Project management can help industry become more sustainable post-COVID
As the UK emerges from lockdown and seeks to re-establish normality in a post-pandemic world, well-managed projects are increasingly being seen as an essential contributor to Britain’s sustainability goals.
Boris Johnson has stated that Britain will build back greener as it recovers from the pandemic, with millions of pounds pledged for investment in renewable energy, waste reduction and other measures aimed at helping the UK meet its net zero greenhouse gas emissions target by 2050.
Many sectors are already leading the charge. Costain, the leading-edge infrastructure provider, launched its Climate Change Action Plan in 2020, targeting to a zero-carbon future by 2035 at the latest, supporting the Government in meeting their 2050 target. It is also in the FTSE4Good index. Balfour Beatty is aligned to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and has a ‘beyond net-zero carbon’ target for 2040. In the tech sector, Microsoft says that not only will it be carbon neutral by 2030, but actually carbon negative. Earlier this year, international construction company Mace announced that it had achieved its ambition of becoming a net zero carbon business by 2020.
Progress is being driven not only by internal projects, but across the customer base and supply chain too. Customers and clients may be the ones to set project sustainability targets, or else suppliers are chosen in part because of their green credentials. The emergence of environmental awareness as a differentiator is driving others to improve their own
approach to sustainability in order to remain competitive.
Despite the progress being made, there is still much to be done across industry in embedding sustainability in projects. According to recent research by the University of Westminster into Responsible Project Management – which covers the UN SDGs and project sustainability – construction sector project professionals see themselves as a “vector in increased awareness” of the issue, but feel their influence could be increased.
This is being tackled by a growing movement to embed sustainability into projects, as witnessed by Rachel Skinner’s presidential year at the Institution of Civil Engineers and the recent Institute for Government conference on delivering net zero.
As Sue Kershaw, president of Association for Project Management (APM), explains: “Project Professionals are leading the way in this movement, and helping clients understand the choices they need to make to be sustainable. The key is for every organisation to have a net zero plan that is readily understood and achievable.”
A holistic approach
Kershaw says that businesses that haven’t already done so must establish sustainability as a primary business goal and make climate awareness a fundamental part of their culture.
This approach should include a simplification and focusing of sustainability targets. There are 17 UN SDGs, but 169 separate targets. Leaders should identify between four and eight of the most applicable targets to their project and work towards those.
Kershaw commented: “The pandemic has placed a spotlight on the ability of projects to drive sustainability. Hence Boris Johnson’s pledge to ‘build back greener’ through investment in clean-growth projects.
“Over time, I believe we’ll continue to see project success increasingly measured not by traditional outputs like time and cost, but in terms of their social and environmental legacy.
“Ultimately, it’s about taking a holistic approach to this issue. Sustainability needs to be embedded into every project so that the people planning and delivering them are constantly seeking opportunities. Sustainability touches all our lives and project professionals can truly be the drivers of change.”
This article first appeared in the March 2021 edition of Industrial News.
