-art overview of how to apply and implement sustainable project management in an organization or company. Finally, the article reflects on the benefits, challenges and limitations of sustainable project management.

What is Sustainable Project Management

(Sustainable Project Management concerns the application of methods, tools and management practises to as a combined homogenous )

As an independent field, sustainable project management is rather young, but it is developed and based on a merge of the commonly known and older principles of 1) sustainability (environmental, social and economical) and 2) project management:

  1. The sustainable development area (focusing on SDGs etc.): The area was originally idealistic but when formalized with goal and pragmatism, saw the need for project management inclusion and continuity towards the goals. This use of project management as a means to solve sustainability issues is is often refered to as "Management of sustainable development project." [1]
  2. Classical project management of sustainability projects: With an increasing focus on sustainability, companies initiated projects towards sustainability often refered to as "Management of green project." Sometines there has also been a focus on a sustainable process more than the project outcome refereed to as "Sustainable management of projects."[1].

These two areas have merged into what today is known as Sustainable Project Management, where the project itself, is the road towards sustainability. [1]. An important part sustainable project management is that it proposes that sustainability considerations and implementation are equally important in the project process and outcome. [2]

As stated by The Green Project Management (GPM): "Sustainable Project Management is the application of methods, tools, and techniques to achieve a stated objective while considering the project outcome's entire lifecycle to ensure a net positive environmental, social, and economic impact."


While traditional project management focuses on cost, time, and scope as success criterias, sustainable project management takes a more holistic approach by incorporating sustainability as an equally critical component of success. It combines the project success, goals of the organization, sustainability and prosperity of nature and people to a homogenous and intertwined self-reinforcing goal that is supported through the use of tools, methods, planning, and project management practices. Studies have furthermore shown that the inclusion and application of sustainable project management has a high risk of leading to more and unseen project success. (Maybe add an example) Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag [3]


The project manager offers the possibility to combine and align both approaches. A sustainable project management approach can facilitate and govern top-down strategies while also systematizing and replicating/sharing bottom-up practices. Sustainable project management can be the link between the approaches, and a key driver for sustainability communication, implementation and operation in the company. By implementing the approach of sustainable project management, the purpose aspect of the project itself expands to include more than just the ordinary project success criteria, but now also includes the triple bottom line of environmental, social, and economical sustainability for the company and its surroundings.

Many companies have a CSR officer or some sort of sustainability manager that is responsible for reporting on sustainability and supporting transparency while also being a key role in the development of the companies sustainability strategy and target setting. A sustainable project manager supports the implementation of sustainability across the value chain since they are able to speak the language of the CSR officer, whereas traditional project managers and CSR officers often suffers from miscommunication and lack of understanding of each others roles and importance. [1]

Sustainable Project Management in relation to programs and portfolios

Projects, programs and portfolios as the areas of implementation and the PMs as the driver.


IsoStandards: https://www.iso.org/standard/63578.html

Benefits of sustainability in project management

Explain:

  • Environmental benefits: Sustainable project management can lead to reduced resource consumption, minimized waste generation, and reduced environmental impact, resulting in a healthier environment for future generations.
  • Economic benefits: Sustainable project management can lead to reduced costs associated with resource consumption and waste generation, increased energy efficiency, and increased productivity, resulting in long-term economic benefits
  • Increased stakeholder engagement
  • Reputation and branding: Sustainable project management can enhance a company's reputation and brand image, leading to increased market share and customer loyalty.

Application of Sustainable Project Management

The Green Project Management (GPM) is a social enterprise and the main driver of sustainable project management tools, methods and standards. [4] GPM have created the iso 12050 based PRiSM methodology for application of sustainable project management. The foundation of this methodology is based on the GPM standard, the P5: People, Planet, Prosperity, Process, and Products.[5] . The P5 is a tool for aligning traditional project, program and portfolio management with the organizational sustainability strategies. It support that both project processes and deliveries result in a net positive environmental and social impact while also delivering organizational and local prosperity. [6] 



as big influencers on actual sustainable project management. They created the P5 [5]



PRiSM methodology based on Iso 120-something on an actual procedure to follow. '

RiSM is fully compatible with globally accepted standards related to professional project management such as ISO 21500, ISO 14001, ISO 26000, ISO 50001,and ISO 9001 Steps, Steps, Steps P5IA Sustainability Management Plan (SMP) -> Canvas Other methods.


PRISM: http://wiki.doing-projects.org/index.php/Projects_integrating_Sustainable_Methods_(PRiSM) and the framework book. [6] Sustainable Management Plan via Sustainable Project Management Canvas

Tools and best practices

Implementation and transition

Challenges

Complexity, cost and lack of standards

Limitations

(Actual) References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Prof Gilbert Silvius - Lecture on Sustainable Project Management 2016: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neRO_nNtxUg
  2. ↑ Silvius, G. (2019). Making Sense of Sustainable Project Management. Annals of Social Sciences and Management Studies, 2(4). https://doi.org/10.19080/ASM.2019.02.555594 Retrieved from:https://ideas.repec.org/a/adp/oajasm/v2y2019i4p106-109.html
  3. ↑ John Cairns,Jr. - Integrating top-down/bottom-up sustainability strategies: An ethical challenge
  4. ↑ Silvius, G. (2019). Making Sense of Sustainable Project Management. Annals of Social Sciences and Management Studies, 2(4). https://doi.org/10.19080/ASM.2019.02.555594 Retrieved from:https://ideas.repec.org/a/adp/oajasm/v2y2019i4p106-109.html
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Green Project Management website: https://greenprojectmanagement.org/about/our-story
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Carboni, et. al (2018) Sustainable Project Management: The GPM Reference Guide
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Sustainable Project Management Canvas: https://findit.dtu.dk/en/catalog/5887512a444ef71a36006785

(Possible) References

  1. Schipper, R., & Silvius, G. (2017). The sustainable project management canvas. Journal of Modern Project Management, 4(3), 50–59. https://doi.org/10.19225/JMPM01206 Retrieved from:https://findit.dtu.dk/en/catalog/5887512a444ef71a36006785
  2. Gupta, S. (2021). Study on the Sustainable Project Management. Samvakti Journal of Research in Business Management, 2(Anon), 16. https://doi.org/10.46402/2021.01.13 Retrieved from:https://findit.dtu.dk/en/catalog/61c31f9ddc0ecff973ad2434
  3. Silvius, G. (2019). Making Sense of Sustainable Project Management. Annals of Social Sciences and Management Studies, 2(4). https://doi.org/10.19080/ASM.2019.02.555594 Retrieved from:https://ideas.repec.org/a/adp/oajasm/v2y2019i4p106-109.html
  4. Malik, C., Samantara, S., & Madan, A. K. (2021). Evolution and Future of Sustainable Project Management. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering, 929–940. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-9678-0_78 Retrieved from:https://findit.dtu.dk/en/catalog/611118d6d9001d01cb1bea6b
  5. Dubois, O., & Silvius, G. (2020). The relation between sustainable project management and project success. International Journal of Management and Sustainability, 9(4), 218–238. https://doi.org/10.18488/journal.11.2020.94.218.238 Retrieved from:https://findit.dtu.dk/en/catalog/609c3615d9001d01fc36de4e
  6. Kivilä, J., Martinsuo, M., & Vuorinen, L. (2017). Sustainable project management through project control in infrastructure projects. International Journal of Project Management, 35(6), 1167–1183. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2017.02.009 Retrieved from:https://findit.dtu.dk/en/catalog/58e829fb5010df5dad59e6a2
  7. Ozumba, A., Chothia, T., Booi, Z., & Madonsela, N. (2020). Sustainability in Project Management Practice. 9th International Conference on Engineering, Project, and Production Management (eppm2018), 312, 02015 (14 pp.). https://doi.org/10.1051/matecconf/202031202015 Retrieved from:https://findit.dtu.dk/en/catalog/5f79b59fd9001d01a14492f6
  8. Keshavarzian, S., & Silvius, G. (2022). THE PERCEIVED RELATIONSHIP: BETWEEN SUSTAINABILITY IN PROJECT MANAGEMENT AND PROJECT SUCCESS. Journal of Modern Project Management, 10(1), 66–85. https://doi.org/10.19255/JMPM02805 Retrieved from:https://findit.dtu.dk/en/catalog/6327bab235608855f9ca1e59
  9. Martens, M. L., & Carvalho, M. M. (2017). Key factors of sustainability in project management context: A survey exploring the project managers' perspective. International Journal of Project Management, 35(6), 1084–1102. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijproman.2016.04.004 Retrieved from:https://www-sciencedirect-com.proxy.findit.cvt.dk/science/article/pii/S0263786316300163


https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652617317444



https://greenprojectmanagement.org/about/what-is-sustainable-project-management

https://www.apm.org.uk/resources/what-is-project-management/what-is-sustainability-in-project-management/

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