Sustainable Project Management

The IT department plays a vital role in modern business operations, and therefore, the environmental impact of IT services and sustainability have become growing concerns in recent years. Since IT projects are an enabler of change, they can make an increasingly positive contribution to sustainability goals.

Sustainable Project Management, also known as Green Project Management or simply GPM, is an approach that embeds environmental and societal thinking into all aspects of project management. The core idea is to plan, implement, and assess projects in a way that minimises ecological impact and promotes sustainability, whilst bringing about economic benefit to the companies and all their stakeholders, both internal and external. It is an approach that not only focuses on achieving project goals but also on ensuring that these goals align with organisation’s broader environmental sustainability objectives.

The Insights into Sustainable Project Management 2024 report provides a rich and nuanced understanding of how sustainability is perceived, integrated, and operationalised within organisations. The report highlights a significant increase in projects affected by extreme weather due to climate change, jumping from 38% in 2021 to 53% in 2024. This underscores the urgent need for project management to adapt to increasing climate volatility. It also reveals that 43% of projects experience critical or major impacts due to sustainability challenges, such as resource scarcity and regulatory changes, necessitating a strategic reassessment of project management approaches.

The findings call for strategic adaptation and proactive mitigation strategies to navigate and mitigate the impacts of global sustainability challenges effectively. This includes integrating sustainable project management practices to ensure project resilience and success. This whitepaper explores the principles of Sustainable Project Management and its application in the context of managing IT services.