The concept of sustainability has gained significant traction since the 1970s when it emerged as a term for “Sustainable Development.” Its prominence grew even further following the release of the United Nations’ seminal publication, Our Common Future, in 1987(Brundtland, 1987). Our Common Future provided a defining moment for sustainability by articulating its essence as meeting the present generation’s needs while ensuring that future generations can fulfil their own requirements.
Today, the United Nations has identified 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that serve as a global framework to address critical challenges such as poverty, inequality, climate change, environmental degradation, and the pursuit of peace and justice (dpicampaigns, 2023). Achieving strategic goals, including the SDGs, necessitates the implementation of projects. Projects are temporary endeavours to create unique products, services, or results.
Renowned project management expert Antonio Nietro-Rodriguez (2022) advocates for project managers to move beyond the traditional focus on time, cost, and quality and embrace sustainability as an integral part of project planning. To effectively integrate sustainability into project management practices, Nietro-Rodriguez suggests three essential steps:
- Embracing Sustainability as a Fundamental Aspect:
Similar to how time, quality, and cost guide project decision-making, sustainability should be ingrained in every aspect of project management. Project managers and sponsors should prioritise the triple bottom line of people, profit, and planet, aligning projects with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Projects should contribute to multiple SDGs and never hinder progress towards their achievement.
- Purposeful Projects with Sustainability as the Goal:
Projects centred around sustainability fulfil organisational requirements and add value to the bottom line. By reducing resource consumption and focusing on sustainable practices, projects can contribute to long-term sustainability objectives while delivering tangible benefits to the organisation.
- Linking Project Purpose to Sustainability Goals:
It is crucial to align the purpose of each project with sustainability goals and the UN SDGs. The underlying “why” of the project should be framed within the context of sustainable development goals. This ensures that projects are purpose-driven, actively contributing to broader sustainability objectives.
Additionally, conducting a project life cycle assessment (LCA) becomes vital as it provides insights into the environmental impacts of a project throughout its entire lifecycle, from inception to end-of-life treatment and disposal.(Eckelman et al., 2019) LCA helps identify areas for improvement and enables project teams to make informed decisions that minimise environmental footprints.
By following these steps and integrating sustainability into the core of project management practices, we can enhance the traditional iron triangle of cost, quality, and time. By prioritising sustainability, we can achieve meaningful project outcomes that benefit stakeholders and contribute to a more sustainable future for all.
References
Brundtland, GH (1987) ‘Our common future—Call for action’, Environmental conservation, 14(4), pp. 291–294.
dpicampaigns (2023) ‘Take Action for the Sustainable Development Goals’, United Nations Sustainable Development. Available at: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/ (Accessed: 23 May 2023).
Eckelman, M.J. et al. (2019) ‘Case Studies of Product Life Cycle Environmental Impacts for Teaching Engineering Ethics’, Next-Generation Ethics: Engineering a Better Society, pp. 291–312.