Sustainability in project management: It matters in all industries

There’s an assumption that sustainability in project management is mainly relevant only for construction projects. That’s understandable because construction projects consume raw materials, use substantial amounts of energy and create highly visible environmental impacts. Decisions about concrete, steel, transport, emissions, land use and waste mean that the sustainability implications are obvious.

But that doesn’t mean sustainability is only a consideration for project managers delivering physical infrastructure.

In fact, a software implementation can have sustainability implications, as can the introduction of a new financial product, or the redesign of a healthcare service, the implementation of an AI system or a retail transformation programme. The consequences are simply less visible.

So, what does sustainability look like on projects not in construction and engineering sectors?

Sustainability is not a synonym for environmental impact

There’s a tendency to use the word sustainability simply for environmental sustainability issues. There’s no denying that carbon emissions, waste generation or energy consumption are important factors in a project, but truly sustainable project management must consider the social and economic consequences alongside the environmental consequences created by a project.

Take as an example a digital transformation project that improves efficiency within a department yet requires significantly more computing power.

This is why sustainability should be part of mainstream project management so that project professionals consider the future consequences of delivering a project today.

Technology projects have physical consequences too

Technology is a good example of an industry where sustainability may receive less attention than it should. Software, for instance, is somewhat intangible because there is no physical product packaged up and delivered. But the infrastructure supporting digital services does have a clear physical element.

Cloud computing, data centres, networks and, increasingly, AI systems require hardware, electricity and cooling systems. Hardware has to be manufactured and eventually replaced. Data has to be stored, sometimes indefinitely. These elements can reasonably form part of the project decision-making stage for a software project.

Regarding economic sustainability project professionals might want to consider whether every piece of data really needs to be retained indefinitely. Or whether a new system requires substantially greater computing resources than the one it replaces.

Then there is the social dimension. Take a project designed to use AI tools to automate certain business operations. Measuring project success is not simply about whether the technology works and improves productivity because there are clear consequences for employees who might require re-training for other roles.

None of these issues means that a project should not go ahead. They just mean that the consequences should be understood as part of good project decision-making at the outset.

Healthcare demonstrates why long-term thinking matters

Healthcare projects provide a different example of why the long-term consequences need to be fully understood at the start.

Consider a project to introduce a new patient management system. It might have relatively little obvious environmental impact yet it can have significant long-term consequences for communities, patients and staff.

Suppose the new system reduces administrative costs but requires clinicians to spend more time entering information. The financial business case can be appealing but what about the practical impact of doctors and healthcare professionals spending less time with patients?

The sustainability issue for such a project is, therefore, whether it creates a service that delivers value over time and doesn’t just shift costs to another department.

Retail projects influence whole supply chains

In the retail sector we tend to think about sustainability in relation to the products themselves. For example, is the packaging recyclable or were materials ethically sourced, but project decisions can influence much more than the physical product.

Consider a major retailer implementing free delivery above a certain order value. From a conventional project perspective, key measures of success might include higher average customer spend and increased overall revenue.

From a sustainability viewpoint consideration needs to be given to how the new service impacts transport costs, warehousing and working practices within the supply chain.

Clearly, the project manager is not responsible for all of those other factors and sustainable project management does not mean project managers are personally responsible for every consequence of a particular project. But project managers can, and should, raise awareness of those consequences. Project professionals are used to identifying risks, managing stakeholders, examining dependencies and challenging assumptions. Sustainability should simply be another aspect of those existing responsibilities.

Sustainability can change how we define project risk

Thinking about sustainability issues changes our view about risks. Risk management from a project perspective has traditionally concentrated on risks within the project life cycle. With our sustainability hats on we might additionally consider risks that the project creates.

For example, a technology project might result in unanticipated cybersecurity or governance issues or a retail initiative might increase returns and waste.

These may, in reality, be business risks rather than project risks in the conventional sense, but decisions made within projects can create such risks. Therefore, identifying future business risks is good project management.

Embed sustainability at the concept stage

The best way to ensure projects are sustainable is to make sustainability part the concept stage when discussions are being had about the feasibility of the project and when the business case is being agreed. Once sustainability principles are part of the project baseline, it is then difficult to remove them during later stages. Sustainability is part of all decisions rather than an assessment applied after the fact.

The benefit of considering sustainability from the outset is that organisations then deliver projects with lasting value and that, surely, is what we want all projects to deliver. That is why sustainability matters just as much to the project manager implementing a new IT system, transforming a healthcare service or introducing a new retail operation as it does to organisations delivering major construction or engineering projects.