Sustainability now a core consideration for project teams, new report finds

Green Project Management (GPM Global), in collaboration with the Association for Project Management (APM), has released a new report titled “Insights into Sustainable Project Management 2024.” The report examines how organisations around the world perceive, integrate, and operationalise sustainability principles.

The growing emphasis on sustainability and responsible management across society is placing increasing pressure on businesses. GPM Global’s extensive survey, with over 10,000 respondents from 113 countries, explores the impact of extreme weather on projects and organisations, the consequences of neglecting sustainable and regenerative practices, and the influence of sustainability on organisational strategy.

The report highlights a significant shift, with 31% of organisations reporting a heightened impact of climate change and sustainability on their strategies since 2021. The remaining 69% reported a consistent impact over the same period.

APM’s Chief Executive, Professor Adam Boddison OBE, commented “This insight shows the need for organisations to ensure that project management teams are actively integrating sustainability into their decision-making processes. It also underpins the importance of project management in delivering effective sustainable outcomes for projects around the globe, now and in the future.”

Dr Joel Carboni, President and Founder of GPM Global, gave insight into what the changing climate will mean for the project profession in the future, saying: “We’re telling project professionals they now have to account for risk from weather events in their projects. People are realising now that that’s the case.

“Just recently in Dubai, there has been flooding. In Malaysia, there has been flooding. So, any external project work in those areas comes to a halt.”

The report reveals that the largest group of respondents (34%) prioritizes both sustainable and regenerative goals. An additional 36% focus on either sustainable or regenerative strategies that target the root causes of climate change.

While organisations are making strides towards incorporating sustainability into project strategies, a significant majority (95%) classified their practices as either “developing” (67%) or “beginning” (28%). Notably, 68% of organisations lack long-term sustainability goals aligned with their project management practices. Dr Carboni commented, “The disconnect between sustainability and overall strategy is unsurprising. This is a major challenge for many organisations. They need to critically evaluate their sustainability strategies.”

On the report’s potential impact, Dr Carboni stated: “Profession-wide, project practitioners have to accept that sustainability is no longer a fringe topic. It has to be incorporated from the start. At a high maturity level, it’s about how you embed sustainability into your projects from the start.”

“Insights into Sustainable Project Management 2024” is available for download on the GPM Global website.