Unit 2

Sustainability in Projects
  Sustainability
 Sustainability : It’s Definition and Concept
Previously  Sustainability : It’s Principles
Discussed  Sustainability in Project Management
  Sustainability in the Business Context
 Development of Sustainability in Business : From Less Bad to
Good
Today’s Lecture  Business case of Sustainability
Agenda  Future of Project Management
 Scope of Sustainability in Projects and Project Management
 Sustainability Checklist for Projects and Project Management
  Concept of Sustainability is based on Balance or Harmony between the three
Dimensions :

Sustainability  Social Equity or People

 Environmental Protection or Planet
in the  Economic Prosperity or Profit
Business • This means that the organization take its decision with consideration of its people
i.e., it’s employees and stakeholders and society and the planet i.e., the
Context environment.
What  The Primary goal of most of the companies is to generate
Shareholder Value, the ‘PROFIT’ dimension was always well
Companies represented in business strategies and policies.
Actually Thinks  Social and Environmental perspectives are less embedded in a
company’s strategies and practices.
?
What Organizations
should Do instead ?
 Organizations should focus more on sustainable development of our
world.
 They should focus less on negatively impacting the environmental and
social equity by its operations while maximizing positive environmental
and social impacts.
 Unilever, General Electric and Walmart, have already accepted corporate
sustainability as an integrated aspect of doing business.

Note: Like all Business Strategies, a Sustainability Strategy needs clear

objectives and needs to be measured.
  Sales
Financial or
 Return-on-Investment
Economic  Taxes Paid
Performance  Monetary Flow
Indicators  Profit
  Air Quality
Environmental  Water Quality
or Ecological  Energy Usage
Indicators  Waste Produced
  Jobs Created
Social  Labour Practices
Performance  Community Impacts

Indicator  Human Rights

 Product Responsibility
ISO 26000 : A
Comprehensive  As a response to businesses growing interest and the increasing
number of sustainability-related institutions and frameworks, ISO
Guideline on 26000 was launched, a comprehensive guideline on social
responsibility, to help companies introduce more sustainable
Social practices.
Responsibility
  Contribution to Sustainable Development, including Health and
the Welfare of Society.
 Takes into account the expectations of Stakeholders.
 Is in compliance with applicable law and consistent with
Social international norms of Behaviour.
Responsibility  Is integrated throughout the organization and practiced in its
relationships.
Rules for
Organization  Note:
 Activities include products, services and processes.
 Relationships refer to an organization’s activities within its sphere
of influence.
 A company can consult or adopt ISO 26000 to learn more about
social responsibility and as guidance for implementing
sustainability principles and practices into their business
processes, strategies, procedures, systems and organizational
systems.
 Another frequently used ISO standard is ISO 14001 and it
describes the core set of processes and practices for designing and
implementing an effective environmental management in an
organizational, similar to the ISO 9000 series.
  It is a non-profit organization that pioneered the world’s most
widely used sustainability reporting framework. Companies can
Global use the framework to indicate to shareholders and consumers
Reporting their economic, social and environmental performance.
 The framework is made up of various indicators, from which
Initiative (GRI) companies can select the ones they find more suitable for their
own operations.
  Direct Economic Performance
Economic  Market Presence
Sustainability  Indirect Economic Impact
  Materials
 Energy
 Water
 Biodiversity
Environmental  Emissions, Effluents and Waste
Sustainability  Products and Services
 Compliance
 Transport
 Overall
  Labour Practices and Decent Work
 Human Rights
Social  Society
Sustainability  Product Responsibility
 Ethics
Future of  “The development of the Project Management profession requires
Project Project Managers to take responsibility for Sustainability.”;
(McKinlay 2008).
Management
  There are many organizations which have already accepted some
levels of responsibility for sustainable development as part of
Sustainability being in business.
in Business  Reasons: Government Regulations, Voice of the Pressure Groups
or perhaps by their own Beliefs and values.
from Less Bad
 Examples: From more fair production of raw material, to more
to Good efficient use of energy, to tighter travel policies, to recycling of
end-of-life products, and so on.
  First stage “Pre-compliance” is when companies fail even to
comply with prevailing regulations. They are opportunistic.
 Second stage “Compliance” is when companies complies with all
environmental and social regulations.
 Third stage “Beyond Compliance” is when a company starts to not
only react on regulations, but it starts introducing sustainability
Five Stages of activities.
Sustainability  Fourth Stage “Integrated Strategy” are the companies who
understand the importance of sustainability and the value-added
they can gain from sustainable activities.
 Fifth Stage “Purpose and Passion” is attained when companies are
not just driven by profits but also by a sense of responsibility to
improve society and environment and to contribute to a better
world.
 Stage 4
Stage 3 Integrated Stage 5
Stage 1
Stage 2 Beyond – Strategy Purpose and
Pre –
Compliance Compliance Passion
Compliance

Innovators:
Compliers: Case-Makers: Company Trailblazers:
Outlaws:
Take a Move from transforms and driven by a
Disobey Social
minimalist defence to fully integrates passionate,
and
approach, offence; sustainability value-based
environmental
Reactively do sustainability into its commitment to
regulations;
what they initiatives corporate improve well
only focus on
legally have to increases but strategy; being of the
short-term
do. are still captures value- company,
profits.
marginalized in added from society and
different sustainability environment.
departments. initiatives.

Reactive Proactive
Business case
of
Sustainability