How to take action on sustainability now!

The APM Body of Knowledge 8th edition sets out everything project professionals should be thinking about when it comes to embedding sustainability into projects. It’s timely given the APM Conference 2025 will focus on ‘Projects for a Better Future’ and the urgent need for the project profession to respond to critical sustainability challenges.

Below, we share the guidance from the latest edition of the APM Body of Knowledge on sustainability in projects – and the benefits it brings.

People, planet and profit

Sustainability integrates economic, environmental, social, human and governance factors throughout the project life cycle. This is sometimes referred to as responsible project management: the concept of managing projects with specific attention to the intended and unintended impacts of the project and its outcomes, in both the short and long term, thereby delivering economic, social and environmental impact.

Combined, these dimensions are known as the triple bottom line, expanding traditional financial reporting to include social and environmental performance. This is often summarised as the three Ps: people, planet and profit.

This framework can be used to evaluate a company’s performance through its environmental impact, social responsibility and governance practices, which are integrated into investment decisions and corporate decision-making. Sustainable project management serves as a bridge between an organisation’s sustainability strategy and the achievement of sustainability goals through robust project management practices.

The importance of embedding sustainability

In our changing world, sustainability in projects is more important than ever. The shift towards sustainable projects expands the role of a project manager significantly beyond meeting traditional time, cost and quality criteria to consider a wider return on investment – what do stakeholders get back for what investment?

The importance and benefits of integrating sustainability into project management include the following:

• Long-term value: Enhancing project outcomes and stakeholder satisfaction. A sustainable and regenerative approach is increasingly recognised as a value generator rather than a cost centre.
• Innovation: Driving innovation by fostering new low-carbon solutions and technologies that can lead to competitive advantages, operational efficiencies and solutions that promote job creation, mental wellbeing and community building.
• Cost savings: Adopting sustainable practices can lead to cost reductions through efficiency improvements and resource conservation (e.g. using less energy, using fewer materials, producing less waste).
• Regulatory compliance: Ensuring projects align with environmental laws, policies and standards, and have a ‘licence to operate’.
• Future-proofing: Adopting future-proofing strategies to anticipate and adapt to upcoming regulatory changes, technological advancements, environmental issues and societal expectations, to ensure that projects and products remain relevant and resilient in our rapidly changing world.
• Risk management: Proactively identifying and mitigating sustainability-related risks, such as resource scarcity, rising energy costs and market shifts. It is important to build resilience against environmental and social disruptions, thereby safeguarding project continuity and performance.
• Meeting stakeholder expectations: Ensuring products and services meet stakeholders’ social and environmental concerns, gaining quicker approvals and receiving positive rather than negative feedback. Rather than merely ‘managing’ expectations, projects are now expected to proactively secure and maintain engagement from and between stakeholders. Enhancing transparency through clear sustainability performance reporting can improve credibility with stakeholders.

Integrating sustainability processes into the project life cycle

Project professionals play a fundamental role in incorporating sustainability throughout the project life cycle. At concept stage, it is important to understand the evolving policies, legislation, best practice, frameworks, opportunities and risks that make up the project’s context. 

The purpose(s) of the project need to consider sustainable (reduce, reuse, recycle) and regenerative (enhance, improve) approaches. These should align with organisational sustainability strategies and, where relevant, international frameworks.

This needs to be embedded in the project’s business case with environmental impacts and sustainability factored into any options analysis. Frameworks such as the Five Case Model – natural, human, social, manufactured and financial – or the UK government’s Green Book can be referenced in developing business cases.

Projects can also adopt a natural capital approach, where decision-making considers the value of the natural environment for people and the economy; creating social value should also be considered. 
At the definition stage, benefits management approaches can help define how sustainability will be achieved and measured and included in related key performance indicators (KPIs). A project team should have suitable skills and experience, including specialist skills where required. They should be challenged to ‘do better’ if the brief is not ambitious enough.

Achieving sustainability throughout project deployment

Relevant sustainability assessments should be commissioned, and sustainability and regenerative approaches embedded into project governance, decision-making and processes. During the deployment phase, the sustainability credentials, experience and solutions of suppliers need to be aligned to the project’s goals. Opportunities and risks need to be managed, and teams must be prepared to change direction or extend timescales if a new, more sustainable option becomes available.

Throughout this phase, the project must maintain engagement with stakeholders and include the emergent and changing benefits of sustainable and regenerative approaches when deciding how to overcome obstacles. Environmental and social performance should be monitored against KPIs throughout.

During transition, a sustainability handover plan ensures users and beneficiaries benefit from the intended environmental and social outcomes. Performance should be evaluated with the aim of obtaining sustainability certifications, which can enhance the project’s credibility and market value. These achievements should be reported to stakeholders.

Monitoring post-project sustainability and regenerative performance should be maintained throughout the adoption phase to track the ongoing impact of the project. Lessons learned and opportunities for continuous improvement should be documented and shared for future projects. All this should aim to achieve long-term outcomes and benefits. These achievements should be documented and communicated.

The outcomes of the project and the project itself should contribute to a sustainable future.

This is an edited extract from the APM Body of Knowledge 8th edition, which is available to purchase here.

 

You may also be interested in:

•  What is sustainability in project management?
• APM Conference 2025 - Projects for a Better Future
• APM Sustainability Interest Network