Sustainability used to sit in a separate lane: a CSR report, an annual pledge, a "green" initiative run alongside the real delivery work. That world has changed. Today, projects are where organisations shape their footprint – how money is spent, what gets built, how services are delivered, which suppliers are chosen, and what trade-offs are considered acceptable. In other words: if sustainability matters to your organisation (and it does), it must matter to your projects.
Sustainability matters to your stakeholders, and people are willing to spend more with organisations who are sustainable than those who are not.
So, what do we mean by sustainable projects? Put simply, they are initiatives designed to create value without shifting hidden costs to the environment, communities, or future generations. They balance short-term outcomes with longer-term impacts – considering not just what gets delivered, but how it is delivered and what happens because of it.
And sustainability in project management is the practice of meeting current needs while enhancing the ability of future generations to meet their own. It involves improving environmental, social and economic dimensions to create regenerative outcomes, ensuring long-term health and resilience of both human and natural systems through transformative project management.
It's not "add a sustainability workstream" – it's integrating sustainability into the project's DNA.
That's why the PMI–GPM ecosystem of free resources is so valuable. Together, these booklets provide a clear, practical pathway: build capability, follow proven practices, put them into action, and report outcomes credibly.
Below is a simple guide to what each booklet is for—and how you can use them.
1) The GPM® Sustainability Competence Standard
Purpose: Defines the knowledge, skills, and abilities needed to manage projects sustainably.
Value: A capability blueprint for individuals and organisations.
Page Count: 46
This standard answers a foundational question: what does good look like in terms of competence? It outlines the capabilities that enable project professionals to consider sustainability in decision-making, manage trade-offs, and engage stakeholders responsibly.
How it helps in practice:
- For individuals: clarifies what to learn next – whether that’s systems thinking, ethical decision-making, or stakeholder impact awareness.
- For teams and leaders: supports capability assessment, role expectations, hiring profiles, and professional development pathways.
- For organisations: provides a common language so “sustainability” isn’t vague – it’s observable in behaviours and outcomes.
Think of it as the skills map you can use to upskill your PM community and build consistency across portfolios.
2) The GPM® P5™ Standard for Sustainability in Project Management
Purpose: Offers the practices you should follow to embed sustainability into projects.
Value: A structured lens for identifying and managing sustainability impacts.
Page Count: 105
P5 (People, Planet, Prosperity, Product, and Process) is often described as a practical framework that helps teams look beyond immediate deliverables and examine broader impacts and dependencies. It encourages a more holistic view of project success – looking at what the project changes in the world, not only what it produces.
How it helps in practice:
- Supports structured conversations about sustainability impacts and trade-offs.
- Encourages teams to consider environmental and social factors alongside traditional project constraints.
- Provides a repeatable approach that can be applied across different project types and industries.
If your teams are asking, “Where do we start?” – P5 is a strong answer. It helps translate intention into repeatable practice.
3) Sustainable Project Management: The PMI–GPM® Practice Guide
Purpose: Shows how to put sustainable project management into practice.
Value: Bridges standards and day-to-day delivery.
Page Count: 211
This is the “how-to” guide that connects sustainability principles with familiar project management activities. It helps project professionals integrate sustainability into planning, execution, governance, and benefits management – without reinventing their entire methodology.
How it helps in practice:
- Provides guidance for embedding sustainability into project lifecycles and decision points.
- Reinforces governance and leadership behaviours that keep sustainability visible throughout delivery.
- Helps teams move from awareness to consistent application.
If P5 helps you frame the “what to consider,” the Practice Guide helps you operationalise the “how we work.”
4) The Project Sustainability Reporting Guide
Purpose: Explains how to track and communicate sustainability performance in projects.
Value: Makes sustainability measurable, transparent, and credible.
Page Count: 104
Even well-intentioned sustainability efforts can fall flat if they’re not tracked and communicated clearly. This guide focuses on reporting – so sustainability isn’t just promised, it’s evidenced.
How it helps in practice:
- Encourages meaningful metrics and outcome-focused reporting (not just activity reporting).
- Helps teams communicate impacts to stakeholders with clarity and credibility.
- Supports governance by enabling better oversight and informed decision-making.
In short: if sustainability is part of project success, you need reporting that is robust enough to stand up to scrutiny.
Bringing It All Together (and Why It Matters)
These four resources work like a simple, practical pathway:
- Build capability (Competence Standard)
- Apply a structured lens (P5 Standard)
- Embed it into delivery (PMI–GPM Practice Guide)
- Measure and communicate results (Reporting Guide)
Sustainability in projects isn’t about perfection—it’s about improving decision quality, reducing unintended harm, and increasing long-term value. The teams who do this well don’t just deliver projects. They deliver outcomes that stakeholders can support, regulators can trust, and communities can live with.
Call to Action: Let’s lift the game in Sustainable projects
Firstly, we’d encourage you to take a look at this blog article titled: Guide to Sustainability in Project Management – it is provides some additional context beyond the above.
If you’d like to explore how to apply the PMI–GPM ecosystem in your project environment, then PMI’s Green Project Manager – Basic (GPM‑b™) certification offering is positioned as an accessible on-ramp into sustainable project leadership: it’s a course + exam bundle for USD399 (with no experience required) designed to help you:
- assess project impacts,
- build a Sustainability Management Plan (SMP), and
- integrate sustainability into every project phase.
You then validate that capability via a 75‑question / 90‑minute certification exam.
PMI’s Sustainability in Projects hub centralises their sustainability learning and partnership content (including the GPM relationship and pathway), so it’s the best place to watch for any new sustainability learning options as they’re added.
There is also a PMI New Zealand Chapter special-interest-group setup to focus on this theme across the country. One of our Directors, Mike Roberts, is a member of this group. The group works in alignment with PMI’s Global Sustainability Champions, as we navigate how sustainability adoption and growing competence will shape the future of our profession.
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